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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThe Fondation Haute Horlogerie’s 11th FHH Forum took place on November 8, 2023, at Maison de la Paix in Geneva. Its theme, “Horology Futurology: Grasping the complexities of a fast-changing customer reality,” brought global trends, business planning and customer engagement into one industry discussion. This was a past, half-day in-person event—not an upcoming forum.
What the FHH Forum 2023 set out to discuss
FHH presented the forum as a platform for discussion and debate about how the watch sector could adapt to customers and expectations in a changing world. The 2023 edition followed a previous year’s focus on sustainability and widened the lens to include geopolitical, economic, social and ecological change. FHH’s October 20, 2023 announcement described a program that moved from broad conditions to practical questions for the industry.
The event materials framed these topics as connected rather than competing: changes in the wider world affect how businesses plan, how customers behave and how watch brands engage with them. The official agenda listed Maison de la Paix in Geneva as the venue and described a half-day, in-person gathering.
From global pressures to watch-industry decisions
Macro trends and their possible effects
The program opened with a discussion of geopolitical, economic, social and ecological trends and what they could mean for business and watchmaking. FHH named economist and University of Oxford professor Ian Goldin and geopolitics analyst and prospectivist Virginie Raisson for this conversation, moderated by Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, President, International, The New York Times. The session’s purpose was to consider the broader forces shaping the environment in which the industry operates, not to announce a single forecast for watches.
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Nature and business time horizons
Later sessions turned to the relationship between humans and nature and the challenge of balancing short- and long-term horizons in business. FHH named naturalist Bruno David and Inès Leonarduzzi, founder of Digital for the Planet and author of Réparer le futur. The agenda placed Leonarduzzi in a session about business time horizons. Together, these subjects extended the forum’s discussion from external change to the choices companies make in response.
Customer expectations and the in-store question
The customer-facing part of the program addressed changing expectations and the evolution of customer engagement, bringing in behavioral scientists, retail experts, luxury-industry representatives and watch-industry participants. The contemporaneous quantitative context came from Deloitte’s 2023 Swiss Watch Industry Study, published October 12, 2023. Deloitte said it surveyed 75 senior industry executives and 6,045 consumers in Switzerland and major Swiss-watch export markets; India was also included that year. The consumer sample covered China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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- In-store experience: 52% of Deloitte’s surveyed consumers said they bought watches in stores so they could touch, test and try them. That result describes respondents to this survey, not all watch buyers.
- Executive expectations: 62% of surveyed brands’ executives expected in-store sales to outweigh online sales over the next five years. This was an expectation reported in 2023, not a measured sales share or a current forecast.
Karine Szegedi, Head of Consumer and Fashion & Luxury at Deloitte Switzerland, captured the experiential argument in the study’s release: “The electric atmosphere of watch fairs and auctions and experiencing a brand’s spirit in-store cannot be replicated in the digital space.” The figures and quote help explain why the forum’s attention to customer engagement included physical retail, while leaving room for the wider discussion about evolving expectations.
FHH also said Deloitte would present answers to four additional questions asked specifically for the forum among respondents to its annual watch-industry study. The official event materials provide session descriptions and speaker biographies, but not a transcript or verified direct quotations from forum speakers.
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What later data can—and cannot—say about the forum
Deloitte’s 2025 Swiss Watch Industry Study, published November 3, 2025, offers a later point of reference: its eleventh edition surveyed 111 executives and 6,500 consumers. It is not a retrospective validation of what attendees said or concluded at the 2023 forum, and the forum’s survey context should not be presented as current consumer behavior in 2026.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.FHH’s work beyond the 2023 event
FHH describes its work through three pillars: Watches and Culture, FHH Academy and FHH Forum. The Forum is its industry discussion and debate platform; the Academy provides watchmaking training and certification. Readers interested in education can explore FHH Academy.
A separate development came on September 17, 2026, when FHH and the Gemological Institute of America announced a strategic academic collaboration. GIA’s announcement said FHH Academy programs would be offered to students across its global campus network, beginning in early 2027 with the Watch Advisor certification and open sessions with a dedicated tutor. This education collaboration was announced nearly three years after the forum; it was not part of the 2023 event, and the announcement did not provide enrollment details.
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