Encouraging numbers emerge from the 43rda edition of the Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair: over 15,000 buyers from 95 countries and as many as 700 exhibitors, thanks also to the lifting of travel restrictions. All aspects of the watchmaking world are represented during this annual event: from finished watches, in all variants and for all prices, to components, from cases to movements, from cases to the precision instruments indispensable to watchmaking companies.
But during the fair, space is also given to creativity and design, with the Design Competion, this year under the theme 'Game Code' for the student group and 'The Beauty of Perspective' for the open group. The latter saw Tam Kwok Tung's Scrollbar model graduate, which combined perspective and design in the confined space of the wrist.
Among the exhibitors, the Swiss Independent Watchmaking Pavilion (SIWP) and Francéclat returned to the fair while the International Luxury Group (ILG) made its debut. Together they presented a variety of Swiss and international watch brands. Mrutyunjaya Chavadi, ILG's Director of Operations, said that Salon de TE is an excellent platform to identify business partners and OEM suppliers. Also satisfied was Naouras Dabaan, CEO of Dabaan Group Co, a watch manufacturer and distributor in the UAE. "HKTDC's Click2Match service is very useful and the brand new Scan2Match function provides the perfect means to collect information on exhibitors.
To assess watch industry trends for the near future, the HKTDC conducted a survey during the exhibition. The survey showed that almost 60% of the respondents expect overall sales to grow over the next two years. Most respondents believe that South Korea, Australia and the Pacific Islands, North America and Japan offer the best growth prospects among traditional markets, while India, the Middle East, Mainland China and ASEAN countries are the most promising among emerging markets.
In terms of product trends, 26% of the respondents expect smartwatches to continue to be the most popular watch category, followed by mechanical watches (22%), automatic watches (16%) and analogue quartz watches (14%), and they also believe that fashion watches (34%), smartwatches (32%) and leisure watches (23%) have the highest growth potential in the future. Also among the novelties was a 'Guo Chao' themed showcase at the Salon de TE, with several prominent Chinese watchmakers exhibiting watches that blend Chinese cultural elements with exquisite craftsmanship.
