The AIHH (Association Interprofessionnelle de la Haute Horlogerie) held its tenth plenary General Meeting on 5 and 6 October in Moscow.

This meeting of the unique Interprofessional Association of Fine Luxury Watchmaking was attended by its eleven member brands Marques (Audemars Piguet, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Corum, Ebel, Girard-Perregaux, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Zenith), 200 retail members, including some of the world's most prestigious watch and jewellery store owners, and 180 agents and representatives of the brands. 25 countries were represented.

The celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Association provided an opportunity for its Chairman, Luigi Macaluso, to draw up an objective balance sheet of the activities pursued - the AIHH Academy being one of the Association's cornerstones - and present a detailed work programme for the next few years.

Many topics were discussed at the working sessions, including:

 the role of Haute Horlogerie watches in the luxury and prestige goods universe;

 further training of sales personnel using new modules adjusted to meet the needs of the global market for prestigious timepieces;

 the present and future trend of distribution in coming years;

 the absolute necessity to protect and promote the watchmaking profession by facilitating training worldwide;

 the quality of the services and benefits provided by AIHH points of sale for their customers;

 the security of retail outlets.

The Study Centre, which the Association is to develop in the course of the year 2003, will be a precious source of information from which the watchmaking world in general, and the segment of luxury and prestige timepieces in particular, will benefit.

Significantly enough, Fine Luxury Watchmaking accounts for just 8% of exported watches in terms of quantity whereas in value terms export sales represent nearly 70%; these facts clearly demonstrate the importance of this sector for the watchmaking industry in general.

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Source: AIHH media release
October 2002