Export results for December 2019 for Swiss watches were released last week. After a dissapointing decline in exports of -3.5% YoY for November, December numbers came in positively. Watch exports rose by 5.8% (CHF1.7 billion) driven by strong results in Chinese imports of Swiss watches. Many point these positive numbers to the earlier Chinese New Year and inevitable gifts that were purchased.

As a whole, 2019 ended positively for the Swiss watch industry as exports rose by 2.4% YoY. These numbers were probably stunted by the political tension in Hong Kong that resulted in serious YoY declines in exports to Hong Kong amounting to -11.4%.

Similarly to November results, there was a sharp decline in watch exports that are value at below CHF3000. Both value and units sold declined in all categories up to CHF3000. Watches above CHF3000 saw postively increases of both value and units sold. These results point to a weakening middle class who may have less disposable income to spend on luxury goods. As a whole, units sold were down by 9.3% while value was up by 6.5%.

China led the way in for top countries to import Swiss watches boosted by the holiday season that they were celebrating. Having purchased CHF211.2 million worth of watches, this was a 49.4% increase YoY for China playing a huge role in the watch export numbers. Other Asian countries dominated the top markets for December as well as USA.

For 2019 as a whole, the Asian markets still dominated with Hong Kong leading the way at CHF2.7 billion worth of imports. YoY this was in-fact down 11.4% from the previous year which really shows the impact that the political tension in the country had on their commerce. USA, China, Japan and the UK all were part of the top five main markets for 2019.

Enjoy!