Smart watches a drawcard among precision timepieces at fair

The HKTDC Watch and Clock fair 2019 attracted over 800 exhibitiors and close to 18,000 buyers to its 38th edition which ran from September 3 -7 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Premier showcase Salon de TE, now in its seventh edition, featured around 140 acclaimed brands and designer collections, including 13 renowned international brands from World Brand Piazza. A range of timepieces reflecting precision craftsmanship was displayed by exhibitors such as the Swiss Independent Watchmaking Pavilion, Academie Horlogere des Createurs Independants (AHCI) and Fraceclat.*

An on-site survey conducted at the Watch and Clock Fair by an independent market research agency, found that smart watches (31%), automatic watches (22%), digital analogue watches (18%) and quartz analogue watches (14%) are viewed as the most popular categories for 2020.

Watches interactable with smart devices (51%) are predicted by respondents to be the most prevalent product development strategy in the coming year, followed by collections that align with current season’s fashion trends (40%), mix & match watches (featuring changeable parts to match clothing) (39%), limited edition collections (35%) and celebrity-endorsed watch collections (29%).

The Watch and Clock fair was open to the trade only on the first four days and to the public on the final day. Product launches were popular during the event while watchmaking demo sessions and the Fashion X Watches parade were among features that drew crowds on public day. The HKTDC Watch and Clock fair ran concurrrently with Centrestage, which started a started a day later at the HKCEC.