Slight increase in growth for Swiss watch exports in March 2019
The export growth posted by the watch industry at the start of the year gained some momentum in March to stand at +4.4%, with a value of 1.7 billion francs for the month. The first quarter has therefore passed the 5 billion francs mark, an increase of 2.9% on January-March 2018. Watches costing less than 200 francs (export price) saw a particularly sharp decline, with the number of pieces down by 29.9%. At the other extreme, timepieces priced at over 3,000 francs reported a marked increase (+13.2% in value). Growth in the main markets varied considerably from country to country. Exports to Hong Kong were 2.5% higher and those to the United States 5.9% up on March 2018. China (+17.3%) saw a substantial rise, as did Japan (+21.8%), which proved particularly dynamic during the first quarter. The United Kingdom (+76.4%) was a special case once again because of stockpiling in the run-up to Brexit. The other European markets continued to lose ground.