Paragon gears up for watch show
As host of the upcoming Bangkok World Watch and Jewellery 2006 exhibition, Siam Paragon shopping complex is confident of a good response from upscale customers.
Some watch manufacturers, however, are not so confident in the face of local and global political turmoil. Saridpong Rattanapote, chief merchandising officer of The Mall Group - operator of Siam Paragon - said yesterday that putting on a delightful exhibition that was big enough to become the talk of the town would help draw people's attention away from the bad news reported daily. The exhibition will run from July 27 to August 14 and features timepieces from 150 international brands, mostly Swiss, that are together worth more than Bt3 billion. Franck Muller's Aeternitas model, worth Bt80 million, will be the most expensive watch on show, while the Audemars Piguet Fond Noirmentre model is priced at Bt51 million. Aeternitas is said to be the first watch with a 1,000-year calendar, while the Fond Noirmentre is decorated in a braceletlike design of diamonds and emeralds. The exhibition is separated into two zones with five concepts: complication, luxury, trend and innovation, fashion and sports. The idea is that people today wear different styles of watches for different occasions - parties, sports, business - unlike before when they wore one watch everywhere. Christophe Viguerie, managing director of the Swiss-based Swatch Group, said he was not so confident about the industry as Swatch had already witnessed some negative effects on sales of middle and high-end watches. He said the slowdown in the watch industry was caused by the psychological effect of factors like political turmoil, oil-price and interest-rate hikes, and inflation. Swatch Group gained fewer customers during the second quarter this year, although sales still grew year-on-year, and Viguerie hoped for better feedback from the Siam Paragon watch fair. At the moment, he said, it was too early to assess the whole marketing situation in the watch industry. The exhibition at Siam Paragon will be a good indicator, and the next watch fair, scheduled at Central Chidlom next month, will be the confirmation, he said. He said the watch industry as a whole still had a brighter future in Asia thanin Europe and the US.
Nitida Asawanipont
The Nation
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