PARIS – The U.S. lost its crown as the top market for Swiss watch exports in September.
Exports to the country slumped 55.6 percent in the month, according to figures released by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry on Tuesday.
This weighed heavily on the monthly tallies, which saw overall shipments from the country decline 3.1 percent year-on-year in value and 7.6 percent in volume.
“Without this expected but nonetheless extraordinary development, Swiss watch exports would have grown by 7.8 percent,” said the industry body.
In the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of heavy tariffs on Swiss products in April, further increased in August, watchmakers had rushed to ship products to beat deadlines ahead of the new levies’ application.
With exports of 157.7 million Swiss francs, the U.S. is now in third place, behind the U.K. and Japan now in respectively first and second place. The U.S.’ slice of the market also shrank to 7.9 percent, instead of around 15 percent, a figure on par with the other top six markets highlighted in the industry body’s monthly reports.
The downward turn of shipments to the American market canceled out the gains in other major territories for Swiss watch exports, including China and Hong Kong, which leapt respectively 17.8 percent and 20.6 percent. Singapore also grew, rising 8.3 percent.
Meanwhile, European countries in the top 10 markets also saw declines. France was down 3.5 percent, Germany by 14.6 percent and Italy, in tenth place, by 3.9 percent.
The industry body highlighted strong growth in other regions such as South Korea and Mexico, which leapt 21.5 percent and 44.1 percent respectively. India, which has risen to the 15th place in the ranking for the first time and is often touted as the next Eldorado for luxury brands, recoded a 28.3 percent increase.
Steel watches set the tone, with a decrease in value of 3.8 percent, exacerbated by the sharp reduction in bimetallic products (down 10.4 percent). The growth in watches made from precious metals (up 1.5 percent) had no impact on the overall situation.
A total of 94,000 fewer items were exported in the month, according to the industry body. The decline was mainly driven by steel watches, which fell 3.8 percent and 6.1 percent in value and volume respectively, and gold-steel timepieces, which contracted 10.4 percent in value despite an 8.5 percent increase in volume.
Save for watches between 500 and 3,000 Swiss francs at export price, all price segments fell in September, with those between 200 and 500 Swiss francs most affected with a 25.2 percent contraction in volume and 22.7 percent in value.
Meanwhile, the higher end of watches over 3,000 Swiss francs at export price was least affected.
