The LVMH Watchmaking Division and Bvlgari will decide on future plans in the coming weeks, according to their respective objectives
Following the departure of Rolex, Tudor, Patek Philippe, Chanel and Chopard from the Baselworld fair, the Swiss watch manufactures of the LVMH Group—including the LVMH Watchmaking Division (TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith) and the House of Bvlgari—have decided to withdraw from the event due to the clearly weakened representation of the Swiss watch industry, the inevitably lower participation rates, as well as in order to preserve their image and their relations with clients as well the media.
“We are sorry to have to leave this over hundred-year Baselworld event to which our maisons have been consistently loyal,” explained Stéphane Bianchi, CEO of the LVMH Watchmaking Division. “It is nonetheless clear that we must respond quickly and make other arrangements. We are facing an opportunity to reinvent the format and content of one of the key moments of our watchmaking year, which represented both a major commercial challenge and a lever of influence for our brands.”
Jean-Christophe Babin, Bvlgari Group’s CEO, also commented on the withdrawal: “Grouping the entire Swiss watch industry in a single location, the historical capital of watchmaking, Geneva, and around a single date is a major opportunity to at last revive a sector that all too many divisions and divergent interests have weakened. We are looking forward to going to Geneva in April 2021.”
In the meantime, the four maisons are still examining various potential event formats corresponding to the need to present their strategic directions and new products to their commercial partners and also the international press next year.
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