WatchTime New York prepares its next fair

Watches and Wonders Geneva proved one thing earlier this spring when it drew 43,000 visitors, nearly double their attendance in 2022: The watch fair is back.

Many in the industry had expressed doubts that such expensive events were worth the investment even before the pandemic disruption. but opinions seems to have changedand the rest of the 2023 calendar is dotted with events like Singapore Watch Week, Geneva Watch Days, and the Salón Internacional Alta Relojería in Mexico City.

In Manhattan, organizers of WatchTime New York, scheduled for October 20-22 at Gotham Hall, said they hope the event’s longstanding focus on watch lovers will draw even more visitors this year, boosting its total to 2,000. people last year.

“Theoretically, if you go to Watches and Wonders as a normal person, you can see the windows, you can go into the booths, but you don’t go behind the scenes and sit with the president of the watch or the watchmaker,” said Sara Orlando, editor of WatchTime, the New York-based print and online publication that has run the show since 2015. “At WatchTime New York, the brand’s president and executives are at the show, behind the booth, introducing audiences to in general.”

Marc André Deschoux, founder of Watches TV and Horopedia, the online encyclopedia of watchmaking, said such interaction is distinctive. “Small shows can provide something important: attendees can speak directly with watch makers,” he said. “It creates a human bond between the customer and the watchmaker.”

Last year’s show featured 32 exhibitors, from big brands like Breguet and Seiko to popular independents like Greubel Forsey and Kari Voutilainen.

Parmigiani Fleurier joined the list in 2022. “This event is important as North America is a core market for us,” Parmigiani Fleurier CEO Guido Terreni wrote in an email. “In addition, WatchTime New York has now gained a lot of credibility and has become a major collector event in the market.”

The fair provides quality information, according to Ms. Orlando. “We strive to develop panel themes that appeal to all levels of attendees,” she said. “People who have been collecting for 20 years will be entertained and happy, and people who are recent watch enthusiasts will receive information that is easy to understand.”

Ms Orlando, 44, said she knows firsthand how intimidating watches can be. She worked in the home furnishings industry until 2008, when WatchTime hired her as their advertising director; she became an editor in 2015. “The watch industry was obviously a big change for me,” she said.

She recalled being overwhelmed in 2009 when she attended her first watch fair, Baselworld, an event that had helped brands shape the global perception of the watch and jewelry industries for over 100 years, until the pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020 and it finally collapsed.

“It was on such a large scale,” he said. “The Rolex booth, the Swatch booth, they were huge and grand. Thank God, I had a very good mentor in Joe Thompson, who was the editor-in-chief” of WatchTime. “He introduced me to everyone in the industry. After the first year, I felt like he belonged.” (Mr. Thompson left the publication in 2017; Roger Ruegger is now the editor-in-chief.)

WatchTime began its public events in 2006 with a traveling exhibition of watch brands that traveled the United States, organized by Jeffrey Kingston, a well-known watch collector.

But “brands stopped wanting to travel and it was expensive to move windows and staff across the country,” Orlando said. “Joe Thompson had the idea to do a bigger show in the city. Minda Larsen, our Events Director, and I created WatchTime New York.

“We chose New York for access to the European market. We wanted the European collectors to come, as well as the smaller independent brands to come to New York.”

Michael Hickcox, a long-time American watch collector who lives in London, said he considers visiting WatchTime New York as important as attending European watch shows.

“I have been going to WatchTime New York for the last five years or so,” Hickcox wrote in an email. “It is a fantastic event. They attract big brands and independent watchmakers, so it’s a great place to try on watches that often can’t be found in stores.”

And, he added: “Networking is top notch, both to meet new people and to meet up with old friends. You learn a lot from other collectors; They are a tremendous source of wisdom.”