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Johan Rupert, boss of Swiss watchmaking giant Richemont<\/strong><\/b> (Cartier, Baume & Mercier, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin<\/strong><\/b>…) and his Swiss colleagues<\/strong><\/b> were right.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last September, despite two months of rebound in worldwide exports of Swiss watches <\/strong><\/b>(+1.6% in July and +6.9% in August), after five consecutive months of decline, they were worried<\/strong><\/b> about future prospects, weighed down by a lack of medium-term visibility and the sluggishness of the Chinese market.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the time, they called respectively for the former to limit production<\/strong><\/b>, and for the latter to call for emergency support measures<\/strong><\/b> (moderation of the Swiss currency, etc.) from the public authorities.<\/p>\n And indeed, September’s statistics from the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Horlog\u00e8re Suisse<\/strong><\/b> vindicated the Swiss industry’s pessimism.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Exports of Swiss watchesfell by a record 12.4%<\/strong><\/b>, \u201cthe steepest monthly decline of the year (-12.4%), for a total value of 2.1 billion Swiss francs\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, as is the case for luxury goods players in general, it was China and Hong Kong,<\/strong><\/b> \u201cin sharp decline\u201d, that were \u201cresponsible for two-thirds of this decrease<\/strong><\/b>\u201d. Exports to the Middle Kingdom have plummeted by 49.7% over the past year<\/strong><\/b>!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the first nine months of the year, the decline in Swiss watch exports<\/strong><\/b> to all destinations, which was \u201conly\u201d 1.4% in August this year, has deepened still further, and now stands at – 2.7%<\/strong><\/b> compared to 2023.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Geographically, while \u201cthe majority of markets recorded a significant decline in September\u201d , a few managed to escape the prevailing gloom<\/strong><\/b>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Such is the case of the United States, \u201cstill growing\u201d (+2.4%),<\/strong><\/b> which further strengthened its role as the leading outlet for Swiss watchmaking. Over the first nine months of 2024<\/strong><\/b>, sales of Swiss watches on Uncle Sam’s behalf rose by 4.9%.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Europe (-3.4%)<\/strong><\/b>, on the other hand, saved the day thanks to markets such as Germany (+5.7%) and Spain (+5.3%).<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Asia (-22.6%)<\/strong><\/b> was the continent with the worst monthly performance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Among the markets most affected were the United Kingdom (-10.7% in value),<\/strong><\/b> the third-largest outlet for Swiss watchmakers<\/strong><\/b>, Hong Kong<\/strong><\/b> ( -34.6%),<\/strong><\/b> the fourth-largest market, China (-49.7%), the sixth<\/strong><\/b> -largest, and… Singapore (-13.9%),<\/strong><\/b> seventh market. Together, \u201cthey accounted for more than 80% of the<\/strong><\/b> worldwide decline<\/strong><\/b> \u201d!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Other Asian countries such as South Korea (-19.8%), Taiwan (-29.8%) and Thailand (-34.6%)<\/strong><\/b> have also plummeted. In 2024, they rank 11th, 13th and 21st <\/strong><\/b>respectively in terms of destinations for Swiss watch exports.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Since the beginning of 2024<\/strong><\/b>, China and Hong Kong<\/strong><\/b> have been the biggest<\/strong><\/b> declining<\/strong><\/b> destinations<\/strong><\/b> (-24.6% and -20.4%)<\/strong><\/b> for sales of Swiss timepieces. Declines in the other markets in the top ten list generally ranged from – 0.6% (Singapore) to – 2.2% (Germany)<\/strong><\/b>. Thailand<\/strong><\/b> plunged by 20.7%<\/strong><\/b>, but is only the 21st destination<\/strong><\/b> for Swiss watch exports…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While all watch categories registered declines, they were not all affected to the same extent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Watches priced between 200 and 500 Swiss francs<\/strong><\/b> suffered the most, with a 33% decline in their export value <\/strong><\/b>in September 2024, ahead of the more affordable timepieces sold for less than 500 Swiss francs (-20.8%).<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n By comparison, the most luxurious segment, watches costing over 3,000 Swiss francs <\/strong><\/b>, fared slightly better, with a contraction limited to 7.3%.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In terms of materials, exports of Swiss steel watches<\/strong><\/b> were the hardest hit, with a decline of 19% in value and 21.1% in number of pieces<\/strong><\/b>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sales of precious metal models slowed by 9.1% in value terms<\/strong><\/b>, while those of bimetallic compositions (-2.3%)<\/strong><\/b> proved more resilient.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In volume terms, the Other materials (-19.3%) and Other metals (-25.2%<\/strong><\/b>) categories accounted for a third of the decline.<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a general rule, La F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Horlog\u00e8re stresses that the statistics it publishes \u201care based on export figures and not on sales to end consumers<\/strong><\/b>\u201d, and that \u201cthere may be discrepancies between these two types of results\u201d. It also stresses that its statistics \u201cresult from the consolidation of exports by all Swiss watchmaking companies\u201d and \u201cdo not allow us to establish the business trend of a particular company or group<\/strong><\/b>, given that business trends may differ from one player to another\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nevertheless, the Swiss watchmaking industry as a whole is likely to remain cautious in the months ahead…<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n<\/p>\n \t\tRecord decline<\/h2>\n
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Sharp decline over the first nine months<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Asia, the red lantern<\/h2>\n
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Luxury watches: a less pronounced decline<\/h2>\n
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