If we returned home from the spring watch fairs with less weight in our luggage than in previous years, it is not at all because there were less brands, quite the contrary. The reason is that USB flash drives often replaced the traditional printed press kits. In whatever form, however, the sum total of information that we gleaned from the shows was just as plentiful as always.
In delving into this mass of products, new items, technical information, and even gossip, our role as journalists consists, above all, of sifting through all this documentation, of selecting, and then sorting what is important. At the heart of this veritable watchmaking casino, where everyone tried to attract as much attention to themselves as possible, it is necessary to take a step back in order to gain some perspective. We need to take this information and filter it, distilling it so that we can extract the essence, or to be more precise, the various essences, since contemporary timekeeping is so rich in terms of its current offer.
Within the framework of this Back from the Fairs issue, we try not only to report on the rather extraordinary profusion of brands and products, but also to draw a few lessons for the future. The space in this issue is hardly enough to report on all we saw and experienced so, over the following months, we will return to the main trends that we have identified and discuss the brands that we were not able to include in this first round of articles. Please be assured, their turns will come.
In the meantime, we present a few of our analyses and a selection of the new items observed at the spring watch fairs. In his articles, Pierre Maillard sorts out the real innovations and advances from the marketing hype, since a certain confusion exists between practitioners of ‘classic’ watchmaking and those that herald a type of timekeeping whose goal is to go beyond a watch’s primary function of merely telling the time. Malcolm Lakin visited a number of brands, in all categories, where he felt, touched, held, and examined countless numbers of new watches. In his articles, he paints a dynamic portrait of his timely experiences.
Sophie Furley went shopping and tried to determine the most obvious trends in the incredible boom in ladies’ watches, which are now blossoming in all categories. She describes six of the most important trends of the season. Finally, Keith Strandberg, the sportiest member of the team, zeroed in on the wide arena of sports watches. He feels that, while there may be fewer new models, those that he saw are more serious in their approach, in their techniques, and in the quality of their useful functions.
We hope that Europa Star will help you find your way a little clearer through the profusion of products present at the big watchmaking casino.
Happy Reading!
Photo: Andersen Genève
Source: Europa Star June-July 2008 Magazine Issue
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