Despite an economic slowdown, Asia's affair with high-end timepieces goes on. Watches & Wonders 2015 saw 20,000 visitors, a 25 percent jump from last year. Sun Yunqing reports.

The third edition of Watches & Wonders, Asia's version of the Geneva haute horlogerie exhibition, came at a challenging time this year, when the Asian market was reporting weak sales for months.

But it returned, bringing a momentum it had generated in the previous two years.

Watches & Wonders 2015 opened on Sept 30 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in the presence of leaders of the 12 exhibiting maisons.

The brands on display included major names from luxury giant Richemont - Cartier, IWC and Jaeger-LeCoultre - as well as independent watchmaker Richard Mille.

Despite the economic challenges in the region, the return of Watches & Wonders is testimony to the industry's confidence in Asia, said Fabienne Lupo, chairwoman and managing director of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, the organizer of the exhibition, at the opening ceremony.

"While sales of the year's models is obviously part of the equation, the exhibiting maisons are also concerned with meeting people who are eager to learn about watchmaking, and who form a particularly important clientele," she says.

A spinoff of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie that is held in Geneva every January, Watches & Wonders, which ended early this month in Hong Kong, has been striving to distinguish itself from the former.

While SIHH is more of a private trade fair for professionals and journalists, Watches & Wonders opens its doors to all admirers and collectors of technical and precious watches, says Lupo.

SIHH is a major occasion where watchmakers debut their new collections and take orders. But they are now developing exclusive pieces for Watches & Wonders, such as Jaeger-LeCoultre's Geophysic collection and A. Lange & Sohne's limited special 1815 model.

Some 20,000 visitors, including 700 journalists, from all across Asia, attended the event this year, a 25 percent rise from 2014.

This year, the event tried to upgrade the visitor experience with a smartphone application that guided the visitor through the exhibition based on five different themes - Astronomy, We Love Asia, Precious Time, Extreme and Iconic.

There were also workshops, where enthusiasts could get their hands on and reassemble mechanical movements. They could also attend lectures on themes like design, history and economics. A personalized tour could be booked at each brand's booth.

Some maisons invited their watchmakers to demonstrate their skills under magnifying cameras that simultaneously displayed the intricate handwork on a digital screen.

The exhibition 24 Hours in the Life of a Swiss Cuckoo Clock, organized by Geneva University of Art & Design, challenged students to innovate on the classic cuckoo clock.

"The principal objective of Watches & Wonders isn't to sell watches. For the maisons, it is first and foremost about sharing a cultural platform of fine watchmaking with an audience which represents their most important clientele internationally," says Lupo.

The Swiss watch industry has grown robustly for the last decade, powered by the emerging economies in Asia. Hong Kong, in particular, surpassed the United States to be the top export destination for Swiss watches in 2008, absorbing about one-fifth of Swiss watch production.

Swiss watch exports experienced double-digit growth for three consecutive years from 2010 to 2012.

However, the growth has slowed down significantly since 2013, mainly because of decreasing sales in Asia. In September, the value of Swiss watch exports fell 7.9 percent, compared to the same period last year.

Both Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland saw a double-digit decrease of Swiss watch imports in September, compared to the same period in 2014, statistics from Federation of the Swiss watch industry show.

The situation can be largely attributed to the tumble of the ruble in Russia, the economic slowdown in China, the Chinese government's crackdown on luxury gifts and more Chinese people shopping overseas.

There were also exceptions though, like Roger Dubuis, which specializes in extravagant tailor-made watches with hefty prices.

Business in Hong Kong is not bad for the brand, although Macao is the opposite, said Jean-Marc Pontroue, brand CEO, without specifying any details.

"But we don't represent the watch industry. We are a niche business," he says.

Although Chinese from the mainland are now shopping less in Hong Kong, they are increasingly traveling and shopping in Japan, South Korea and France.

"We are gaining in these cities what we have been losing in places like Macao," says Pontroue. "About 70 percent of our business comes from people who are traveling. We sell to the Chinese in Switzerland, South Americans in Miami, Americans in Paris. For us, it is important to follow the tourism flow.

"What we are experiencing in our industry is a slowdown, but we all are forgetting what the business was like five years ago. The industry has seen incredible growth in the last 10 years, which we should not forget," he says.

Contact the writer at sunyuanqing@chinadaily.com.cn

A watchmaker demonstrates his skills under magnifying cameras that simultaneously displayed the handwork on a digital screen. Sun Yuanqing / China Daily

Leaders of watchmaker brands at Watches & Wonders 2015 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. The exhibition ended earlier this month.

(China Daily USA 10/26/2015 page7)