By: Roger Ruegger
The first four days of this year’s Watches and Wonders (April 14 to 20) were mainly reserved for B2B guests like retailers and journalists. During the last three days, however, the prestigious Salon opened again its doors to the public (from 18th to 20th April), introducing additional formats like masterclasses and demonstrations to “allow visitors to observe artisans at their own pace, understand the precision of their gestures, and engage directly with them.”
To do so, members of the public could either choose between getting a regular ticket (priced between CHF 30 for the last day and CHF 160 for the “3 Days Pass”), or opting for the significantly more expensive “Premium Package” to “step into the world of watchmaking with an experience designed for true enthusiasts.” While both the description and content of said package appeared to evolve quite a bit in the weeks and months leading up to the show (the “special gift”, for example, was suddenly removed from the page, see part 1 of this story), its price did not: CHF 550 for the one-day access to the Salon included, according to the Watches and Wonders Geneva Foundation (WWGF), “free dedicated parking”, “priority access to cloakrooms, security checks and brand booths”, “access to the VIP Lounge with drinks, a buffet lunch, and a private rest area”, “tailored guided tour led by an expert”, and “priority booking for product presentations.” Some of the collectors I spoke to during my visit on Saturday had purchased premium tickets for all three days, some wanted to enjoy a day at the show with their significant others, and almost all I spoke to had flown in specifically for Watches and Wonders, obviously requiring additional travel arrangements and hotel reservations.
While both ticket categories were easily available before and during the event (Saturday and Sunday eventually sold out, but Monday was still available during the weekend), brand presentations were much more “limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis”, and therefore quickly gone when the online booking tool was made accessible in the beginning of March, even though holders of the Premium Package were given “exclusive early access to register for […] activities.” IWC and Tudor, for example, were booked out almost immediately.
“The 2026 edition raised the game, driven by steadily increasing figures: nearly 60,000 unique visitors (+9%), 25,000 tickets sold over the three public days (+9%), 1,750 journalists (+9%), 6,000 retailers, and more than 10,000 people who took over the city center throughout the week. Registrations for product presentations, guided tours and other brand activities were snapped up, with some sessions fully booked even before opening day.” – Watches and Wonders (Closing Press Release)
In November 2024, Watches and Wonders had first announced its “exclusive Watches and Wonders VIP Experience” for end-consumers, which admittedly sounded like an interesting proposal for those who’d actually wanted to try some of the watches from the exhibiting brands. Fast forward to 2026, and it became clear quite quickly that such a VIP experience would require a bit of planning for those who’d expect more than just a horological TSA pre-check for the 2026 edition and its 65 participating brands.
Thankfully, having already traveled to Geneva by train, my visit in a different role only required booking another night at a hotel, and obviously the additional entry ticket to Watches and Wonders. I managed to sign up for a couple of brand presentations prior to the public days, and arrived first thing in the morning to pick up my ticket with QR code and a special wristband at the reception desk. Since there already was a line forming in front of the mandatory security check, I was understandably relieved to be able to skip the serpentine queue and taken straight to the VIP Lounge.
Speaking of queues: like the year before, most of the larger brands had to set up queue areas in front of their booths during the public days, with Rolex and Audemars Piguet attracting by far the largest crowds. The waiting time was somewhere between 40 and 60 minutes for each of these two brands, and both did a surprisingly good job managing the flow as efficiently as possible (given the often restricted layout of their booths and the need to keep groups small). Still, visitors with regular tickets ultimately had to spend a little bit of time waiting in line to briefly see their favorite brand, which potentially reduced the list of brands (someone mentioned a 2-hour waiting time to enter the Tudor booth), while premium package holders basically could just walk in wherever they wanted and therefore cover much more ground in one day.
A lot of the smaller brands in the Carré des Horlogers and La Mezzanine (like Sinn, Nomos, Armin Strom) happily embraced the opportunity to interact with existing and potential clients, and at least one brand even sold watches directly at the booth. The majority of the larger exhibiting brands, however, seemed to be somewhat overwhelmed by the different categories of visitors during the public days: Obviously, the “Touch and Try” sessions offered to retailers and journalists in the days before had provided a rough blueprint, but making these available and equally interesting to consumers and then even “more premium” to a few of them seemed to be a challenge for many, and the staff at the reception desks often reacted as if they weren’t properly briefed before.
In the end, larger brands often opted to simply upgrade their existing product presentations, either with senior staff members or offering a glass of champagne to differentiate between “regular product presentation” and “premium product presentation”. One brand, while kindly offering a one-to-one session, managed to bring a box with three watches to the appointment. Only one of them was a novelty, the other two were picked from the current collection. Unsurprisingly, the product presentation was already over by the time my drink arrived, and a visit to one of the brand’s boutiques would have been significantly more tempting in terms of looking at watches.
Cartier, on the other hand, managed to deliver a perfect experience for any type of visitor: the Maison had set up a beautiful cart with madeleines outside, and the booth offered a stunning overview of both historical pieces and novelties. With the knowledge from past shows that regular press appointments would rarely allow enough time to see all the new releases, I had decided to visit the “OG” of the show’s predecessor as part of my premium experience instead, and the French jewelry and watch maker definitely did not disappoint: a 30-minute guided tour of the booth was followed by a 40-minute product presentation of almost all new releases in the Privé collection (sans the Cartier Privé Crash Skeleton in Platinum, sadly) for a small group of four. In one of the VIP rooms.
Surprisingly, none of the brands I visited that day handed out swag (which was very different compared to the experience as a B2B visitor), I saw a few watch enthusiasts walking around with tote bags from Jaeger-LeCoultre and Tudor, but that was pretty much it. Equally surprising, only a few of the larger brands’ CEOs were seen interacting with end-consumers during the weekend.
In short, buying a regular ticket to Watches and Wonders Geneva represented once again a great way for people to get a glimpse of the luxury watch industry and meet smaller brands in person. Those hoping to efficiently interact with the larger brands and not lose time waiting in a queue, however, could more or less only do so with a Premium Package. Despite its premium price (and apparently no longer with a “special gift”), it made the show significantly more accessible and enjoyable. Especially for those “true enthusiasts” who had invested not only the CHF 550 for the ticket, but also quite a bit of time to book presentations beforehand.
As a watch enthusiast, I would already have been more than satisfied if I had just gotten to see “The Oyster Story”, exhibition from Rolex, an incredible 100th anniversary exhibition located near the exit of the booth. Without the Premium Package, however, I am honestly not sure if I had managed to see it during the Public Days, since it would have meant waiting in line for at least one hour. And I also don’t know how I would have learned about the exhibition’s existence in the first place, without prior visits to the Rolex booth in my other role.
In short, the Premium Package can perhaps best be described as “the next best thing to being able to attend Watches and Wonders as a watch journalist” – which I think says a lot about both experiences.
Part 1 (pre-Watches and Wonders) / Part 2 (Public Days)
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