Baselworld

The granddaddy of watch trade fairs is looking to bounce back after a scaled- down event last year, lasting six days instead of eight, with a 50 percent fall in the number of exhibitors. It will be quite a challenge, though, thanks to the seismic news that the Swatch Group will not be attending in 2019 for the first time, an announcement that preceded the departure of René Kamm, CEO of Baselworld’s owner MCH Group. The show will be buoyed, though, by the encouraging trends in Swiss watch sales, which notched 16 consecutive months of growth between May 2017 and August 2018; and by 2018 visitor numbers that were essentially unaffected by the drop in exhibitors. baselworld. com