Watchmakers tout expertise at Hong Kong’s Watches & Wonders

Leading watchmakers such as Cartier and Piaget have gathered in Hong Kong to display innovative timepieces for a discerning audience of horologists at the third annual Watches & Wonders fair.

Opening Sept. 30, the watch fair brings together 12 of the industry’s premium brands to showcase new timepieces and grant consumers and collectors alike face time with watchmakers. Exclusive industry fairs target connoisseurs and those with a deep appreciation for a product sector, but social media has opened events to a larger audience by sharing brand happenings.

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The third annual Watches & Wonders fair is being held at the Hong Kong Convention and

Exhibition Center, situated on the harbor. The event is expected to attract approximately 10,500 guests.

Presented by the Exhibitor Committee of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) and organized by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), the four-day event will feature 12 internationally renowned watchmakers. These watchmakers include A. Lange & Sohne, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Panerai, Piaget, Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis, Vacheron Constantin and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Guests attending Watches & Wonders in Hong Kong

During the event, guests of the watchmakers, journalists and retailer representatives from Asia can explore brand booths where watchmakers will present collections, attend a lecture cycle on horology topics, participate in hands-on watchmaking workshops and view a cultural exhibition imagined by students at the Geneva University of Art & Design who have reimagined 24 Swiss cuckoo clocks.

Watchmakers taking part in Watches & Wonder 2015 have also turned to social media to keep those unable to attend in on the event’s happenings. For instance, Cartier unveiled its Cle de Cartier Mysterious Hours watch at the fair and then directed consumers to its Web site for additional information about the timepiece.

Van Cleef & Arpels used its social media accounts to show off its exhibition booth that is dedicated to “expressing the Poetry of Time.” Here, the brand has unveiled the new Cadenas creations and interpretations of Enchanting Nature. On social, the brand included a link for consumers to learn more about the Poetry of Time concept.

Van Cleef & Arpels' booth at Watches & Wonders 2015 in Hong Kong

Others present at the event, such as Vacheron Constantin, used social media to display interesting timepieces for a larger scale audience.

At the industry’s most talked about event, Baselworld, social media has played a pivotal role, allowing brands to pull back the curtain on brand innovations, new timepieces and happenings during the fair (see story).