Swiss Watch Exports Near 2014 Highs in July

The export of Swiss watches has approached a historical high due to the growth in demand for them, which began during the pandemic, should from the message of the Federation of the Swiss watch industry. In particular, watch shipments abroad grew in value terms by 8.3% by July 2021, to 2.2 billion francs ($2.3 billion), the highest result since October 2014, when the record was set. However, in real terms, a fall of 2.7% was recorded.

According to the document, exports of watches made of steel increased by 9.5% in July, of precious metals – by 4.8%, of other metals – by 34% and of other materials – by 54.1%.

Watches worth more than 500 francs ($523) accounted for more than a third of the volume and almost 95% of the export turnover. In July, their exports grew by 10.8% in monetary terms and by 10.7% in physical terms. Exports of items below 200 francs ($209) have grown for the sixth month in a row, up 5.3% in July from last year. At the same time, the export of watches, the value of which is in the range between 200 and 500 francs, has been constantly decreasing since the beginning of 2000, in July this export in monetary terms fell by 29.2%.

The largest market for Swiss watches is the US, where imports of these products increased by 13.5% compared to last year, although they were down compared to June. The US share of the Swiss watch market is 14.6%. The top 5 largest importers of Swiss watches also included China with a share of 14.2%, Hong Kong (7.7%), Singapore and Japan (6.3% each). Exports grew the most to Singapore, with an increase of 29.1% year-on-year, while Hong Kong showed a drop of 11.9%.

Exports of Swiss watches to Russia in March this year fell by 95.6% after Switzerland joined the European sanctions against Russia. Then the largest manufacturers of the Swiss watch industry stopped exports due to the start of a special military operation in Ukraine. In particular, on March 8, Rolex announced the suspension of deliveries, a little earlier the Swatch Group (Swatch, Omega, Longines, Tissot brands) and Richemont (Cartier, Van Cleef & Aprels, Montblanc) announced this. Sales in Russia in the revenue of these watch houses accounted for about 2-3%, Morgan Stanley analysts estimated.

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