The "Salon International HAUTE HORLOGERIE" (commonly known as the Geneva Salon), an international exhibition that presents the essence and future of high watchmaking, began in 1991. This year marked the 20th anniversary of the exhibition, considered the pinnacle of the watchmaking world.

While some brands had new collections yet to be announced, the new collections, led by Cartier, were magnificent, befitting this commemorative year. The atmosphere and number of visitors at the venue were vastly different from last year, held in the immediate aftermath of the "Lehman Shock" when the global luxury market had dramatically contracted. The previous fervor had returned.

The number of participating brands also increased from 17 last year to 19. Among them, Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Van Cleef & Arpels, and A. Lange & Söhne, which also celebrated its 20th anniversary since its revival, just like this salon, showcased remarkable creations.A. Lange & Söhnewere particularly noteworthy.


This year's salon featured three main topics. Firstly, the new generation of complicated watches, symbolized by the novel mechanisms found in the chic ideas and refined, beautiful designs of new pieces from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, which have merged at an unprecedented level. Secondly, neo-classic watches that faithfully inherit the brand's history and essence, exemplified by the slim men's dress watches presented by Piaget and Vacheron Constantin, setting new world records for automatic and manual winding movements respectively. And thirdly, the emergence of attractively featured yet unprecedentedly affordable models, such as Panerai's new releases, which, despite housing newly developed thin manual-winding movements, are priced in the mid-600,000 yen range.

Furthermore, the high jewelry and art watches from brands like Cartier, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Vacheron Constantin, which have pursued the pinnacle of gem-set watches through luxurious material usage and supreme craftsmanship, were among the highlights, arguably the most substantial in the past five years.High Jewelrywere also unmissable highlights.

While concerns about the global economic downturn were present, the content of the new collections was more substantial than ever. The CEOs of each brand uniformly spoke with strong conviction about the end of the crisis and their outlook for the future.

High watchmaking's creations continue unabated.