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The EPHJ gets bigger and better

July 2004




With 183 exhibitors from the specialized professions of watchmaking participating in this year’s EPHJ, the Salon is clearly establishing itself as the rendezvous par excellence for the professionals.
The EPHJ has doubled in size in two years and because of its location in Lausanne in the Canton of Vaud, it is ideally placed on ‘neutral ground’ in the middle of Switzerland’s watch triangle. The Salon, which offers a comprehensive selection of the related products and services for the watch industry - dials, hands, mainsprings, watch cases, packaging, machines, etc., is not open to the general public, consequently with 2,800 professional visitors – an increase of 30% over 2003 – it is proving to be the perfect occasion to see, meet, compare, sell, buy and give shape to ideas.

A user-friendly show
The EPHJ takes place in quite a remarkable ambience, whereby exhibitors don’t seem to vie for position or see who can sell the most. It’s more of a user-friendly occasion where they try to establish better relations with their clients, meet their needs, solve their problems and even point them in the right direction to one of their co-exhibitors if they are looking for something they don’t have. Total cooperation between exhibitors and visitors seems to be the by-word.
“We had thirty-two non-Swiss exhibitors,” Olivier Saenger, one of the founders and Committee member of EPHJ’s explained, “and with our increased space this year, there was plenty of room for every one. The exhibitors particularly appreciated the space, which is unlike other trade fairs where everyone is cramped together.
“The important thing for both the exhibitors and buyers, is that the EPHJ is held at an ideal moment – just after the spring fairs – and, as if proof was needed, all the important watch manufacturers visited.”
Jacqueline Maurer-Mayor, the State Councillor, and Head of the Economic Department of the Canton of Vaud, attended the opening, made a brief speech underlining the importance of the show to exhibitors, buyers and the city of Lausanne and then stayed for a couple of hours wandering around the different stands.
In its effort to ensure the continuation of many of the specialized trades allied to the watch industry, the EPHJ offered free stands to the Ecole Technique de la Vallée de Joux, the EIAJ – Ecole d’ingénieurs and the HEAA – the Haute Ecole d’Arts Appliqués. And for the first time, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry also participated.
Rendezvous next year … 24-27 May 2005 in Lausanne for an even bigger and better show!

Photo: Left to right: Olivier Saenger, Edouard Debetaz Director of the Beaulieu Congress Centre and André Colard, President of the EPHJ.

Source: June-July 2004 Issue

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