Following yesterday’s announcement of the cancellation of the Geneva ‘Watches & Wonders’, Baselworld has followed suit, postponing the luxury event until January 2021 on account of the coronavirus. The organization has published the following announcement:
“For health safety reasons and in accordance with the precautionary principle issued today by the Swiss authorities, Baselworld announces that it has taken the decision to postpone the show to Thursday 28 January 2021 to Tuesday 2 February 2021 (Press Day on Wednesday, 27 January), due to concerns related to Covid-19. Baselworld, which was to be held from April 30th to May 5th, 2020, has taken this difficult decision in close consultation with its partners and the health authorities in charge, in whom Baselworld has full confidence for their expertise and recommendations for the benefit of exhibitors, visitors and collaborators. Following today’s official ban on large public gatherings which meant direct repercussions for the show, Baselworld had no other option than to make a decision as all preparations, in particular, construction in the halls and of the stands was scheduled to commence next week (start March).”
Michel Loris-Melikoff, Managing Director of Baselworld said: “We deeply regret having had to postpone the event as planned due to the coronavirus, in full consideration of the needs of the watch and jewellery industry to be able to benefit from the platform to develop their business. This decision has been all the more difficult in view of all the positives that have been achieved through listening and dialogue over the last few months, which resulted in new concepts and new solutions, that have attracted exhibitors to return and new ones to sign on. We registered encouraging growth in all sectors; watchmaking, jewellery, the gemstone and pearl trade, as well as in the technical branch.”
“By postponing the show to January 2021,” he added, “we have found a solution that enables the industry and all our customers to avoid losing a full year and at the same time reset their calendars for the beginning of the year, a period that is conductive to the presentation of their new products, new trends and order taking. This postponing will also allow Baselworld to continue developing and bringing new formats and solutions as well as improvements to the new concept we propose.”
