Brands teaming up with FHH to launch a new show in 2021

We don’t usually cover breaking news here at Rescapement, but this is a big one. It was announced this morning that Rolex, Tudor, Patek Phillipe, Chopard, and Chanel would be leaving industry trade show Baselword to launch a new show in Geneva with the Foundation de la Haute Horology (FHH), starting in 2021.

In an announcement signed by all five brands, they cited, among other reasons for the split “unilateral decisions taken by the management of Baselworld, including the postponement of the Fair in January 2021, as well as its inability to meet the expectations and needs of brands”.

The statement continues:

Following discussions initiated by Rolex, it seemed only natural to create a new event with partners that share our vision and our endless, unwavering support for the Swiss watchmaking sector.

Like any good dispute, it seems this one began when Baselworld refused to five refunds to brands after the 2020 show was cancelled.

FHH is also the organizer of Watches & Wonders (formerly SIHH, Baselworld’s main competition in the trade show space), so it seems this new show will be held in parallel with Watches & Wonders Geneva next year. It sounds like that’ll take place in April 2021, so we’ll have to wait until then for new watches from Rolex, Tudor and Patek.

You might be asking what these five brands have in common. In a word: independence. Watches & Wonders hosts Richemont’s stable of brands — as well as many other notable brands — and with the largest independents now creating their own show, Geneva will be the epicenter of new releases come next April. Swatch Group is the only conglomerate missing from this arrangement, so it’ll be interesting to see how they shuffle their schedule based on this announcement from FHH.

With Baselworld losing its last two anchor exhibitors (Patek and Rolex), a couple years after losing the Swatch Group stable of brands, it likely spells the beginning of the end for the trade show.

It’s a lesson that, if you’re a dick in the middle of a global pandemic (i.e. don’t offer refunds to your customers), you might just get what’s coming to you.