Numbers released by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry show seven months of continuous export growth. Watch exports went up 6.3% in November to a total of $1.977 billion.
Watches priced at less than 200 francs ($202) posted “a substantial fall” in November. The other price segments advanced in both value and volume. The 200-500 ($202-$505) francs category reported the best performance with growth around +20%.
The main markets for Swiss watch industry in November were: Hong Kong (+4.4% growth), the US (-0.4%), and China (+39.8%), which “recorded its strongest growth for the past 30 months”. The UK posted negative growth of -1.9%, while Japan grew strongly for the second month in succession (+22.5%). Europe saw contrasting trends with Italy (+5.0%), Germany (-0.2%), France (+19.0%) and Spain (-6.5%).
