Horological Meandering

Of course, he was referring to discrimication agaist Jews but the same feeling applies.

I used to go mainly to SIHH but it was very much a clique and discriminatory place. "Snobby" was used by some of your interviewees.

Mostly, it was about money because despite their declared "independence" of individual brands in the Richemont Group, all the CEOs and CFOs report to the same President and Money God. When you were invited, you have to admit to feeling superior to the plebians at Baselworld or especially the Geneva Week "leeches" (Not my quotation).

Some used the original presence of other brands like Girard- Perregaux, Audemars Piguet, Parmigiani, Greubel Forsey, Ralph Lauren and Richard Mille to demonstrate "independence" but 3 facts stood out. 

1) Those independent brands complied with the Richemont social norms and acted like them; no independent thought emerged.

2) Many of those independent brands are part-owned by existing SIHH brands or are suppliers of components and technology to SIHH brands or family owners were personal friends of the family that owned Richemont.

3) When those family ties were broken by deaths or merger-acqusitions, they lost G-P back to Basel. Despite being partly owned by Richemont, Ralph Lauren Watch & Jewellery left SIHH; the first independent action there. 

SIHH had to change to survive so they "invited" some independents to join. How independent are they? That's an offer you can't refuse. After decades of scrabbling for crumbs falling off the SIHH table by renting space in hotels and halls around Geneva to entice visitors for a few hours away from SIHH, suddenly they get to sit at the table?!?

Without paying the full fees? YES....P-L-E-A-S-E.

Nowadays, I go to Baselworld because the people are friendly and really care about sharing their watches.....er......except maybe Rolex and Breitling, whose fortress pavilions are a bit discriminatory

Just my personal observations that possibly mean that I'm going to be banned from SIHH........or am I now more desireable as a visitor since I am banned?

Regards,

MTF

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