The Brief
Watches of Switzerland is a British retailer selling high-end Swiss watches from brands including Rolex, Tag Heuer, Patek Phillipe, Cartier and Vacheron Constantin.
It has 16 outlets across the UK, including concessions in the first-class departure lounges of several major airports, and an online e-commerce store. It held a one-day conference and gala dinner in London recently to celebrate the success of the company and the centenary of one of its most iconic brands.
We were approached by our good friends at mcm Creative to provide full technical and scenic support for the event. It was attended by 80 of its key sales staff across the UK, to help it celebrate 100 years of the worldโs most renowned watchmaker.
The challenges we faced
The set, subtly designed by mcm was engineered to make maximum use of the length of the room, with the stage set being positioned against the longest wall in the room.
This meant we had to front-project all the content to the screens. Front projection does create challenges for events of this type, particularly if you canโt hang anything from the ceiling, as we couldnโt in this case. Ambient light, space and viewing angles can all have an impact, along with the problem of people or objects obstructing the projection beam and casting silhouettes on-screen.
Some bespoke, stylish rigging had to be created to accommodate this. Two sets of four-metre truss columns were utilised to hang all the projection and lighting equipment from, keeping it out of the audienceโs eyeline. These were dressed with custom-printed socks to blend with the environment.
