The hits just keep on coming to the watch industry’s trade show and event schedule in 2020, thanks to the continued threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus. As of this morning, the FHH has officially cancelled the Watches & Wonders Geneva salon that was scheduled to be held from April 25 to 29, citing the “potential risks that travel and important international gatherings could entail” due to the virus.
The Geneva-based event, formerly known as the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, or SIHH, was set to mark its 30th year and for the first time in more than a decade was scheduled to immediately precede the watch industry’s other major international trade fair, Baselworld, which runs from April 30th to May 5 in Basel, Switzerland. At this writing, the Baselworld show has not announced any change in its 2020 schedule, though the watch industry and those of us who cover it continue to await updates, especially in light of the first cases of coronavirus being reported in Switzerland this week.
The cancellation of Watches & Wonders Geneva — whose organizers say that it will return in 2021 — is the latest in a series of cancellations of high-profile international events in the wristwatch trade, starting with the Swatch Group’s “Time to Move” show in Zurich, originally slated for March 4-6, and the Seiko Group’s Grand Seiko Summit, which was to be held in Tokyo on March 4-5.
