Baselworld 2018, Where can I get cut price tickets?

[Vacherin]

I wondered if anyone had any inside tips on how to get in on the cheap? If you go with a friend it is the price of a used Omega! Welcome to Switzerland I guess.

If you are a school kid, or student, in a party of 10 or more, you get in for 10chf. Good to see that!

 

[Vacherin]

I went to Baselworld 2018, for an afternoon. In the end it cost me 90 Swiss Francs, including 30chf parking (Park and ride).

I'm not interested in buying a new watch, I just wanted to get a feel for what the show was like. The stones and gems section was interesting. Masses of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, some really big ones! There was a section promoting components and services from Hong Kong, quite a lot of exhibitors from the east. 

Beco Technic had a small stand, and I could try various tools. It would have been worth taking a scrap movement to prod and poke. There are some really sophisticated looking tools, a decent microscope for 1000chf, some micro welding equipment too.

It was also nice to speak to owners/makers from the various small watchmaking firms.

ETA were there, but only the quartz watch marketing department. Miyota had a good presence, with a new range of mechanical movements on show. Their low end mechanical movements were pleasing to the eye given the prices. Citizen had a great stand, with a display about their 1 second a year quartz movement, ecodrive, etc. The stand featured a spectacular display of 98,000 watch movements, backlit, individually dangling on strings.

The most interesting for me was to talk to the owners/founders of small watch and clock firms, German and Swiss in particular. I also wanted to look at some Patek Phillipe enamel work, and was interested to see some enamel over guilloche, with a bit more enamel work than I expected inside the stand. There were also some sofa's and I had the chance to sit down, relax, and look through a copy of the authorised history of Patek book.

I gave Omega and Rolex a cursory glance, as they are well represented in Jewelers all over Switzerland. I asked Rolex for a catalog on the way out, and got given royal treatment, including a hard bound book with a separate price list, by one of the stunning young receptionists on the desk.

All in all, it was fun, and worth the entry fee. Well worth it if you are in Switzerland anyway. However, there are regular watch repairer/watch fair type meetings in Switzerland, tours of the watch valley etc, and I am hoping to explore those at some point. As a watch repairer, if you were booking a trip to explore Switzerland, I think those would be first port of call.

[lewis]

There is a show in Geneva which is far more interesting for those of you into repair / manufacture, it's called EPCHJ Geneva and it's on in June. Baselworld used to have a basement (a very large one) with machines and parts suppliers, but they haven't had it for a few years and these companies are now largely at EPCHJ. My observations of Basel this year was that it is predominantly for retailers & distributors, most of the stands are entry by invite, so unless you are a trade customer then most of the show is inaccessible.