Swiss watch exports in the first half of 2021: a return to 2019 level

The first half of 2021 is still somehow atypical for Swiss watch exports, with highly contrasting situations in the main markets, but the re...

The first half of 2021 is still somehow atypical for Swiss watch exports, with highly contrasting situations in the main markets, but the recovery has begun and it is accelerating, although we are still in a context marked by the pandemic.

Watch exports were valued at 10.6 billion Swiss francs in the first half of 2021. This was comparable (-0.5%) to the result achieved in 2019, which is viewed as the reference year given that the historically poor performance recorded in 2020 cannot be used for comparison. 

The trend seen since the start of the year suggests that there could be a return to the annual levels seen before the crisis in early 2022. This is faster that initially expected and would mean that the sector will have needed slightly more than a year to offset the sharp decline linked to the pandemic in 2020.

Wristwatches accounted for 95% of the value of Swiss watch exports. These were valued at 10.1 billion francs, a change of +0.8% compared with the first half of 2019. Volumes, however, continued to decrease. In six months, the sector exported 7.0 million items, 3.1 million fewer than in January to June 2019 (-30.4%).

The decline in volumes, which affected all groups of materials, was largely due to steel watches (-27.1%) and the Other materials category (-50.1%). Value was supported by the growth in timekeepers made from precious metals (+3.6%).

The slight increase in value was due to the growth (+7.4%) recorded by watches priced at over 3,000 francs (export price), while other segments declined significantly. This price range also saw an increase in the number of items exported (+5.6%), but without any real impact on the total, since the increase only represents just over 45,000 watches. The overall result was impacted by the sharp decline (-38.1%) in items priced at under 500 francs.

Asia exceeded the result achieved in the first half of 2019 by 1.5%, accounting for over half (54%) of Swiss watch exports. Europe saw a significant decline (-8.8%) and represented a quarter (27%) of shipments abroad. Exports to America accounted for 17%, with a very sharp increase in performance (+17.4%) over six months.

Among the main markets, China (+61.9%) and the United States (+22.4%) recorded very steady growth. This was counterbalanced by the marked drop seen in Hong Kong (-24.0%), Japan (-12.4%), South Korea (-22.1%) and most European markets (-8.8%), with the Netherlands (+6.9%) among the few exceptions. 

(Source: Federation of the Swiss watch industry FH)