Indeed, from August 29 to September, all watch lovers will meet in the lakeside city to celebrate fine watchmaking. Before that, the Geneva Watch Days, supported by 31 participating brands, made a stop in Zurich for an evening, and the city became a hub of success. 520 people gathered at Aura, on the banks of the Limmat, to catch the vibe.
Media, retailers, and watch enthusiasts had the opportunity to discover the watchmaking highlights of 31 out of the 54 brands that will be present in Geneva, engage in casual conversations with their CEOs and teams, participate in watchmaking workshops organized by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), or simply relax and socialize over a friendly drink. It was a unique watch gathering in German-speaking Switzerland.
During the event, the names of the 54 brands participating in the Geneva show were unveiled. The fact that in 2020, during the inaugural Geneva Watch Days, only 10 brands were involved, highlights the event’s exponential growth. Initially emerging from a temporary need for a gathering during the pandemic, it has gradually evolved into an established institution.
And now, the concept is developing, starting with Zurich, because watchmaking wants to reach all of Switzerland.
“While Geneva is one of the birthplaces of Swiss watchmaking, all of Switzerland supports us, so it was essential to include Zurich in our project to make it truly national. Many of our retailers and a large number of our customers are here. It made perfect sense to include them in our plan,” stated Antoine Pin, President of the Geneva Watch Days Association and Director of Bulgari Watches.
“Breitling, as a founding brand of the Geneva Watch Days, supports the initiative to move the show to German-speaking Switzerland for a day to give it more visibility. This way, we provide a platform for the smaller Geneva Watch Day brands, which otherwise have no presence here. Having so many representatives of the watch industry gathered in Zurich is a first,” said Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling.
“Being based in German-speaking Switzerland, and with the support of the other brands present tonight, H. Moser & Cie. initiated this wonderful project to bring the Geneva Watch Days across the Sarine. We warmly invite all the guests who attended this Zurich edition to join us at the end of August in Geneva. From the Limmat to the Léman, it is just a short hop. The event is worth the trip, with an increasingly rich program that is more and more open to the public,” concluded Edouard Meylan, CEO of H. Moser & Cie.
