We’re a little under a week away from Watchmas! I just want to take this time to wish everyone an early very very happy Watchmas. While Watchmas is officially on March 23rd this year, as it is every year, we will be observing on April 9th, the first day of Watches and Wonders 2024.
On that note, I’d like to announce a change for future Watchmas celebrations. When I first started the holiday back in 2018, Baselworld (the watch world’s largest trade show at the time) was still in existence, and I picked the 23rd as it took place during when Baselworld was taking place. It was supposed to be a holiday to celebrate all the new watches coming out each year, plus just an occasion for watch collectors to get together and have a fun time catching up. With the rise of SIHH, we increasingly had watch brands’ releases split up between different trade shows and different dates. To make matters more complicated, after over 100 years in existence, Baselworld finally shut down in 2020. Long story short, there had to be a new show.
There was some back and forth regarding what the new show would ultimately be, but it seems for now we’ve settled on Watches & Wonders being Baselworld’s replacement as the industry’s largest trade show. That would be fine, except for the fact that March 23rd now tends to come nowhere close to when the new watches come out. For a few years now we’ve been trying out where we officially celebrate Watchmas on March 23rd and observe the holiday on the first day of Watches & Wonders, but I think that finally needs to change… Starting with Watchmas 8 (2025) and beyond, Watchmas will no longer officially take place on March 23rd. We will always keep the 23rd as a special day in our hearts, but, going forward, Watchmas will take place on the first day of whatever the industry’s largest trade show is each year.
I hope you all have had a great start to 2024 and that you can enjoy a very happy Watchmas season with your friends and family. May the rest of 2024 bring only reasons to celebrate for everyone.
-Rob