BASELWORLD 2007 kicked off its first day with an official press conference, dazzling fashion shows, and incredible opportunities to see some exquisite watch and jewelry pieces.
PART ONE: The BASELWORLD 2007 Press Conference
The press conference featured many of the executives responsible for the event itself.
Rene Kamm, CEO of MCH Swiss Exhibition, was the first speaker to address the gathering. He discussed a new exhibition building for BASELWORLD that should be built by 2011. The building will cost more then 350 million Swiss Francs and will make a great addition to the convention.
Jacques Duchene, President of All Exhibitors Committee, talked in detail about brand piracy and their plan on combating it. He mentioned that for every 20 million authentic watches sold, there are over 80 million “pirated” watches sold.
Francois Theibaud, President of Swiss Exhibitors Committee, mentioned that the majority of Swiss watches (42%) are now sold to the Asian markets. He also mentioned that watch exports rose over 20% in 2006. He also talked about recent Swiss watch making trends such as trendy colors and high tech materials, apertures, and how movements are now dictating case designs.
Gaetano Cavalieri, President of the World Jewelry Confederation, discussed Italian jewelry companies and how he believes that the jewelry industry as a whole must start viewing the fashion industry as an opportunity to sell more jewelry as opposed to viewing it as competitive market. He also talked about the importance of the industry embracing the internet as a tool to display accurate product data. He mentioned that consumers today are more interested in knowing about the metals and gemstones used in jewelry and that the internet is a great medium for distributing that information accurately.
