Whether established or emerging, exhibiting at Art Basel can change not only an artist’s fate, but also that of a gallery. For this 56th edition, the world’s leading art fair continues to surprise with breathtaking installations, ranging from those by the renowned Japanese visual artist Tadashi Kawamata (Ruinart Art Lounge) to the young Swiss painter Marius Steiger.

Long seen as Asia’s discreet manufacturing hub rather than its glamorous showcase, Vietnam is undergoing a major transformation. Southeast Asia’s most capitalist communist country is now attracting the world’s leading luxury brands at an almost defiant pace. It has even seen an influx of Russian, Korean, and European visitors since the conflict in the Middle East.

For over six decades, major Italian design firms were the ones mostly driving the conversations each spring in the Lombard capital. Today, leading luxury brands such as Hermès, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Baccarat, Miu Miu, and Loro Piana are jostling for attention during Salone del Mobile, the most important annual design event.

While the Swiss watch market has shifted toward hyper-luxury, with Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet capturing the lion’s share of value, brands positioned in the “affordable” price range—under 3,000 Swiss francs—must redouble their efforts to survive. Nevertheless, at Watches and Wonders Geneva, they are taking the opportunity to reaffirm their legitimacy.

As Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari, prepares to hand over the reins of the brand to Laura Burdese next July, he outlines the brand’s significant future potential, the growth drivers presented at Watches and Wonders, and the strategy designed to win back a younger clientele.

By refocusing the strategy on the product, the company’s CEO Gregory Kissling aims to reestablish Breguet at the heart of fine watchmaking.

Between the Upper East Side and Soho, Manhattan has redrawn the boundaries of luxury. With recent openings and the exodus of galleries to the Lower East Side, the Big Apple proves that “brick-and-mortar” isn’t dead: it’s just become more exclusive, more artistic, and radically experiential.

As the Watches and Wonders fair closed its doors on April 20 with a positive outcome and increased attendance, Guillaume de Seynes, CEO of Hermès International (upstream division and equity investments), outlines the measures taken by the brand to reverse the downward trend in its watchmaking division, which has struggled to regain the strong momentum of the post-Covid years.

Less than two years after its relaunch by Patrik Hoffmann, the historic Le Locle-based brand is making its debut among the industry’s leading names at Watches and Wonders Geneva. Driven by a rapidly growing Indian market, a history spanning several centuries, and a B2B model, Favre Leuba remains on course despite the geopolitical and economic tensions weighing on the sector.

In Geneva, on the first day of Watches and Wonders, Cartier highlighted an increasingly difficult balance to strike in the industry: fueling desirability for its iconic timepieces while ensuring that its offerings remain affordable for a broader clientele. Louis Ferla, CEO of Cartier, and Arnaud Carrez, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Cartier outline the company’s strategies.

In Milan, the issue of subcontractors – brought to light, among others, by the Loro Piana case – reveals the flip side of an industrial model in which artisanal excellence coexists with production lines that are becoming increasingly difficult to control.

At the foot of the Tatra Mountains, Zakopane claims to be Poland’s winter capital. With tourism booming, the resort is betting everything on its cultural, authentic, and historical appeal to attract a more upscale international clientele.

The idea is ambitious: to turn Trondheim, a small city in northern Norway with just over 200,000 residents, into an international cultural destination through a museum of modern and contemporary art, the PoMo, which opened its doors in 2025, thereby creating in Norway what is known as the “Bilbao effect”— the transformation of a city through a museum.

Amid pressure on margins, currency fluctuations, and reliance on wholesale, Oris is championing a model based on volume and perceived value. We spoke with Rolf Studer, the brand’s CEO, ahead of Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026.

While the high-end segment now captures most of the value in watchmaking, the Geneva-based manufacture Frédérique Constant—owned by Citizen group since 2016—continues to pursue a strategy of ultra-competitive pricing. A demanding positioning that raises questions about the model’s profitability. Interview with its CEO, Niels Eggerding.