Baselworld Attendance Down 22% But Hope Springs Eternal For 2020 As It Merges With SIHH

Attendance dropped by 22% at last week's Baselworld watch fair, which has been held in Basel, Switzerland, every spring since 1917 The number of exhibitors at the 2019 show also dropped - down to 520, compared to 650 last year and 1,300 in 2017 - but exhibitors and fair organizers, including a new management team, say this is a transitional year and expect new dates and other changes in the works for next year to resurrect the show Baselworld took a hit last year when the Swatch Group announced it would drop out of the 2019 show in favor of staging its own trade event in Zurich, earlier this year.

Several smaller brands have also exited Baselworld in the past two years, including Corum, Dior, Maurice Lacroix and Raymond Weil The first thing new management did was negotiate an agreement with the SIHH to hold the two shows sequentially next year: SIHH will be April 26-29, followed by Baselworld April 30-May 5 The Movado Group, which pulled out of Baselworld in 2018, reportedly saved $10-million by not exhibiting, and the Swatch Group ducked a $50-million expenditure.

Baselworld suffered the repercussions of the market downturn, but still has not recovered. . Source