Baselworld 2019: What's next?

So, the Swatch Group announced over the weekend that it will pull out of the annual Baselworld watch fair. It is almost like Iron Man saying that he’s quitting The Avengers. It sure hurts if you're team Captain America.

But wait a minute, the super group is still sort of super… right? Well, kind of, but the hard truth is that Baselworld would be fooling itself if it thought nothing has changed.

FIRST, A SILVER LINING FOR BASELWORLD
If we want to get technical about it, even without the Swatch Group’s conglomerate of 18 brands, Baselworld is still the largest watch fair of its kind. There will still be 600-plus exhibitors come 2019, including the likes of horological giants Rolex and Patek Philippe. And – for now – the other big-name conglomerate, the LVMH group that owns brands like Hublot, TAG Heuer, Zenith and Bulgari.

It is a big hit for Baselworld, but it is not quite the knockout punch.