A look at the London Watch Show 2014

First published: 10-06-2014

With the second ever London Watch Show (LWS) scheduled to happen in less than a month, there's plenty to look forward to as watchmakers from all over gather in the heart of the capital.

There will be many different seminars, workshops and training sessions, and a number of different brands are going to be in attendance, showing off the new timepieces in their collections.

Bulova, Nixon, Festina and Jorg Gray and other watchmakers will be present at the event, which is set to take place on July 6th and 7th. It will be hosted at the Freemasons' Hall, 60 Great Queens Street in Covent Garden, Camden from 09:00 to 18:00 BST. 

Southern-Californian brand Nixon is especially hoping its attendance will reap dividends, by increasing its exposure and bolstering awareness of its products. 

As well as showcasing its most popular watches, the Sentry Leather 38 mm and the Mini Time Teller - which is aimed at women - will also be on display. Sales manager for North Europe at Nixon Michel Bouchard said the timing was "perfect" as far as raising awareness going into the second semester. 

Bulova is hoping it can come into contact with some notable UK retailers by attending. The New York City-based firm recently became the official timekeeper of English footballing giant Manchester United and is renown for its impressive craftsmanship.

This year's event will be noticeably bigger than last year's. As of June 6th, more than 1,500 watch industry professionals have signed up to attend the event, which is a colossal 67 per cent rise in comparison to 2013. 

Event director Daniel Malins revealed the LWS is "a gateway to the billion pound British watch market".

"LWS is a vital event for watch brands to showcase the watch collections that will be selling through retailers in the peak Christmas period," he said.

"We recognise that time is precious for executives in the watch industry, which is why we are investing tens of thousands of pounds to market this year’s London Watch Show and ensure that we put on a show that is the biggest in the UK, both in terms of the number of brands and the number of visitors."

In a bid to become more appealing, the exhibition has included a Very Important Buyers programme, which will enable the country's most powerful retailers to visit the event with a concierge providing free travel or accommodation in the capital city. 

The reason behind this is to enable busy executives to be able to come along and be appreciated, Mr Malins pointed out. 

In 2013, the UK watch market was worth in excess of $1.6 billion (£0.95 billion) and it is expected this will only increase in 2014. It is certainly an exciting time for the watch market and, especially as the country starts to emerge from the crippling financial crisis and ensuing recession, time will only tell what the impact will be.