It’s that time of the month again, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry has been compiled data and throwing up those excel charts like it’s 2005. The charts are in a nice and soft shade of blue, but really, it would be more accurate if they were in a deep dark red. The May export data is no fun to watch, but not as horrifying as previous month data either, so that’s something.
The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry summarised it as such: ‘Following the very steep decline in April (-81.3%), Swiss watch exports continued to slow down in May. The value of exports was 655.6 million francs, a fall of 67.9% compared with May 2019. Overall, exports have fallen by 35.8% over the first five months of the year.’
The current crisis did not discriminate any and all product category got hit, everyone is getting hammered. No matter if you’re talking gold watches, steel watches, ceramic watches, everyone’s riding through this valley of present doom. And the only way out, is through indeed. To date the casualties, bankruptcies, in the industry have been very limited. Question is how long this will persist and how long businesses can stay afloat here.
At the close of this quarter, this will end up being one of the most dramatic quarters in the industry’s existence.
Doom and Gloom