The luxury watch industry’s annual jamboree in Geneva—the Watches & Wonders show—is slightly bonkers even when the economy is not showing signs of strain. This year, cost-of-living crises, soaring inflation rates, supply chain issues, and the war in Ukraine were scarcely evident in the ultra-luxe halls of Geneva’s Palexpo exhibition center. After a bumper 2022, Switzerland’s watch power players are pushing their prices skyward and yet reporting no fall in demand or production. This is not least because the all-important Chinese market, which was still in Covid lockdown a year ago, is coming back online in a big way. Indeed, the higher the price of the watch, the faster it sells out.
English