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Industry News: JCK Cancels Las Vegas Events; LVMH Exits Basel; More April 22, 2020 (0 comments)
JCK Cancels 2020 Las Vegas Events
Norwalk, CT—JCK Las Vegas and JCK Luxury have been cancelled for 2020.
As the coronavirus pandemic drove cancellations of industry events worldwide, JCK had initially sought to postpone and reschedule both events from their early June dates. But in response to concerns and feedback from the jewelry community, Reed Jewelry Group, JCK’s owners, on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the 2020 events. The next Las Vegas events will now take place in June 2021 at the Venetian Resort & Sands Expo in Las Vegas.
For 2020, JCK will shift to facilitating business connections through a virtual event this summer, and will offer JCK customers who want an in-person buying event the opportunity to participate in JCK’s sister show, JIS October, taking place in Miami, FL, from October 13-16.
“This decision was made in response to the unprecedented challenges faced by JCK’s jewelry community. We know this decision impacts the entire industry and it was not made lightly. The show has always been more than just a show floor, it’s a platform that brings our entire industry together and reflects its exceptional strength, creativity and diversity,” said Sarin Bachmann, group vice president for JCK and Luxury, in a statement.
Reed Jewelry Group will host JCK Virtual 2020 this summer, with opportunities to network, merchandise, and learn and unite virtually.
“These are unprecedented times, but JCK and Luxury are in this with you and we will continue to listen to our customers and to facilitate the personal and business connections that our industry is built on,” Bachmann continued.
Yancy Weinrich, COO of Reed Exhibitions, said, “In 2021, Reed Exhibitions looks forward to welcoming the jewelry and watch industries back to the Venetian Resort & Sands Expo, who have been exceptionally strategic and flexible partners throughout our process of finding the right solutions for the industry during this challenging time.”
LVMH Watch Brands Announce They’ll Exit Baselworld Too
Basel, Switzerland—In what’s almost an anticlimactic development to the Baselworld fair drama, TAG Heuer, Hublot, and Zenith—the brands comprising the watch division of luxury conglomerate LVMH—have dropped out of the fair. Their exit follows on the heels of last week’s departure of Rolex, Patek Philippe, and other marquee brands to form a new show in Geneva in concert with the Watches & Wonders event.
Many in the industry speculated it wouldn’t be long before the LVMH brands departed Baselworld as well, leaving the beleaguered fair with none of the major watch brand groups. The LVMH group will exhibit in Geneva in April, but at press time it was not clear whether they would be joining the new fair or exhibiting concurrently on their own.
The furor began when MCH Group, Baselworld’s management, announced that the 2021 fair dates would be in late January instead of April like the 2020 fair would have been. The January time slot doesn’t work for the majority of the global industry and exhibitors were up in arms about it.
Both exhibitors and retailers had long pressed for Baselworld and Watches & Wonders, formerly SIHH, to align dates, something that was to have happened in 2020 until the coronavirus intervened and caused the show to be cancelled. But instead of simply rescheduling it for next April to keep the alignment with Geneva, MCH Group changed the dates to January and then further raised exhibitor ire by refusing to fully refund deposits to exhibitors unhappy with the new dates.
Last week, officials said they would render a decision about the future of the fair soon.
Yoram Dvash Elected Acting President of WFDB
Antwerp, Belgium—Yoram Dvash, president of the Israel Diamond Bourse, was unanimously elected as the acting president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB). His election took place during a meeting of the WFDB executive committee, held via Zoom.
Not surprisingly, his first priority is to steer the organization and the industry through the challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis.
“It is my fervent wish that the entire diamond industry across the world works together unitedly so that we can be prepared for a business life after COVID-19,” he said. “The diamond industry like all other industries is going through a very difficult time due to the coronavirus pandemic that has struck so much devastation in human, as well as business terms, across the world. In this situation it is imperative that the diamond industry across the world be united in the goal to restore it to its glory days, once the pandemic has receded and some semblance of normalcy returns to the globe.”
Yoram Dvash
He also addressed the WFDB’s recent launch of its new diamond trading platform, Get Diamonds, organized in response to the industry’s rejection of Martin Rapaport’s price list. Dvash said Get Diamonds has already become the largest such platform.
“It is a time when it is absolutely essential for the diamond industry to stand together like never before to ensure the welfare of the entire diamond industry.”