Tuesday 1 to Sunday 6 April 2025: the ticket office for the Time To Watches exhibition is open! Behind this ever-growing event, organizer Christian Wipfli. His relationship to time and duration? He lends himself to the game of “Time Matters,” an interview bordering on being intrusive.
Joël A. Grandjean, JSH Magazine & Swiss-Watch-Passport.ch’s editor in chief
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Who could have imagined, in the aftermath of the Baselworld debacle, that the Villa Sarasin, so close to Palexpo, could one day host a watch fair other than the former SIHH, now Watches & Wonders? Especially since the elegant outbuilding, which was Palexpo’s long-standing ‘personal preserve‘, seemed to include the hidden non-competition clause that the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie JSH and Swiss Watch Passport had revealed in 2020 (read the article).
It just goes to show that nothing is cast in stone and anything is possible. Christian Wipfli has pulled off a real masterstroke. A success that transcends selfish and individual interests, a feat that benefits the sector and, above all, allows Geneva to reconnect with its long history as a city of exhibitions and fairs….
What’s up, Christian Wipfli, when was your first time?
In 2021, when everything was happening over Zoom, I realized that the watchmaking sector needed to get to know and recognize each other. To offer the opportunity to build relationships through a handshake, to exchange ideas face to face, to try on a watch on one’s wrist. In real life.
Are you always on time?
Yes, because I don’t think I can represent those who keep time by offending them.
What is the worst delay you can remember?
I remember a train that, I thought at the time, should have decided my life. I missed it. And my life is not any worse for it.
Was there a delay or an advance that allowed you to escape the worst?
On arriving in South Africa in 2023, the plane was delayed due to strong bursts of wind. I almost lost my hat. A drama…
Is there a delay or an advance that allowed you to experience the best?
..and well, two days later, I found my hat, a blessed moment, thanks to a coincidence rather than the weather.
What was your longest day?
La veille de l’ouverture du mon premier Time to Watches. Alors que je croyais que tout était sous contrôle, en fait des milliers de détails restaient à faire. On s’est amélioré dans l’intervalle, mais l’événementiel reste un domaine où beaucoup de choses se règlent à la dernière minute. Quel que soit le degré de préparation en amont. Cela s’appelle la flexibilité.
Other than a watch or timepiece, what design do you consider to be the most timeless?
Aucun design n’est intemporel, seule l’émotion l’est.
Tell us the longitude and latitude of your birthplace…
Martigny in Switzerland, i.e. 46.105595699020135, 7.07499792544727
Name the personal object you would like to remove from the grip of time!
It is the love of my life and it will never deteriorate because I love it. It is not things that last, but feelings. And sometimes, a beautiful watch, to express feelings.
What type of “time wasters” do you fear, those who “eat up your time“?
Time wasters are those who want to appear more important than they are, those who contact you 10 times a day, only to sort out details. I deal with them by listening to them, as empathy remains the best defense against wasted time.
If time were told to you. Book, proverb, quote…?
«Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles» (“It is high time to rekindle the stars”), by Guillaume Apollinaire
A southern proverb says “You have the time, we have the time!”, please your comment?
Where there’s sun, time stretches out.
What is your first memory relating (positively or negatively) to a period of time?
I didn’t like it at all on my first day at school in 1981. Getting into a group, being accepted, even if I didn’t know what it meant at the time. Learning to be part of something. But I managed, and here I am, an adult, at peace, and myself.
What are your moments that should never end?
Every moment is precious, as long as you are with the right people.
If you sometimes cry, what was the time you thought you would never stop?
I was present at my grandfather’s passing. I did not cry. However, I did measure the extent of a loss, the finality of life, the importance of sharing. Grief is not measured in tears, but in the intensity of the feeling, in the moment.
Your first watch?
It was a Tissot, in fact. But that’s not important. I like the idea of a mechanism that keeps track of time, even though I don’t really know what time is. One thing’s for sure: the tick-tock of my Tissot will start on April 1st for Time to Watches.
If you own several watches, what role do they play in your life?
I provide 75 brands with the opportunity to unveil their new products at Time to Watches, so I hold 75 brands dear to my heart. I can’t choose…
Which one would you like to have the most?
The one that could measure eternity.
Which of the brands you owne are you most proud of, and why?
I own the M.A.D.1 from MB£F and I hope to be able to afford the M.A.D.2. I like the freedom of expression in a brand, the nerve to change the rules. Freedom, and therefore innovation, is the greatest of treasures.
If, deprived of a time indicator, you had to plant a personal object in the ground to tell you the time like a sundial, what would it be?
My walking stick, for when I’m old.
