Bangkok Watch Week Attracts 40,000 Visitors to Siam Paragon
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Siam Piwat Group drew more than 40,000 visitors to the second edition of Bangkok Watch Week at Siam Paragon, expanding brand participation past 45 luxury houses.
The six-day exhibition, held from September 22 to 27 across two floors of the Bangkok shopping complex, doubled its overall attendance compared with its 2025 debut. The turnout included 400 international collectors, while brand participation climbed more than 50 per cent.
Organised by mall operator Siam Piwat, the event operated across three formats: a public show, an industry symposium, and brand-run boutique workshops. Entry remained free for regular shoppers. The Fondation Haute Horlogerie joined the programme for its Southeast Asian debut, running an academy lounge offering entry-level horology certifications to the public.
Shifting luxury retail from private salons to mall concourses
For decades, Swiss and European watchmakers restricted previews to invite-only trade summits in Geneva or closed boutique salons. Bringing 45 maisons directly onto the open concourse of a Southeast Asian commercial mall reverses that playbook. Siam Piwat is betting that footfall conversion no longer depends strictly on closed-door clienteling, but on pulling younger consumers into technical workshops before they buy their first mechanical piece.
The approach hands luxury tenants direct exposure to high-spending tourist traffic that standard multibrand watch retailers struggle to capture organically. Thai landlords face sharp regional competition from Singapore and Tokyo for luxury spend, making hands-on programming essential to keep international shoppers on-site.
Siam Piwat targets international collector traffic
Tourism flows into central Bangkok remain critical to the format. Siam Piwat identified Chinese and Indian travelers as volume drivers for overall mall trade, while shoppers from elsewhere in Asia and the Middle East deliver the highest average transaction values.
“Bringing 45 maisons directly onto the open concourse of a Southeast Asian commercial mall reverses that playbook.”
Pavaris Eam-ekpattana, director of strategic luxury experience management at Siam Piwat unit Supremo Co., confirmed that the group separates the show from its older commercial watch events.
Brand interest expanded beyond the major Swiss conglomerates. British brand Bremont attended for the first time to seek a local distributor, while boutique managers from German maker A. Lange & Söhne reported that multi-brand exposure helped bridge client bases with houses such as Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Vacheron Constantin.
Attendance gains build on initial sales spike
The operational expansion follows steep top-line gains recorded during the event’s first run. During the inaugural 2025 edition, Siam Paragon attracted 20,000 visitors and 200 foreign collectors. Luxury watch sales inside the mall surged 92 per cent compared with the corresponding period in 2024.
Caroline Murphy, president of strategic project development at Siam Piwat, said the mall owner does not evaluate the fair purely on short-term sales desks:
“We do not measure the success of the event in terms of sales as the primary purpose of the fair is not commercial, but to establish Bangkok as a luxury watch capital of the world, by sharing knowledge and insight of the wonderful world of watchmaking to a robust watch community of local Thai and international collectors,”
Global network plans for third edition
Siam Piwat is preparing to link future editions into a wider circuit. The organiser is evaluating strategic ties with luxury events in Tokyo and Milan, aiming to create a recurring international calendar stop rather than a standalone Bangkok marketing push.
Brand retention and floor space allocations across Siam Paragon’s central retail levels serve as the key operational test.