Company MCH Group, which owns clock fair and the Baselworld exhibition centre, in Basel, announced that the main and oldest watch salon Switzerland is closed on the 103-year life. Instead, it will be created Houruniverse — permanent online platform, which once a year will conduct “full-time” exhibition. Chief editor of “Style. Watch” Alexei Tarkhanov believes that this is an obvious improvisation.In yesterday’s message — at once two news. The first anticipated since may. Baselworld came to an end. No one expected that established in 1917, the year the Basel clock fair will cope with collapsed on her misfortunes. First, in 2018, it left 13 brands of the Swatch Group (including Breguet, Blancpain, Omega, Longines, Harry Winston), separately ran by the other major parties, including Hermes, Dior, Seiko, Breitling, Raymond Weil, Corum. Finally, the forced cancellation of the fair 2020 because of the epidemic quarreled organizers with the watchmakers. They demanded back the money, and the managing Director of the fair Michelle Loris of Melikoff refused to return the advances, saying that otherwise “ruin Baselworld”. After that, of LVMH watch brands, and Rolex with Tudor, Patek Philippe, Chanel and Chopard had left Basel and said they were going c 2021 to exhibit in Geneva in the days of Watches & Wonders (the former SIHH). So, Baselworld will not be reborn, you can only regret.Photo: Alexey Tarkhanov, Kommersanta the news is that instead of Baselworld will come some Houruniverse, arrived just when the sentinels salons cautiously began to step out from behind a cordon Sanitaire. At the end of August to be held Geneva Watch Days in the November meeting of watchmaking Grand Prix d’horlogerie de Geneve, a travelling exhibition Watches & Wonders declared from 9 to 14 September in Shanghai. There, at a meeting with the starving Chinese customers hours, go brands of the Richemont group, formed the core of the former Geneva salon SIHH: A. Lange & Sohne, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Parmigiani Fleurier, Piaget, Roger Dubuis, Vacheron Constantin.The sit Group, which has canceled one salon after another, and time Baselworld, Art Basel and art,— is now experiencing the pressure of shareholders. Recently it became known about the possible sale 30-44% of the shares of the company Lupa Systems James Murdoch, son of the famous media magnate Rupert Murdoch.Even the trump group MSN: recently built according to the project prittskerovskoy laureates Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron huge modern pavilions at the Messeplatz, may be too heavy a load. Once they exist, they need to fill, but it is unclear what, in the world canceled the exhibition. While that is expected that they will be the first real and virtual exhibition Houruniverse — “clock universe”, more precise parameters will not be available until August. Already in 2019 these pavilions looked pretty deserted.Organizers say that they provide a place for Houruniverse mostly young brands, but young�� money, and in the years of the crisis. It will be hard to adapt to new clientele and city services used during the last three decades to shamelessly plunder of guests, multiplying in the days of Baselworld and Art Basel, hotel prices, food, transportation. The legendary greed of the Basel the service sector was one of the reasons of frustration of the fair.Perhaps the organizers have a faint hope that the first experience of Watches & Wonders will be for some disappointing grades, and then how to know they come back from the shores of lake Geneva to the Rhine river. But this is unlikely to happen, especially given the highly uncertain nature of the new Basel exhibition. Michelle Loris of Melikoff says that we are talking about the results of two years ‘ work, begun in a period of relative prosperity Basel. But the story of Houruniverse more like forced improvisation.In 2019, the year the seed of the Basel fair and the Geneva salon agreed the timing by sliding the spring to the two main time events took place one after the other. Neither one nor the other in the end did not take place in 2020. Now Basel will need to subordinate your schedule Watches & Wonders — if before Baselworld worth a separate trip, and now many refuse Houruniverse in favor of Geneva.
