Favourable auspices at the SIHH 2011
The 21 st Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, which ended on January 21st, confirms renewed confidence within the branch after the return of growth in 2010. All 19 exhibiting brands emphasise retailers’ marked interest in the year’s new models. Further good news is that demand is coming not just from Asia in general and China in particular, but also from European countries, now in full recovery, Latin-American markets, and the United States, only recently in convalescence. The distributors and retailers who visited this trade-only event came primarily from Europe (60%), ahead of Asia (20%), the Americas (12%) and the Middle East (8%).
The 2011 Show confirms exhibitors’ desire to ingrain their expertise in a culture of technical and aesthetic excellence, and this same culture was stunningly showcased by two outstanding exhibitions. The Beyer Museum in Zurich presented its finest pieces in an exhibition that traced over four hundred years of time measurement. At Cartier, close to three hundred pieces from its private collection gave visitors a measure of how a brand has left its mark on the evolution of timepieces since the nineteenth century. This art of time measurement now has a promising future in the hands of the exhibiting brands.
True to its vocation as an exclusive event for distribution and the media, attendance this year has been similar to previous editions with some 12,000 visitors, including over a thousand journalists. Such consistency in the number of visitors shows that the SIHH occupies a foremost place in technical and precious Fine Watchmaking, and that this unique activity in the field of luxury, built on values of tradition and innovation, never ceases to impassion creators and its enlightened admirers.
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