The Salón Internacional Alta Relojería (SIAR) Mexico 2010 took place inside the Mexican capital from the 28th to the 30th of September. As the seat of the haute horlogerie, it was honored with the presence of the most prestigious watchmaking brands in the world. In the midst of CEO’s, General Managers, and representatives, the brands that participated in the event revealed their latest models and their most daring innovations.

Thirty-five brands assistted the 2010 SIAR, six more tan the previous 29 who attended last year’s edition. This is due to two principal factors. The first pertains to a 16.4 % growth in exports from Switzerland, in accordance to the figures presented by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

 

Thirty-five brands assistted the 2010 SIAR, six more tan the previous 29 who attended last year’s edition. This is due to two principal factors. The first pertains to a 16.4 % growth in exports from Switzerland, in accordance to the figures presented by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.  Taking into account only Helvetic watches, Mexico posted a 48 % rise in demand, occupying the fifth place in worldwide sales of these pieces. The second is related to the rebound factor, given that, little by little, prestigious watches are gaining substantial importance in our country and Latin America, which is indicated by the quantity of visitors that were registered in 2010, compared to figures from the previous year.

In this respect, the president of SIAR, Carlos Alonso, affirmed that, which the withering economic and financial crisis, Mexico and Latin America, in general, constitute a new priority in terms of development for the watchmaking sector. This region of the world is the, “new priority objective for the Swiss Made”.

The prestigious brands that  participated at the SIAR: A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet, Bvlgari, Cartier, Corum, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Parmigiani, Piaget, Roger Dubuis, TAG Heuer, Vacheron Constantin and Zenith. For their part, the younger brands included Alpina, Azimuth, Bedat, Chanel, Concord, Franc Vila, Frédérique Constant, Greubel Forsey, Harry Winston, Jacob & Co, Jean Dunand, Maitres du Temps, MB&F, Richard Mille, Urwerk and Vulcain.

Amongst the personalities from the watchmaking world that attended the SIAR 2010 Mexico are found Jérôme Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre; Peter Stas, founder of Frédérique Constant y owner of Alpina; Antonio Calce, CEO of Corum; Maximilian Büsser, creator of MB&F; Franc Vila; Martin Frei y Felix Baumgartner, watchmakers from Urwerk; Bernard Fleury, CEO of Vulcain; Christophe Claret; Guillaume Tetu, co-founder of Hautlence, and the CEO of the Cabestan firm, Jean-François Ruchonnet, amongst other representatives of the brands presented.

In this manner, the SIAR demonstrated that high-end watchmaking still holds presence and, above all, that it is beginning to generate great interest on the Mexican and Latin American public.

 

 

Text: Amura ± Photo: SIAR