Baselworld 100 years ago and today

Today, more than one thousand names are represented at Baselworld, bringing together for the most part companies from the watch, jewellery and luxury jewellery industries. History and feedback from this year’s edition.

History
On 29 April 1917, the first Samples Fair was held in Basel with the mission of putting manufacturers and producers from all branches of Swiss industry in touch with buyers from all over the world. Held in wartime, this first event also enabled the state of Swiss industry to be revealed to the public in challenging times when all post and telegraphic communication services, as well as business travel, were particularly difficult. At the time, the organising committee only admitted Swiss firms and products made on Swiss territory. It was not until 1973 that the fair was opened up to European exhibitors. In the early days, no sales or deliveries were permitted on site.

Watchmaking and jewellery formed a group of thirty exhibitors installed in the Basel Municipal Casino. Tissot occupied stand No. 1. Among other articles, the firm from Le Locle presented its Banana watch, a men’s model in gold which has been updated this year.

In view of the success of this first edition, with more than 100,000 visitors, the decision was taken to repeat the fair every year. The choice of maintaining Basel as the venue was justified by its favourable geographical situation on a navigable waterway and also on one of the most important trans-European railway lines, serving three industrial countries: France, Germany and Switzerland.

Over the years, the economic sectors drifted apart, with each organising its own event: Holz, the exhibition for the timber industry and wood processing, was the first to break away. Other important divisions such as the Swissbau construction show, Baselworld, the watch and jewellery industry exhibition, and last but not least Giardina, the garden show, all went their own separate ways.

Since then, a great deal of water has flowed under the bridges of Basel and some 1,300 (1,500 in 2016) exhibitors from the world of the watch industry, jewellery and luxury jewellery came together this year at the Exhibition Centre in the city on the River Rhine.

2017 edition
This anniversary edition was inaugurated on Thursday, 23 March in the presence of Federal Councillor Alain Berset, who stressed the prestige enjoyed by our country’s watch industry all over the world. Few sectors of the economy are so closely bound up with Switzerland and its way of life.

Baselworld attracted this year some 106,000 buyers from more than 100 countries. 4,400 representatives of the print, television and electronic world press attended the Exhibition. Approximately 11,000 journalists followed live the opening press conference via Internet.

Among the innovations, two new concepts saw the light of day this year. Firstly, Les Ateliers, a space dedicated to independent watchmakers who had been housed until 2016 in the Palace marquee. Located on the second floor of the main hall, this new space provides individual modules with different fittings; each exhibitor is able to personalise his stand as he thinks fit. This platform included watchmakers such as MB&F, Pierre DeRoche, Louis Moinet, Favre-Leuba, Romain Gauthier and Graham… that list being far from exhaustive. As an original feature of the venue, containers lined the access area. They were occupied by companies such as M.A.D. Gallery, Swiza, Ladurée and Kerbedanz, a watch brand which attracted visitors with cognac sampling. A few days after the show’s inauguration, exhibitors expressed their satisfaction with this new formula. Thanks to signs clearly laid out from the first floor of the hall, visitors were guided through to the Ateliers where they turned up in large numbers throughout the exhibition.

Another new space, the Design Lab was dedicated to prestigious designers and emerging brands. At the heart of this attractive space, a selection of some thirty exhibitors presented unique and unconventional jewellery pieces. They included several design icons such as Georg Spreng and Marcin Zaremski; young talents like Christina Rasmussen and Liliana Guerreiro, and rising new brands (Setare, Capolavoro).

April 06, 2017