Swiss watch exports down in May

Swiss watch exports were down in May as their value decreased by 8.9%, according to new figures from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH). 

Valued at 1.7bn (£1.67bn) swiss francs, FH said that two fewer working days than in the same month last year and a fall of 33.6% in exports to Hong Kong, strongly affected sales.

The monthly progression had a significant impact on the cumulative results since January, according to FH, which fell into negative at -0.3%.

Steel watches accounted for half of the total drop in value and almost the entire reduction in volumes, with the number of steel watches sold falling by 11.6%. Precious metal and bi-metallic timepieces also dragged the figures down.

All price segments registered declines in value of between 8% and 11%. Meanwhile, the downturn in volumes was dominated by watches costing less than 200 francs (£137) (the highest volume segment of the market), which declined by 4.1%, however other price categories recorded steeper declines with timepieces costing more than 3,000 (£2,060) francs falling by 14.2%.

A decline in sales to some of the industry’s main countries was also recorded with exports to Hong Kong down 33.6%, the USA down 13.7%, China down 9%, while exports to France and Japan were down 2.4% and 1.9% respectively.

Italy was the only “main” country which recorded a rise in exports, up 4.5%.