
Welcome to Milan: the achingly stylish capital of Italian fashion, design, and – for a few days at least – watches. The very first Milano Watch Week recently took place, with the idea that it will alternate with Dubai’s watch week, which takes place every couple of years.
In contrast to the sprawling pavilions of Dubai, the venue for the Italian show was the iconic Terrazza Martini skyscraper in the middle of city, right next to the famous Duomo – or cathedral – that has become a symbol of Milan.
From the top of the Terazza Martini, on the 16th floor, you get a fantastic view of the Duomo, which allows you to notice details that people on the ground don’t, such as the fact that even the backs of the statues on the roof are sculpted.
It’s an entirely unnecessary adornment, as the people creating the statues at the time knew that the backs would never be seen, but it provided a suitable parallel to the staggering attention to details showcased by the watchmakers that turned out to the Milan event, which made it a very fitting venue.
The first year of any show is always going to be about putting foundations in place, and this was very much the case for the Milan show, which had gathered a small but carefully curated selection of brands: 21 in total, which attracted more than 3,000 visitors from 31 countries over the three days. Alongside the exhibiting brands, there were a number of different talks and displays, which additionally covered other topics related to Italian culture, from winemaking to haute couture to motorbikes. It’s a rather nice concept that the organisers aptly call: “living watches the Italian way”.
The Terrazza Martini isn’t the biggest venue, but it struck exactly the right balance between creating a buzz and delivering enough opportunity to have a good look and plenty of great conversations with watchmakers, many of whom I didn’t have the chance to meet personally before. In that respect, it was a bit reminiscent of Geneva Watch Days as well.
What probably made the show better was the absence of the really huge brands; instead, it was more about established smaller watchmakers; some of which were nonetheless extremely high-end.
A good example is Krayon, a company so known now for creating one-off pieces that it has turned a few celebrities down, as you need to be a previous customer first. This is how former motorsport boss Jean Todt was able to have his Van Gogh-inspired ‘Starry, Starry Night’ watch, after collecting some previous examples of watchmaker Remi Maillat’s work. Maillat isn’t one who enjoys the limelight – he definitely prefers his workbench – but he commented:
“This is a really nice show; certainly, the sort of place that suits people like us. We don’t need to come, strictly speaking, as people come to us, but it’s nice to give people the opportunity to actually see the watches for themselves if they have heard of and like our brand.”
This was exactly the case for myself, and I was delighted to handle the green ‘Anywhere Aurora’ which was perhaps my favourite watch of the show, thanks to that breathtaking intricacy up-close, which reminded me of those statues on the nearby cathedral. I particularly loved Maillat’s description of it: “the illusion of simplicity”.
Naturally it comes with a stellar price tag of around £150,000, but there were other brands there that were a lot more accessible. One example (and perhaps the most globally recognised brand there, along with Parmigiani Fleurier and Franck Muller) was Moser, which brought a small selection of its latest watches.
“I think people like it here, as it’s a more intimate and casual way to interact with watches and our company.”
Said the company’s CEO Edouard Meylan. The fact that I was speaking to him at all rather proves the point.
And there were several other amazing conversations with some great brands: many of which I was really looking forward to seeing. A great example was Singer: a watch brand associated with the world-renowned restorer of classic Porsches. The design inspirations are evident on every timepiece, and it was excellent to finally get some time with them.
Other brands were less familiar, but just as innovative, such as Ludovic Ballouard, with the ‘upside down’ complication. These are watches that don’t feature an hour hand: instead, the relevant hour is the only one that it’s shown the right way round: the other hours are upside down. This, according to the watchmaker, is a reminder for us all to live in the moment and make the most of it: the hours that are past or still to come are not what we should be focussing on.
The focus was very much on innovation with other brands such as Gruebel Forsey and Romain Gauthier – neither of which I was especially familiar with – providing a few surprises. Nor had I spent much time with MB&F – whose watches definitely push the boundaries – and Trilobe before, to name just a handful of examples. And it was this that made the Milano Week Special: the fact that everybody was so approachable and willing to spend time chatting about their watches: from every end of the spectrum. This is always the conundrum with new shows: they start off well and eventually almost become the victims of their own success.
But by starting off small and keeping the emphasis on stylish and interesting brands that people may not know so well, the Italian organisers have hit on a winning formula, which gives them a solid foundation for future growth.
Fabrizio Bonvicino, one of the organisers, said:
“Watch collecting as we know it actually started in Italy, with Milan as one of the key hubs. So, we wondered why there is no international event in the very place that helped to spark the revival of watchmaking.”
That issue is now well and truly addressed. As opposed to a trade show, this is very much a show run by collectors – Fabrizio’s day job is running the Italian Watch Spotter website – for collectors.
And this formula has undoubtedly tapped into the zeitgeist of modern watch shows, with brands more and more eager to connect and engage directly with their customers, who in turn are increasingly interested in brands that fly slightly below the radar: especially if they are avid collectors.
I’ve been fortunate enough to go to many watch shows, but there’s no doubt that Milan was one of the very best yet. Not the biggest, and certainly not the most comprehensive. But undoubtedly the most stylish, with the very best views. Which is no less than you would expect in Italy.
Author Bio:
Anthony Peacock works as a journalist and is the owner of an international communications agency, all of which has helped take him to more than 80 countries across the world.
Photographs by Anthony Peacock
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