Swatch Group Bails out of Baselworld 2019

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Baselworld is the place where the largest and smallest watch brands meet each year to make deals, speak with potential dealers, and exhibit their new products. Unfortunately, for the Swatch group which is the largest exhibitor at Basel will no longer be present for 2019. Swatch group owns numerous brands and sets up some quite extraordinary booths, spending millions of dollars doing this. Some popular brands include Omega, Longines, Swatch, Breguet, Blancpain. CEO Nick Hayek JR was just not seeing the excellent results that were expected at Baselworld and found a different route to go down by doing International road shows, with far better results. It is also Rumored that the new CEO of Breitling plans to leave Baselworld as well. Well, what does this mean for us watch geeks? We will not see the extensive coverage at Basel of new watches and innovative technology immediately when Basel opens its’ doors next year, and that is kind of a letdown. Instagram, blogs, and other social media definitely play a role in this departure as most releases can be seen worldwide online, in an instant. In this declining era of watch sales and new customers, I assume companies are taking caution in their spending unlike the glory days of the Swiss watchmaking industry.