Inhorgenta Munich Posts 25,000 Trade Visitors on a Craftsmanship Brief
Inhorgenta Munich closed its 20–23 February 2026 edition with figures the organiser put in the record column: 900 exhibitors, 1,200 brands from 35 countries, and more than 25,000 trade visitors from 94 countries. According to WatchPro’s 25 February 2026 report, 55 percent of the brand list was international. The four-day jewellery and watch trade show is the first large European floor of the year, sitting well before Geneva’s April salon.
Messe München ran the edition under a single theme for the first time: Craftsmanship. Visitors were offered live gem-setting, engraving and watch-assembly demonstrations. Exhibition director Stefanie Mändlein framed the theme as recognition of bench work rather than a seasonal slogan. CEO Stefan Rummel said the fair had gained visibility in recent years and would keep the craftsmanship brief as a multi-year line, not a one-off overlay.
Who came and what the floor held
German visitor numbers eased slightly. International traffic rose. According to the same WatchPro roundup, the largest inbound groups came from Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Belgium. The fastest growth was recorded from Sri Lanka, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States. Customer-satisfaction scoring was published at 80 points, with organisation, international mix and atmosphere cited as the high marks.
| Metric | 2026 edition |
|---|---|
| Dates | 20–23 February 2026 |
| Exhibitors | 900 |
| Brands on the floor | 1,200 from 35 countries |
| Share international | 55% |
| Trade visitors | More than 25,000 from 94 countries |
| Theme | Craftsmanship (first year as a guiding brief) |
| Inhorgenta Award entries | 148 from 19 countries |
| Next edition | 19–22 February |
- Live benches: stone-setting, engraving, movement assembly in public view.
- Award programme: a new record of 148 submissions.
- Retail backdrop cited by the German Retail Association of Jewelers: specialist turnover up 2.1% in 2025; jewellery exports up 13.3% for a fourth growth year.
- Bricks-and-mortar specialists still hold a 73% share of the German jewellery channel, according to the same association figures relayed by WatchPro.
Where Inhorgenta sits on the 2026 fair map
Munich in February is a buyer fair. Retailers and manufacturers write orders; the public is not the primary audience. That is the opposite of Geneva Watch Days’ free-door model and of collector weekends that sell tickets. Brands that use Inhorgenta to show mid-price mechanical and quartz lines are talking to shop buyers, not to allocation lists. Material stories that later appear in those lines — recycled case steel, responsible gold, bioceramic — are summarised in how recycled steel and responsible gold met repairable mechanical watches. Movement talking points on the same floor still reduce to hairspring and anti-magnetic spec; that split is covered in how silicon hairsprings and Nivachron redrew anti-magnetic specs.
The next Inhorgenta is already dated 19–22 February. Organisers did not publish a target exhibitor lift. The 2026 message was continuity of the craftsmanship theme and a wider international visitor mix, not a larger hall for its own sake.
FAQ
Is Inhorgenta open to the public?
It is a trade show. The 2026 figures refer to exhibitors, brands and trade visitors, not a public weekend.
How does it differ from Watches and Wonders?
Inhorgenta is a February jewellery-and-watch order fair in Munich. Watches and Wonders is the April Geneva salon that sets the luxury launch calendar. The two share an industry but not an audience or a format.
When is the following edition?
According to WatchPro’s close-out report, 19–22 February, with the Craftsmanship brief carried forward.
Sources: WatchPro, “Inhorgenta 2026 closes with record-breaking edition,” 25 February 2026; Messe München comments from Stefan Rummel and Stefanie Mändlein as quoted therein; German Retail Association of Jewelers figures as cited in the same report.