One of the largest watch group holdouts is heading to Watches and Wonders in 2027 as Breitling’s House of Brands will join the world’s premier luxury watch fair for the first time. Scheduled to take place April 5 to 11 in Geneva at Palexpo, with supplementary programs and exhibitions including the In The City events that debuted at the most recent edition, brands including Breitling, Gallet, Universal Genève and Italy’s Damiani will exhibit alongside founding partners Rolex, Patek Philippe and Richemont brands, among others, according to a statement from the non-profit Watches and Wonders Foundation.
The inclusion of the House of Brands group marks a significant addition for Watches and Wonders, underscoring its position as the most important annual gathering of Swiss and international luxury watchmakers, retailers, media, and the public each spring. The announcement follows news that Basel will return to the watch fair schedule with a new watch and jewelry show called Basilia that will follow during the same month, and leaves Swatch Group as the only major Swiss watchmaking conglomerate not participating in Watches and Wonders.
“The arrival of these new names represents an important milestone in the evolution of Watches and Wonders Geneva, and reflects the desire of major watchmaking Maisons to unite around a shared vision,” Watches and Wonders organizers said in a prepared statement.
A record 65 brands participated in the event in 2026, including, for the first time, Audemars Piguet, with close to 60,000 visitors, despite geopolitical tensions and military conflict in the Middle East that disrupted travel for some guests. Cyrille Vigneron, the chairman of the Watches and Wonders Geneva Foundation, the non-profit organization that organizes and stages the annual retail trade fair, has said the event could expand to include as many as 100 brands.
He has also said that exhibitor costs and the fees charged to brands per square meter of exhibition space hadn’t increased in half a decade and that the Watches and Wonders Foundation had worked with local hotel operators and food and beverage providers to keep costs relatively reasonable. Baselworld, once the world’s largest watch and jewelry fair, ended after 2019, following the exit of Swatch Group in 2018 and complaints of exorbitant exhibitor fees as well as hotel and food costs for visitors.
Created in September 2022 on the initiative of Rolex, Richemont and Patek Philippe, Watches and Wonders Geneva Foundation is a non-profit foundation based in Geneva with a mission to promote watchmaking by organizing the annual Geneva Salon. Chanel, Hermès and LVMH are also members of the WWGF Board.
Anchored by Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Richemont marques (including A. Lange & Söhne, Cartier, IWC, and Vacheron Constantin), Watches and Wonders now includes brands such as Bulgari, TAG Heuer, and Zenith, as well as Hermès and Chanel. Swiss independents, including Oris and Norqain, as well as international players such as Grand Seiko of Japan and Germany’s Nomos and Sinn, also participated in 2026. The WWGF says it will provide further details of the show and a full slate of participating brands for 2027 at a later date.
