Swiss watch exports see double digit decline in April

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
May 24, 2016

The Swiss luxury watch industry in April experienced an 11.1% year-on-year decline, with the value of Swiss watchmaking dropping to 1.6 billion francs (about £1.1 billion).

Precious metal watches and luxury watches costing more than 3,000 francs (over £2,000) registered a steep fall in both value and volume terms, which could not be offset by the growth recorded by the 500-3,000 francs segment (approximately between £350 and £2,000).

The industry’s largest markets presented declines from 36% (China) to 5.8% (Japan), while the US, the UAE and the UK showed improvement with growths of 1.2%, 26% and 3.7% respectively.

Meanwhile watch exports to Hong Kong continued to falter for the fifteenth consecutive month, dropping by 17%.

In global terms, Swiss watch exports have declined by 9.5% over the first four months of the year.