If you’ve been a member of the horological community for any amount of time, you’ll know that the beginning of November is not when you should be planning extended vacations and scheduling periods of non-connectivity. Let’s face it — if you’re reading WorldTempus right now, it’s because watchmaking news is important to you and you know what’s happening in two weeks. On the evening of 9 November in the beautiful city of Geneva, the award ceremony of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) takes place.
Every year, the GPHG programme is rich with activities, kicking off with the Academy’s nominations for the best representatives of watchmaking in the past 12 months. The GPHG Academy is an 827-strong body of worldwide watch experts, already signifying the international reach and relevance of this event. This year, the travelling exhibition of finalist watches hit numerous cities, making several stops in Asia and the US, before returning to Geneva, where it will remain until after the award ceremony. The award ceremony, though seen as the apex of the GPHG programme, does not signal the end of the activities around the event. The travelling exhibition will continue on to Dubai and then Zurich, now with additional context of featuring the eventual winners of 2023.
Not all the activities on the GPHG programme are directly linked to the competition, and some are designed to boost and nurture general interest in watchmaking, a natural aim for the GPHG. Two weekends ago, the travelling exhibition was hosted in New York by Watches of Switzerland, where an interesting out-of-competition timepiece was also placed on display. This timepiece, a simple manual-winding wristwatch with a skeletonised movement, was distinguished by how and where it was assembled — 30,000 feet up in the air on a direct flight between Geneva airport and JFK airport (New York), in an initiative jointly presented by Geneva Tourism and Swiss International Air Lines to support the GPHG exhibition. Apart from emphasising the idea that watchmaking is a tradition with international appeal, The Highest Calibre (as the project was nicknamed) brought out the accessibility of this métier and the prominence of Geneva in offering similar experiences for watch enthusiasts.
This demystification of mechanical watchmaking is something that we hold very near and dear to us at WorldTempus. An appreciation of watchmaking isn’t something that should be limited to those with hefty wallets. Art appreciation is for everyone, whether or not you can afford an original Rembrandt. Car appreciation is for everyone, whether or not you have fleets of supercars parked in your garage. A community thrives when it welcomes all demographics, and watchmaking deserves no less than this.
For the next two weeks, all 90 GPHG finalists (including the mechanical clock category, which were not part of the other exhibitions due to shipping logistics) will be on display at Geneva’s Musée Rath, alongside a panoply of supporting activities available with full details on the GPHG website. Full disclosure, WorldTempus will be playing a role in one of those activities — and we hope to see you there!
