Milano Watch Week 2024: a place where haute horlogerie and Italian excellence meet

Italy is historically known as one of the world’s leading “laboratories” in the fields of handicrafts and applied arts. “Il Modo Italiano” (quoting Giampiero Bosoni) or Made in Italy, which identifies part of the national heritage and style, is something much higher than a simple mark of origin and represents a universally recognized system of excellence, quality and reliability. 

Watchmaking is also counted among the “arts” and as a “transdisciplinary” art form, it finds its own dimension in Italy, especially in Milan. 

A dimension that weave together past, present and finds its place in a unique event, the Milano Watch Week. A three-day experience (from 4 to 6 October) that will encourage the meeting and dialogue between the avant-garde of haute horlogerie and the many facets of Italian excellence.

Let’s discover together with Fabrizio Bonvicino and Vittorino Loreto, respectively co-founders of IWS – Italian Watch Spotter and Milano Watch Week, the elements that make this event unmissable for all watch enthusiasts and professionals. 

How Milano Watch Week was born?  

In 2021, we had the opportunity to visit the Dubai Watch Week. We came into contact with a completely different reality and way of “living” watchmaking, focused on sharing knowledge and creating network between enthusiasts, watch communities and experts in the industry. From that moment on, the desire grew in us to recreate something similar in Italy, both in terms of values and in the quality of content and experiences. Italy and Milan are very important in watchmaking as they represented the origin of collecting, trends and the wide spreading centre of some of the most iconic timepieces (as in the case of the Reverso by Jaeger-LeCoultre with the Corvo family). 

Having taken up the “challenge”, we decided to create the Milano Watch Week, an event that celebrates historicity, tradition and innovation while looking to the future of haute horlogerie with youthfulness and dynamism. 

Italy, the depository of Made in Italy and the “cradle” of watch collecting. How does an event like Milan Watch Week deal with this cultural heritage?  

The intention is to create an event where different ideas and approaches coexist, converge and dialogue, safeguarding the history of watchmaking and the role of Switzerland and Italy in watchmaking. 

Milano Watch Week was also created with the philanthropic purpose of “educating” and enabling the acquisition of watchmaking knowledge. A mission that aims to make watchmaking known and knowable. 

Italian partners and 20 prestigious independent brands. Tell us about this selection and how your project was received  

Right from the start, we embraced the idea of selecting a category of brands that were little known but at the same time had particularity and uniqueness. This is both to involve a section of enthusiasts in search of different and innovative realities capable of departing from the dominant narrative and to arouse curiosity and interest in those approaching this passion. Instead, the main partners, namely GMT Great Masters of Time, Pisa 1940 and Verga 1947, were chosen because they are the three most influential players in the Milan area. The event aims to celebrate the most distinctive timepieces and combine the world of watchmaking with Italian excellence. On this front, MV Agusta is the perfect Italian partner as each motorbike is handmade with the same dedication and attention to detail that distinguishes the luxury watch industry. 

In addition, we collaborate with Top Life Concierge to provide participants a free concierge service during their stay in Milan. We have selected this service to ensure that every aspect of the event is perfect and enjoyable for all visitors.  

3 days of haute horlogerie and Italian excellence. What awaits us at Milan Watch Week?

The official program will be available in the next few days but we can anticipate that the event will take place on the top two floors of the iconic Terrazza Martini. Respectively, on the fifteenth floor we will find the stands of the participating brands, where there will be the possibility of discovering each reality, and on the sixteenth (the terrace) a space dedicated to talks, panels and the exhibition of the MV Augusta Superveloce 1000 Serie Oro. 

The speeches will involve figures such as: Guido Terreni (CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier), the EveryWatch platform, Max Bernardini (founder of Bernardini Milano), Principe Milano 1940 and many others.    

Exhibitions, talks and interactive activities/workshops will therefore accompany the three days and will allow enthusiasts, collectors and professionals to overcome the “fourth wall” and experience the world of watchmaking and Italian excellence in its entirety.

The subject of space for events of this reach is very important. Why was the Terrazza Martini chosen? 

The spatial setting of the Terrazza Martini, for this first edition, reflects and emphasises our focus on the values of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation, and is the ideal backdrop for enhancing the scale of the event and appreciating the city’s majestic skyline (from the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II to the Torre Velasca). The Terrazza Martini is also Milan’s terrace par excellence, an architectural icon and a protagonist in the history of Italian costume and cinema, starting with Federico Fellini’s “Dolce Vita”. 

The theme of “liquidity” (quoting Zygmunt Bauman). How does a physical event such as Milan Watch Week deal with an increasingly advanced and digital world?

The power of digital tools is undisputed and the entire digital ecosystem has significantly supported watchmaking by facilitating, enhancing and multiplying interest, culture dissemination and relationships. In addition, it’s a harbinger of innovation and creativity, sustainability and optimization of processes, distribution, communication, marketing, customer relations and services. So for us, digital “extensions” and specifically social media are indispensable, especially today where “offline” and “online” realities coexist and complement each other. 

Goals and ambitions. Milan Watch Week today and in future editions

The aim is to give Milano Watch Week greater resonance and an increasingly broader dimension, in terms of the brands involved, the format and the dissemination of watchmaking culture. A moment of the year, all-Italian but with an international scope, to promote the multiple variations of the art of watchmaking, some well-known and others yet to be discovered! 

By Luca Barone