The Show to Watch: The Story of Baselworld

The Baselworld Watch and Jewelry Show is a trade show held each spring in Basel, Switzerland, and attended by major international watch and jewelry industry players.

The first Baselworld was held in 1917, with a special section for watches and jewelry. In 1986, according to Baselworld’s own website, exhibitors from outside Europe were admitted for the first time. In 2004, a new hall complex was launched and the exhibition area extended to 160,000 square meters. In 2007, the show passed the 100,000 visitors mark for the first time.

In 2014, Baselworld feature the most expensive watch ever made: Graff’s Hallucination Watch, a ladies wristwatch featuring 110 carats of extremely rare colored diamond, carrying a whooping price tag of $55 million.

In 2015, 150,000 visitors from more than 100 countries attended the show, as well as 4,300 media representatives. 1,500 jewelry and watch brands unveiled their products. During last year’s show, jewelry brand Coronet celebrates its first appearance in Baselworld with a unique piece: Coronet partnered with Chow Tai Fook and designer Mark Lui to create a $2 million Diamond Gibson Guitar adorned with over 400 carat diamonds set in approximately 1.6kg of 18k gold. It made the Guinness Book of Records as the most valuable guitar ever made.