INSIDER VIEW: I miss the Pickwick pub
Nostalgia can do crazy things to people.
If you’d have told me in 2019, when I was attending (what I didn’t know at the time would be) the last ever Baselworld exhibition, that I’d miss the sticky carpets, extortionate prices, and smoky atmosphere of the ‘Pickwick’ pub, then I’d have pointed you in the direction of a padded cell.
Nothing about it made sense. The name wasn’t even the Pickwick. It was, at various points in time, called ‘The Pub’ or ‘The Fish Inn,’ but it was colloquially known as the Pickwick or the Embassy forever among industry stalwarts.
Its flagrant minimalism was incongruous with the opulence of Hall 1 on the opposite side of the road. And yet every major British and Irish watch executive, from brands and retailers alike, would congregate there at 6pm on the dot every day of the fair, without fail. It was a pilgrimage and a right.
At the time I felt like I was complicit in something a bit sad and embarrassing. What did it say about us Brits that we would flock to the nearest pub to decompress at the end of each day? Shouldn’t we be quaffing Veuve Clicquot with Swiss bigwigs in the old town instead of glugging stale lager in the ‘British Embassy’?
But the demise of Baselworld and the unstoppable rise of Watches & Wonders has given me pause for thought. Actually, wasn’t the Pickwick some version of perfect? It was a great leveller — hierarchy didn’t count for anything. And the old adage went that more business was done in the Pickwick after hours than at the show itself. Was this true? Probably not, but it was a fun thing to believe.
Most importantly, it was daily reminder of how enjoyable and fulfilling being part of the watch community is. Ultimately, whether you’re a brand or a retailer or from the media, we’re all pulling in the same direction. We all want to increase the profit made from the sale of watches.
Geneva’s Watches & Wonders (along with Time to Watches, Chronopolis, and the various hotels down by the lake), is magnificent in its own way, but where’s the communal watering hole? I thought about this just the other day when I was arranging a meet-up with someone for after the show one day, and we couldn’t think of anywhere that would be convenient near Palexpo. Where’s the Pickwick when you need it?
I am going to make it Watch Insider’s mission to launch a downmarket, spit and sawdust pop-up pub in Geneva one of these years, and invite the whole British and Irish watch industry to join me at the bar.
Who’s in?
