Swiss watch exports fell sharply in April. This is due not least to a very unfavorable basis for comparison in trade with the USA, which was caused by the tariff shock in the same period last year. The Association of the Swiss Watch Industry announced this on Tuesday.
Across all markets, Swiss watch exports fell by 16.6 percent to 2.1 billion Swiss francs (2.3 billion euros) compared to April 2025. According to the surveys, the decline in the USA was 56.4 percent.
After the announcements on what the White House called “Liberation Day,” Swiss watch manufacturers delivered massive amounts of watches to the USA. This was intended to build up inventories before the tariffs come into force.
The extent of the decline in April this year was therefore “due to an unfavorable base effect,” emphasized the Association of the Swiss Watch Industry in the statement.
A base effect that distorts the analysis
In a market analysis, Manuel Lang, an analyst at Vontobel, emphasized that the figures for April were “severely distorted” by last year’s increase in deliveries to the USA.
However, he estimates that the “underlying development” is “less bad” than it appears. In his opinion, the figures for the other markets indicate a “gradual recovery of the watch market”.
Recovery in Asia and tensions in the Middle East
In Asia, watch exports to China rose by 17.1 percent, to Hong Kong by 13.5 percent and to Singapore by 17.3 percent. According to the analyst, these figures underline the impression of “improvement” in the region.
Due to the war in the Middle East, exports to the United Arab Emirates fell by 9.5 percent, to Saudi Arabia by 17.3 percent and to Qatar by twelve percent.
Re-exports are boosting the numbers in Europe
In Europe, watch exports to France increased by 46.3 percent. However, this does not reflect “local demand,” said the analyst. Rather, these are quantities that are delivered there for re-export. Exports to Great Britain fell by 9.7 percent.
The increase observed in China in April suggests that spending is increasingly being made locally “given the reduced tourist flows in Europe,” Jefferies analysts note in a market analysis.
When publishing its annual results in May, Swiss luxury goods group Richemont highlighted “encouraging signs” after “24 complicated months” for the Swiss watch industry. Richemont is the owner of the Cartier jewelry house as well as the watch brands Piaget, IWC and Vacheron Constantin.
This article was created using digital tools translated.
FashionUnited uses artificial intelligence to speed up the translation of articles and improve the end result. They help us to make FashionUnited’s international reporting quickly and comprehensively accessible to a German-speaking readership. Articles translated using AI-based tools are proofread and carefully edited by our editors before they are published. If you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected]