Baselworld 2010 Watch Show: A Tour of Hall 1 in Basel, Switzerland

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Here is a walking tour of the Baselworld 2010 watch show in Basel, Switzerland. In this video, we start out in the front of Hall 1 at the fountains and work our way into the hall. As you can see, the booths are huge and in some cases climb up to 3 stories tall. Some of the booths are larger than most watch-sellers’ entire storefronts.

The watch companies have their current lineups on the outside or inside of their booth. The front of the booth usually has a reception desk which is a buyer’s first stop before their appointment. Then, the buyers are taken to a private room, in most booths this will be upstairs. In the private room, waitresses serve them whatever they want as they are shown the new releases for 2010. During this process, the buyers are also encouraged to place orders for new watches. Sometimes, the buyers don’t already carry the line but are interested in doing so. Most of the watch brand have the President of the company attend the meetings.

This video only shows a small part of Hall 1. There are more floors in Hall 1 with hundreds more brands – from large names to independent watchmakers that have almost no identity. For these smaller brands, you can usually talk to the owner without an appointment. They are eager to talk with you and show you their watches. The larger brands on the other hand, are impossible to talk with anyone unless you have a pre-scheduled appointment.

There are a total of 6 halls spread out within about 15 blocks.