Retail trade

Not just the USA: watch exports slump in key markets

In terms of price segments, only watches between 500 and 3000 Swiss francs remained stable in Swiss watch exports in May. (archive image)

Keystone

Swiss watch exports slumped significantly in May 2025. After an exceptionally strong April, the value of exports fell by 9.5% year-on-year to 2.1 billion Swiss francs.

Keystone-SDA

19.06.2025, 09:23

The main reason for this was the slump in the US market, which fell by 25.3% following a pull-forward effect due to announced tariff increases, as the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH announced on Thursday. This means that the USA accounted for more than 40 percent of the global decline.

However, other important sales markets such as China (-17.4 percent), Hong Kong (-12.6 percent), Japan (-10.5 percent) and the United Kingdom (-14.5 percent) also recorded double-digit declines. Only the United Arab Emirates were able to escape the downward trend, but have also shown weakness since the beginning of the year. Overall, exports to the six most important markets fell by 16%.

The number of wristwatches exported shrank by 13.4 percent to 1.17 million units in May. The "other materials" category was particularly hard hit with a fall of 38.4 percent. Steel watches remained stable in terms of unit numbers (+0.4%), but fell in value (-9.3%). Gold and bimetal watches also suffered double-digit declines.

Stable annual balance sheet

In terms of price segments, only watches between CHF 500 and CHF 3000 remained stable. In all other categories, exports fell by an average of 11.4 percent.

Despite the weak month, the annual balance sheet at the end of May remains in positive territory with a slight increase of 1.1% and a cumulative export value of CHF 10.8 billion. However, the actual market situation in the end customer business is likely to be less rosy, according to the industry association.

In the previous month of April, significantly more timepieces were exported abroad than in the same month last year thanks to US orders. Exports to the USA have exploded in the wake of US President Donald Trump's tariff announcements. Trump shocked the economy at the beginning of April by announcing high import tariffs of around 32% on Swiss goods. However, these have been suspended for the time being until the beginning of July. A tariff rate of 10 percent currently applies to exports to the USA.