Whilst sales of quartz watches declined last year, demand for more expensive mechanical timepieces grew significantly. (Keystone) - Click to enlarge
After two years of decline, the Swiss watch industry grew by 2.7% in 2017, according to the figures released by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) on Tuesday.
Exports grew by 2.7 % to CHF19.9 billion ($21.3 billion) on 2016. “Growth returned sooner than expected,” said the FH in a press release.
The biggest driver was the Asian market, which experienced the biggest growth (+4.8%) and generated half of all export sales. The largest market was Hong Kong, with exports worth CHF2.5 million.
Different rates of recovery
“A growing number of markets returned to growth, but several of them are still lagging behind” said the statement. China was the first to recover from the decline and experienced the highest rate of growth at 18%. In the United States, by contrast, sales fell for the third year in a row (-4.4%).
There was a general trend towards more expensive watches, hence the value of exports grew despite a decrease in number of watches exported (down 4.3%, at 24.3 million pieces, the lowest figure since the 2009 watch crisis). Demand for mechanical timepieces grew but sales of quartz watches declined – exports of these watches fell to a 33-year slump.
+ Find out more about the watch crisis here
Swatch, the world’s largest watchmaker, is also feeling the upswing. The Swiss-based company said it expected “very positive” growth this year after revealing a 28% rise in profit on Tuesday.
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