PARIS – The downward turn of Swiss watches continued in November, according to figures published by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry on Thursday.
Exports in the month fell 3.8 percent year-on-year to 2.4 billion Swiss francs, even falling slightly below the level of 2022’s matching period. November had been record-breaking months for the past two years.
Bar the U.S., which showed a 4.7 percent increase, all the major markets for Swiss watches shrunk in the month. Even Japan, which had been propelled to second place thanks to a boom in recent months due to a weak yen drawing an influx of shoppers, shrank slightly.
Highlighting the dearth of demand in Greater China, the mainland that was in previous years usually the second-largest export market for Swiss watches, tumbled down to fifth place with its 27 percent decrease. Hong Kong also declined 18.8 percent.
The downturn in November has also started to eat into the gains of the past two years for a majority of the 10 biggest markets, particularly for mainland China, which showed a 28.5 percent decrease.
Smaller ones, however, fared better. South Korea and Spain, respectively in 11th and 12th place, posted 21.7 percent and 33.5 percent gains. India, which broke into the top 20 markets in September 2023, saw a 59.7 percent leap.
No pricepoint was immune to lackluster results, although high-end watches above 3,000 Swiss francs at export price lost less ground than the rest.
In November, the number of timepieces leaving the country also shrank by 9.4 percent in volume and 3.4 percent in value.
While mechanical timepieces and movements decreased in both scales, the electronic category showed a mixed picture. Those movements grew in volume and value, while finished electronic wristwatches, which account for two-thirds of the exports, grew in value only.
In terms of materials, steel watches continued to weigh heavily on monthly tallies in value, while the FHS attributed the decline in volume of the month to the “Other materials” and “Other metals” categories, which slumped 20.4 and 27.3 percent, respectively.
