AlbertaTime in China, China visit #3, Post #10 - covering 26th/2014... 25th AnnualChina Watch and Clock Fair/CWCF in Shenzhen Still in scenic and hot Shenzhen, we all had to move pretty quickly the morning of the first day of the 25th Annual China Clock and Watch fair (June 26th/2014), so I didn't bother with the camera until we arrived at the buildings of the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center (SZCEC), the location of the Fair. I took a quick shot outside and in we went, rushing to get our passes and make at least part of the opening ceremony. We made the tail end ;-) Next on the agenda was an opening press session where Fair organizers and other industry notables were introduced and/or made opening comments to the assembled press corp. In this photo, Mr. Wang Mengjin, the Vice-Chairman of the China Horologe Association, addresses the assembled media folks, and the next photo shows how we were loosely arranged behind for photographs. I wasn't asked to say anything, but I was very kindly introduced :-) ... ...and -- as shown close-up above -- both LiWei and I (far left/far stage right) were proudly wearing t-shirts promoting the 100th Anniversary of Beijixing/Polaris in 2015 that LiWei had ordered, custom-designed, for the show (three only)... here I'm being introduced to Mr. Zhu Shunhua, the Secretary-General of the Shenzhen Watch & Clock Association (SZWA) which co-organizes the CWC Fair with the China Horologe Association (CHA) The fair, which is the largest watch and clock fair in China and the third largest international horological fair in the world, includes over 500 watch and clock-related exhibitors occupying over 45,000 sq. ft. of floor space over two very large buildings at the Convention centre (that's over 10,000 sq. ft. larger than last year). Worthy of note, although I didn't concentrate on that aspect: 2014 was the first time any German company had exhibited. The German exhibitors were all from the BBD Group: Braun, Burgmeister, Elysee, Laco, Nivrel and Zeppelin. Some more context from Shenzen Daily: Zhu Shunhua, executive vice president of the Shenzhen Watch and Clock Association, the fair’s organizer, said Shenzhen-made watches and clocks account for 60 percent of the country’s total market share. Shenzhen is the biggest watch and clock manufacturing center in China, with more than 1,000 clock and watch-making firms that have a total annual production value of 10 billion yuan (US$1.46 billion). So, on with the show. First stop was the exhibit of Polaris Timepiece/Beijixing. I thought I recognized that gentleman speaking to a Fair attendee :-) ... ......and I was very pleased to meet again with the president of Polaris/Bejixing, Mr. Zhang Zhao Ji, who I'd found to be great company while in Yantai when we visited the Beijixing/Polaris factory earlier in the month. Mr. Zhang joined us for our next stop at M.C.H TimeArt to visit with the very friendly CEO and watchmaker of Longio, Mr. Mi Changhong. I find the dimensional detail on these next Longio/MCH pieces quite astonishing... Some more wandering... I had been looking forward to this next stop since obtaining my very solid and eye-catching Jiusko dive watch. There was no opportunity this trip to see the Jiusko factory ;-( but the invitation had been generously made to me, so I was grateful at least to be able to drop by and say thanks for the invitation, face to face. When we got there I was introduced to Morgan, whom I'd been told to ask for, and who was expecting me. I very much wsh my camera-fu had been better on this next shot. It's a cool watch, and I did it no justice at all. ...and we learn that there must be some production connections between Jiusko and the popular Chinese fashion brands Eyki and Kimio. That goes a long way to explaining Jiusko's very modern and style-concious vision. Next, some wandering around... We also made a quick stop to meet with Adrian Choux of the Chinese Timekeeper (on our way to see the folks at the Rossini exhibit) so we could arrange a meeting in more depth the next day. So, more details about Adrian and his company tomorrow...but to whet your appetite... ...and on to Rossini... ...where Galen, LiWei and I were very pleased to re-meet Ms. Tina Luo of the overseas department at Rossini... ...and I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Mr. Chen Sichu, Deputy General Manager of Zhuhai Rossini. It was well after noon, and we'd been running around a lot, so we took some time at the China Watch and Clock VIP lounge for some refreshments. Galen took this photo of me happily holding our VIP lounge pass :-) The VIP lounge was also where I was introduced to Jintuofei's Chief Watchmaker, Mr. Liu Zhi Yang... ...and where I was introduced to his tourbillon watches... ...including the one I would buy a day or two later :-) Then it was off, past a few live mannequins... ...to see Mr. Miao Hong Bo, the General Manager of Beijing Watch Factory (whom I'd metback at the beginning of the month at BJWAF. There's a good interview with Mr. Maio here). Among other things, we had a very complimentary discussion regarding Benjamin Chee's beautiful (Imperial Red) Celadon Imperial watch. The last stop before leaving the Exhibition buildings to get ready for the evening's Banquet was a courtesy visit to the Meishijia/Yantai Messica Timepiece Co., Ltd booth (we'll return there in a future CWCF post, as well) Then it was out past the Polaris/Beijixing booth... ...and a great aquarium... ...and some Cosplay kids... ...to the great outdoors of Shenzhen... We returned later that evening for the China Watch and Clock Fair banquet... ...attended by over 1000 people :-). I'll let the photos speak for themselves. The food was wonderful :-) These two especially beautiful photos are courtesy ggalen at Watchlead.com... ...and the balance are mine: ...and the banquet's Grand Finale... ...which seems a good place to end this post. All we did next was head back to our hotel rooms, dead tired, to rest up for Day Two!!