Swiss watch exports slumped in December, with the US suffering its first drop in six months.
Total foreign sales were down 5.4 per cent year-on-year to CHF 2.033bn ($2.23bn) in what the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry Exports (FHS) said was a “sharp contraction”. It’s the biggest drop since June 2024 (-7.2 per cent).
Sales in China continued their decline (down 19.0 per cent), ditto Hong Kong (down 6.4 per cent). Hong Kong is currently the second biggest market globally for Swiss watches and China is the third.
Exports to the biggest single market, the US, fell by 1.0 per cent during the month, ins spite of the holiday season, following on from a 4.7 per cent increase in November.
Among the top 15 markets, the only ones to show growth during the month were UAE (+0.6 per cent), United Kingdom (+5.8 per cent), Spain (+19.3 per cent) and Australia (+7.2 per cent).
The FHS said it recorded falls in all price segments, with the sharpest decline among watches priced at CHF 200 to CHF 500 ($220 to $550). The CHF 500 to CHF 3,000 ($550 to $3,300) segment held up better, declining by just 1.8 per cent.
The luxury Swiss watchmaker will sell direct to consumers at the HKRI Taikoo Hui mall, in Shanghai, according to Chinese media reports.
The store will be operated by Bucherer, the long-established watch retailer that was wholly acquired by Rolex last September, and will carry Bucherer branding. No date has been given for its opening
China is the second biggest market for Swiss watches after the US, accounting for $209m of exports in August.
But it is currently intensifying efforts to curb conspicuous extravagance, particularly through a crackdown on social media influencers who flaunt excessive wealth.
In addition overall sales of Swiss watches are suffering, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, which describes the outlook for the rest of the year as negative.
Rolex dominates the Swiss watch market, with a share of more than 30 per cent. It has always relied on authorized dealers to manage its Chinese operations.
Watch and jewelry sales in the US picked up significantly in June, with their biggest single monthly increase in two years. The year-on-year increase was 6.2 per cent, according to the latest figures published by the US Department of Commerce. The last time we saw such an increase was in July 2022 (also 6.25 per cent). The trend for the last three months has been of continued growth, but at a slower rate (March 4.5 per cent; April 3.7 per cent; May 3.3 per cent). The rise in sales follows a year or so of almost relentless decline (October 2022 to October 2023). Revisions to figures for April and May by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) at the US Department of Commerce show sales were higher than initially reported. The year-on-year increase for April was 3.7 per cent (revised up from 2.7 per cent based on actual transactions rather than estimates) and for May it was 3.3 per cent (revised up from 1.4 per cent).
