Swiss watch exports in the first half of 2024

Swiss watch exports experiences a marked decline in the first half of 2024, mainly due to the situation in China and Hong Kong.

Swiss watch exports experiences a marked decline in the first half of 2024, mainly due to the situation in China and Hong Kong.

In fact, China, which is facing a crisis in the property sector, a high youth unemployment rate, a lacklustre economy and a deterioration in the climate of trust, saw a marked decline (-21.6%), which also affected Hong Kong (-19.9%). 

On the other hand, the rest of the world showed a slightly positive result (+1.0%), confirming the high-level consolidation initially expected for the sector this year.

Swiss watch exports amounted to 12.3 billion francs during the first half, i.e. 3.2% lower than 2023. Volumes were lower by 810,000 items compared with January to June 2023, at 7.7 million watches (-9.9%). The result by value was driven down by steel watches (-10.8%), while those made from precious metals grew (+2.0%).

The drop in value was almost exclusively due to the 500-3,000 francs (export price) segment, which represents only 15% of export turnover, but which fell by 19.0%. Watches priced at less than 500 francs fell by 7.0%, while products costing over 3,000 francs performed slightly better than last year (+0.7%).

Asia (-7.0%) accounted for a significant proportion of the overall decline, while the fall in Europe was limited to 1.1% on average. America, driven by the United States, achieved growth of 3.8%.

The US (+3.6%) strengthened its position as the leading market for Swiss watch exports, posting significant growth, despite an already high basis for comparison.

Despite the declines in China and Hong Kong, the other main Asian markets produced results that were either positive (Japan +7.7%, South Korea +12.1% and Taiwan +7.3%) or stable (Singapore +0.5% and the United Arab Emirates +0.7%).

In Europe, the United Kingdom (-1.4%) set the tone. France’s performance improved, undoubtedly benefiting from the positive effect of the Olympic Games (+3.8%). Conversely, Germany (-5.1%), Italy (-6.1%) and Spain (-3.5%) all lost ground.

The polarized situation of Swiss watch exports looks set to continue until the end of the year, with significant differences between actors in the sector, markets, and price segments remaining considerable.

(Source: Federation of the Swiss watch industry FH)