Adding The Hour Glass as luxury watch sales recover

(Oct 16): The improvement in the luxury watch industry this year appears set to continue. From January to August, the total export value of Swiss watches rose 1.2% y-o-y to CHF12.6 billion ($17.6 billion), according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH. This was driven by higher sales in the majority of markets around the world.

Hong Kong, the world’s top destination for Swiss watch exports, recorded a 2.9% growth y-o-y. Singapore, which is among the top 10 markets, saw smaller growth of 0.1%. China registered the fastest growth of 19.4%. Exports to the UK increased 11.8%. FH says the overall growth was attributable entirely to watches with export prices of over CHF3,000.

This positive set of data has started to fuel optimism in the industry. A Deloitte survey of 60 watch executives, conducted from May to July, found that 52% are optimistic about the outlook for the industry for the next 12 months, compared with only 2% last year. They expect volume to grow across all price segments.

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