\ Edition 2013

The 5th Forum de la Haute Horlogerie had paradox as its theme, whereby events seem to defy all logic in their apparent contradictions. These early years of the 21st century paint the portrait of a world in which such antinomies are legion.

Indeed, the world is changing, challenging our thought processes and perception of our environment and creating paradoxical situations along the way. Economic growth is producing unprecedented wealth, yet the gap between rich and poor widens. Continents that once stood on the sidelines are the new driving forces for development. The internet places knowledge at our fingertips yet is also a breeding ground for risk. Switzerland’s competitiveness is admired but also envied, and the country must defend its position and financial institutions.

These paradoxes, like many others, are typical of the direction the world is taking. The luxury industry of course encounters its share. Putting these questions into words is the first step towards answering them.

At the 5th Forum de la Haute Horlogerie, these themes were effectively at the centre of debate. Economists such as Carlos A. Primo Braga, a specialist on Latin America, and emerging-markets expert Charles Robertson, authors including Jacques Attali, a former advisor to President François Mitterrand, politicians such as Pascal Broulis, state councillor for the Canton of Vaud, experts such as Mikko Hypponen, a specialist in cybercriminality, and demographer Sarah Harper, not forgetting Rory Sutherland, a respected analyst of contemporary economic trends and Uli Sigg, a leading collector of Chinese art, proposed some of the keys to understanding this new reality.