Swiss luxury watchmaker Franck Muller Group will three versions of its annual watch show in 2009, instead of just one.

The multiple editions are in response to the divided schedules in 2009 of the BaselWorld watch fair in Basel, Switzerland, and the Salon de la Haute Horlogerie, in Geneva, Switzerland. Normally, BaselWorld, SIHH, and Franck Muller’s World Presentation of Haute Horlogerie are held at the same time, each benefiting from the large numbers of foreign buyers and journalists who come.

However in 2009—for the first time in years—BaselWorld and the SIHH won’t overlap, because the Geneva Motor Show is being held in Geneva’s Palexpo convention center when the SIHH is usually held there. So, SIHH 2009 will take place Jan. 19 to 24, 2009, two months before BaselWorld 2009 (Mar. 26 – Apr. 2, 2009). 

So Franck Muller is responding by holding a WHPP Jan. 18 to Jan. 25, overlapping the 2009 SIHH. It will hold a second, trade-only WHPP Mar. 24 to Apr. 4, overlapping BaselWorld. It will hold a third WHPP during the summer, from Aug. 18 to Aug 23.

The intent, says the company, is enable Franck Muller’s clients, journalists from the world media and the public to coordinate their visits to the WHPP with the schedules of other shows.

JCK