Industry News: Watches & Wonders Miami Takes A Year Off And Moves To 2021

There are only a few days left in the year, but that doesn’t mean we’re done with big shakeups in watch fair news.
 

The Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), with the support of its partner brands and the Miami Design District Associates (MDDA), has just announced that Watches & Wonders Miami is taking a gap year. The next edition will take place from February 12 to 14, 2021. According to a press release from the FHH, the decision to postpone the 2020 event, “[R]eflects a strategic decision taken by the FHH to focus all efforts on the debut of the new Watches & Wonders Geneva concept.”
 

Set up in 2013, Watches & Wonders was organized by the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) Exhibitors Committee. It got its start in Hong Kong as Asia’s first exhibition of fine watches and was dedicated to Asian customers and media. Exhibiting brands included A. Lange & Söhne, Baume et Mercier, Cartier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Panerai, Piaget, Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis, Vacheron Constantin, and Van Cleef & Arpels.
 

FHH next exported and expanded the concept to Miami in 2018 and continued to grow the brand the following year. “We were thrilled with the resonance of Watches & Wonders Miami 2019,” says Fabienne Lupo, Chairwoman and Managing Director of the FHH.
 

The success of last year’s fair, which was open to the public and involved sites throughout the Miami Design District, will definitely inform the Geneva exhibition in April. For example, enthusiasts who travel to W&W Geneva will be able to attend watchmaking workshops and panels alongside industry insiders. Another cue that Geneva will take from Miami is holding events at sites throughout the city center, as well as the Palexpo convention center.
 

“Watches & Wonders is set to become the hallmark of excellence,” says Lupo. “It’s a place for professionals to meet and be inspired, and for the public to learn more about, and marvel at, watchmaking and countless wonders.”

While it’s understandable that FHH needs Geneva to be the focus in 2020, the move from Miami leaves brands one less opportunity to present new releases in the first quarter of 2020.
 

It’s also important to note that, while Watches & Wonders Hong Kong seems to have fallen off the radar, FHH is making its commitment to Miami clear, cementing the city’s growing importance as an epicenter for art, culture, and luxury.
 

Watches & Wonders Miami will take place on the week before President’s Day weekend, allowing the FHH to continue its partnership with the Miami Concours and Miami Yacht Show.