SalonQP 2013
Nestled between Munichtime and Belles Montres in Paris and just before the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix is the now very much established Salon QP, British Watchmaking event of the year.
It's official – November has become the watch industry month of the year. It is the perfect time to exhibit the new models which have been unveiled throughout the year, but which have now emerged from behind glass cabinets, gone into production and can be held, touched and bought, it is the perfect time for a pre-Christmas showcase and it is also the perfect time to wind up any business of the year before the activities begin again for SIHH and BaselWorld.
Salon QP is not to be confused with other, more humdrum watch industry events, it has had in the past some very unique attractions and this year will be no different – there will be a seminar centre, there will be guest speakers, and auction events, to name but a few and with the eclectic mix of all that British holorogy brings to any occasion, people-watching is also an opportunity not to be missed.
This year’s event will continue to shine a spotlight on British watchmaking – that Britain has contributed richly to the history of horology is in no doubt, but the current revival has, in historical terms been relatively fast. It was only in the seventies that Peter Roberts a Fellow of the British Horological Institute became the first UK student to study at WOSTEP, he became a teacher at London’s Hackney School of Watchmaking and among his many students over the years were Stephen Forsey and Peter Speake-Marin. This year sees a new company, Pinion unveil their first piece adding some new blood to British watchmaking, a genre which is not only being embraced by the global watch industry, but is opening up its own little "micro-market". Be in no doubt, QP Magazine’s James Gurney may masquerade as the epitome of understatement, but he is in fact as canny as they get, and the influence of both his glossy magazine and the Salon QP event, particularly in Britain is incalculable.
In honour of Great British Watchmaking we'll be bringing you just a taste of the horological talent that Blighty has to offer just skip back to the home page and enjoy.