Swiss Watch exports continue their ascent, although at a less dramatic pace than the past couple of months. As per the FH “growth was driven by precious metal and steel watches, and by the Other metals category, while bimetallic watches declined. The number of items fell by almost 300,000 units compared with September 2019, influenced mainly by the Steel and Other materials categories.”
Looking at export data for wristwatches sorted by materials, we spot the continued decline of the two tone (Gold-Steel) wristwatch category. Notice also how essentially all categories have seen a sharp decline in units shipped while in fact seeing an increase in value shipped.
Part of the reason why units shipped have decreased while value shipped has increased is that we continue to see the drama unfold for watches valued under CHF 500. The other reason is of course the continued overall price increases we see throughout the watch industry (not limited to the Swiss).
The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry always shares the regional insights as well, and here we continue to see both the US and China with strong numbers: “the United States (+28.5% compared with 2019) and China (+45.3%) again saw very strong growth and have been battling for top place since the start of the year. Hong Kong (-20.4%) and Japan (-21.0%) remained on a significant downward trend. Singapore (-3.1%) has posted negative results for the last few months because of an unfavourable base effect, which is set to continue until the end of the year. In Europe (+3.3%), the United Kingdom (+12.8%) and to a lesser extent, France (+4.1%) played an important role in the general trend. Conversely, Germany (-4.5%) and Italy (-20.0%) both saw their results fall.
Onward and Upward