Our Head of Watches shares his first account of Baselworld

Our Head of Watches, Neil Hollier shares his first account of Baselworld - The Watch and Jewellery Show...

"This year, I have finally managed to fulfil a 6 year long ambition, as the Head of watches for Ogden of Harrogate I was taken over to experience (and work obviously) at the biggest event in the Horology calendar - Baselworld.

Full of anticipation and wall to wall appointments ahead, the journey had begun. Walking over the river Rhine was a spectacular sight in its own right but walking over you begin to see the huge building that the fair is held in really takes your breath away when visiting for the first time. Everybody says it’s big but you never really appreciate just how big until you are right in front of it, let alone inside and under the cylinder, a rather great piece of architecture.

The sheer scale of the “so called stands” when you walk in is enough to intimidate the most seasoned of Baselworlder, with Bulgari and Hublot on the left and TAG Heuer and Zenith Watches on the right, each 4 stories high, there is no easy introduction to what is the largest exhibition of watches on earth.

Exploring was something that had to be done when the chance arose and funnily enough time was everywhere, but at a premium. I can’t let slip everything that I did and saw as I’m sure you can imagine I want to keep some things under wraps..."

To be continued...