Exhibitors, visitors and experts were won over by the three days organized by Italian Exhibition Group at Vicenza Expo Centre from 18th to 20th January. The prestigious and exclusive context at Vicenzaoro turned out to be a winner with its formula open to a select public, its contemporary style of explaining the past and in-depth moments with the sector’s elite, making the event an authentic must.

Vicenza (Italy), 21st January 2020 – The first edition of VO Vintage, Italian Exhibition Group’s new exclusive marketplace for vintage watches and jewellery, closed yesterday with great success.

This event was a new entry at Vicenzaoro, the Show of reference for the gold and jewellery sector, which continues until tomorrow. VO Vintage opened its doors on 18th January and was attended by a selection of 30 leading exhibitors who presented and exchanged the most unique and valuable specimens from their own collections.

An area entirely dedicated to vintage watch and jewellery collecting, a market that has experienced exponential growth in recent years and has now reached a value of 1 billion Euros in Italy. An increase which was accompanied by a considerable reinterpretation of the sector’s communication strategies in order to contact an increasingly younger and more dynamic public.

One of the most highly awaited events was the VO Vintage Talk entitled “In search of the Holy Grail of collecting”. A dialogue between Michele Mengoli, one of Italy’s top horology experts as well as Vo Vintage advisor, and Sandro Fratini, undoubtedly one of the greatest and most famous vintage watch collectors in the world with a patrimony of more than 2,000 pieces for an overall value of about one billion Euros and which includes brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet.

An authentic “time lord” who, in forty years of research, has transferred his passion into every business activity he has engaged in, including his hotels in Florence, Rome and Venice, where everything, from the furniture to the carpets, from mirrors to doors, recalls watchmaking symbolism.

The new format was also able to count on precious item contributions from personalities of such calibre as Giulio Papi, Master Watchmaker and Director of Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi.

Much appreciated were the attendances of Bruno Bergamaschi, who, with his Orologi & Passioni forum, connected the community of enthusiasts, both via the social networks and live, to VO Vintage, with dedicated events, and professor Ugo Pancani from the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, and Mario Peserico, President of Assorologi.

The prestigious AHCI groups together the world’s greatest independent master watchmakers, who focus everything on the uniqueness and personality of the item. The institution was fully represented at VO Vintage, with, among others, the famous spatial watchmaking of Vincent Calabrese, top independent master watchmaker who has been in the business for 63 years.

Antoine Preziuso, on the other hand, exhibited his famous Tourbillon of Tourbillons collection which includes the Trillon Tourbillon – a unique piece which owes its name to three sapphires set into a triangle and three tourbillons worth 1.2 million Swiss Francs. A lover of watches from a very early age and constantly in search of unprecedented mechanisms and specimens, he is focusing on perpetual movement for the future, a watch that goes by itself without needing to be wound.

VO Vintage is therefore yet another successful event organized by Italian Exhibition Group able to satisfy the demand of enthusiasts and reap the benefits of a growing segment with a unique and innovative format. The organizational machine is already in motion for the next edition.

Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), listed on the Milan Stock Exchange organized and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A. (Italy’s stock exchange), is the Italian leader in the organization of trade expos and one of the main players in Europe in the expo and conference sector, with its venues in Rimini and Vicenza.

The IEG Group stands out for the organization of events in five categories: Food & Beverage; Jewellery & Fashion; Tourism, Hospitality & Lifestyle; Wellness, Sports and Leisure; Green & Technology. In recent years, IEG has launched an important process of foreign expansion, also by means of joint ventures inked with local players (e.g. in the United States, Arab Emirates and China). IEG ended the 2018 financial year with a total consolidated turnover of 159.7 million Euros, an EBITDA of 30.8 million and a net consolidated profit of 10.8 million Euros. In 2018, IEG held an overall total of 53 exhibitions organized or hosted and 181 conferences events in its Rimini and Vicenza expo and conference venues.