Business News: Bulgari, Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Zenith Ditch Baselworld
In a widely expected move, the watch and jewellery brands owned by LVMH – Bulgari, Hublot, TAG Heuer, and Zenith – have just announced their pullout from Baselworld. Once the world’s largest watch fair, Baselworld suffered a mortal blow when its largest individual exhibitors, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Chanel, Chopard and Tudor, announced their withdrawal a few days ago, opting instead to move to a new fair in Geneva. And surprisingly the fair issued a swift, and clearly miffed, response to the mass exodus. But the die has been cast, with the centre of gravity having shifted decisively to Geneva, making it inevitable that the French luxury conglomerate would follow suit – especially after having made known its wavering commitment to Baselworld – and now it’s official. With the LVMH announcement, Baselworld has lost all the major exhibiting brands in Messe Basel hall 1, the fair’s flagship space. The chiefs of the LVMH watch and jewellery brands at LVMH Watch Week that took place in Dubai in January 2020, a stopgap measure due to the uncertain trade show schedule. Photo – LVMH In a statement fresh off the press, the LVMH Watch Division and Bulgari explain their move with the “clearly weakened representation of the Swiss watch industry and hence inevitably lower participation… [leading us to] withdraw in order to preserve [our] image and relations with clients as well with the media.” What the four brands will do in Geneva has not yet been decided, conti...
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