The Rally Continues, Swiss Watch Industry Export Statistics - June 2021

The strong export results for Switzerland continued into the summer months, totally just shy of CHF 2 billion in exports. This was a 12.5% increase compared to 2019. With these strong results, exports kept pace with the 2019 export numbers, only being off by about -0.5%. These positive results lifted the 12 month moving average higher into positive territory.

There was a typo in the report (stated April instead of June)

The split of units vs value for watch exports in June told a ‘value’ story for the month. Units exports were off by about 21% while the value of watches exported grew compared to 2019 by about 13%. Notably, steel watches saw a large increase in value export while units shrank. This would mean consumers are buying more expensive steel pieces. Precious metals grew in both units and value, pointing to a strong month. Watches over CHF 500 saw positive results in units and value.

The US top the 30 largest watch markets, followed by China and Hong Kong in June. They consist of a major part of the export market and also have had fairly successful vaccine rollouts. Russia saw a huge 91% increase in exports compared to 2019 as well as Ireland. The top markets will likely continue their positive results into the second half of the summer.

July Predictions
Our predictions for June were in the right direction, but results were more optimistic than we expected. July was a month of further economy expansion, with many people traveling for the summer holidays. This is a perfect opportunity for those interested to pick up a watch. We predict an increase of 8% for watch exports for next month compared to 2019.

Enjoy!