According to data released yesterday by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH), the export value of Swiss watches in August 2022 will be 1.74 billion Swiss francs, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%.
All materials contributed to this performance, particularly watches made from precious metals(+22.5%). Moreover, performance in the other material category more than doubled in a month(+109.1%). It also set the tone in terms of volumes, with an increase of over 170,000 items(+81.0%) compared with August 2021.
The increase in export volume was mainly driven by watches with an export price below CHF 200 (export volume +35.3%, export value +44.2%), in contrast to watches with an export price between 200 and 500 CHF (export volume -26.0 %, export value -25.8%) still declined sharply. Exports of watches priced above CHF 3,000 (+18.9% in volume and +20.2% in value) grew steadily, significantly impacting the sector’s performance.
Growth was particularly strong in the US (+23.2%), China (+15.4%), and Japan (+48.3%), which accounted for half of the global market. Hong Kong (-7.8%) is still in deficit in fourth place, followed by the UK (+11.2%). Overall, the European market grew by an average of 10.9%. However, Italy (-4.1%) Slipped against the trend due to unfavorable base effects.
