After a brief glimmer of hope last December, foreign sales of Swiss watches took another turn for the worse in the first month of 2026. They were weighed down by a further decline in their primary market, the United States, and by the decline in luxury watches.
After a 1.7% decline in value in 2025, Swiss watch exports have had a poor start to the year.
Last December had brought a glimmer of hope, however, as they returned to growth (+3.3% in value and +7.6% in volume) after four consecutive months of sharp declines. But according to statistics from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH), foreign sales of Swiss timepieces fell again by 3.6% to 1.9 billion Swiss francs in January, a month that admittedly had one less working day than in 2025.
Weighed down by Trump’s tariffs… until when?
Swiss watch exports are thus returning to the slippery slope they had hardly left since August 2025, weighed down by the introduction of Trump’s tariffs, with the notable exception of last December.
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Read also > Swiss watch exports declined further in 2025
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