This month, the world will descend on Geneva for Watches & Wonders, the most important watch event of the year. That’s not just a symbolic title. This year the Palexpo event space next to GVA is home to 66 brands, including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Cartier, Tudor, Audemars Piguet (new this year) and many, many more. Honestly, by now I shouldn’t need to tell you about it.
What I also probably don’t need to tell you is that it’s a lot to organise. The logistics and politics of an event like Watches & Wonders isn’t so much daunting as it is terrifying. So, when we had the chance to talk to the madman taking it on – CEO Matthieu Humair – we jumped at the opportunity.
Humair is much calmer than I’d expect from the man behind an event at the centre of global watchmaking. After all, the entire watch world will be bearing down on Geneva. The first and keenest wave tends to be press and industry insiders, closely followed by retailers planning their year’s stock, and finally by the general watch-buying public. It’s a lot to juggle and all, in Humair’s mind, vital for the show to work.
“They’re all important. We’re building a salon, an event and we should be offering all visitors a unique experience. Anyone can be a key link for a brand, so we have to make sure they have the best experience possible.” Apparently, that also includes future watch buyers.
“We see more and more families coming along, so this year we will also have a dedicated space for kids.”
A Rolex-branded creche is a nice idea, but visitors come to see watches more than play on slides, and with the expansion to 66 exhibitors this year, it’s getting to be quite a lot to take in. And yet given the global scope, it’s perhaps no surprise that Humair has watchmaking suitors aplenty.
“Of course we receive a lot of requests. There’s a lot of interest in joining Watches & Wonders and many brands that would like to be present. So that’s great for the future of the event. But there are several objective criteria we need to take into account. Technical know-how, style and design, the brand’s DNA and history.”
Evidently not everyone makes the cut. Over the last few years, Watches & Wonders has grown from 22 brands to its current slate of 66. That’s three times bigger in half a decade. And if you’ve ever been to Watches & Wonders yourself, you’ll know that as a show, it certainly doesn’t lack scale. Forget a couple of tables and a display cabinet or two, we’re talking ‘stands’ that dwarf most authorised dealers with their own bars, photography studios and tens of staff in brand livery.
“It’s like building a city within a city,” says Humair of the effort. “We spend three months preparing the site and two months setting it all up, with a lot of people working behind the scenes. It’s a huge team project and we work hand-in-hand with all 66 brands to make it happen.”
For Humair though, it’s an enterprise that’s well worth the effort.
“We create emotions, we create magic. We bring people together, the industry together. It’s what makes our event stand apart as a unique way to promote watchmaking all across the world.”
While the headline grabbers are understandably the new watches being launched, ranging from accessible beaters to high complications, that’s not all there is to see. Each year Watches & Wonders also puts on an in-depth historical exhibition that’s reliably one of the show’s more thoughtful corners, which last year showcased the evolution of the GMT.
“This year it will be a journey through the history of the alarm clock. It’s one of my favourite spaces. But I also love the Lab area, which is dedicated to innovation and cutting-edge technologies. There’s so much young talent in that part of the salon.”
Honestly, the Lab is somewhere I wish I could spend more time. New releases are one thing. But new technologies – additive manufacturing, AI assistance, novel approaches to timekeeping – point further forward.
While Watches & Wonders is still considered an industry event by and large, it’s one whose reach has stretched well beyond. Not only is it common to come across collectors hunting down their next horological hit inside the Palexpo, last year saw the show expand into Geneva proper, dubbed In The City, with a festival atmosphere, live music and a lot of fun even if you don’t have a curated ten-piece watch collection. This initiative is set to become a bigger talking point for 2026. In fact, during our call Humair teased a new partnership with the Montreux Jazz Festival and a “club” concept in the centre of Geneva, pitched as an afterwork meeting point for the public and industry to talk watches after the salon closes.
That all said, Watches & Wonders has become a titan even outside of Geneva. With so many new watches, scores of influencers, horological or otherwise, and celebrity visits from David Beckham, Lewis Hamilton, Benedict Cumberbatch and many more (in 2024 we found ourselves stuck in the Hublot stand by Kylian Mbappe’s security team), its online reach has ballooned.
“Last year we reached more than 700 million people, which really shows the magnitude and importance of the event,” says Humair. “We receive a lot of celebrities and ambassadors who are happy to say that they’re at Watches & Wonders, something we’ve completely integrated into our communication strategy, for both ourselves and the exhibiting brands.”
That’s a reach that eclipses every other watch show, and it would be easy to assume that for Humair, other watch shows just don’t matter. But the mission of Watches & Wonders isn’t just to host a great event, but to promote watchmaking as an industry. Anything else that has the same aim is a positive in his book.
“We follow all the other beautiful activations and initiatives throughout the watch industry all year long. There’s a place for everyone, all for the good of promoting watchmaking. There are big shows and local regional events and that’s wonderful, because each brand can decide what works for them. Dubai Watch Week for example did an amazing job.”
Watches & Wonders has established itself as the de facto show of the year. They’ve enticed the world’s biggest watchmakers to their exhibition halls and have started taking over Geneva proper. Where can the show go next?
“We must keep improving, staying culturally relevant. We’ve evolved a lot in the last five years post-covid – we’ve improved. But we still have places to go. Watches & Wonders is a commitment to the future and even the 2026 edition is just the beginning.”
More details at Watches & Wonders.
