For the last 10 years, the US has been the largest market for Swiss watch exports. With the value of exports to the US declining 3% from the previous year and Hong Kong growing by 10.9%, Hong Kong became the largest market at the end of 2008. Although the US market fell to second place, Japan, the third largest market is only half the size of the US. Europe is first represented on the list until France appears at number four and is followed closely by Italy in fifth. China as an export market for Swiss watches gained an enormous 43.1% in 2008 when compared to their 2007 results. China was followed by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with gains of 27.6% and 24.0% respectively Spain showed the biggest decline with 13.5%.

Somewhat surprisingly, 2008 was still a record year for Swiss watch exports with the total value of exports 6.7% higher than 2007, which itself was a record year. The final result doesn’t tell the whole story however with the final quarter of 2008 showing a 7.8% decline as the Global Economic Crisis started to hit home for most markets.

The top 15 markets for Swiss watch exports in 2008 with the percentage variation against 2007 and the total value in million US dollars are:

1. Hong Kong ($2,405, +10.9%)

2. USA ($2,111, -3.0%)

3. Japan ($1,053, -4.5%)

4. France ($1,008, +15.1%)

5. Italy ($932, +2.5%)

6. Germany ($814, +10.2%)

7. China ($736, +43.1%)

8. Singapore ($698, +16.8%)

9. United Arab Emirates ($600, +27.6%)

10. United Kingdom ($571, -2.7%)

11. Spain ($403, -13.5%)

12. Russia ($259, -9.7%)

13. Taiwan ($258, +5.1%)

14. Thailand ($236, +11.8%)

15. Saudi Arabia ($213, +24.0%)

The outlook for Swiss watch exports continues to be pessimistic after the decline seen in the last quarter of 2008 and the results of the first two months of 2009. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry has released the January and February 2009 results showing exports to the US almost halved (47.5%) compared to the same month in 2008 and the combined result for the first two months was a decline of 38%. The US market has shown the biggest decline while others have not been affected as severely with Japan being the next worst result with a decline of 13.5%.

As not all markets have been declining to the same extent (with some markets still growing), not all price ranges of Swiss watch exports have been affected the same. Higher priced exports fared much better in 2008 by growing 20% when compared to their 2007 results. Watch exports with a value of USD $2676 (at time of writing) grew while watches priced between USD $446 and $2676 fell.

In hard economic times, luxury items such as watches become purchases that are more difficult to justify for middle income earners while high income earners still have enough discretionary income to afford a high end luxury watch. So as was expected, the higher end of the luxury watch market held up in a generally declining export market while those watches in the lower end suffered the most. This trend has continued on into the first quarter of 2009 and only time will tell whether the market for luxury watches will show signs of recovery by the end of 2009.

Having seen sustained growth in the value of Swiss watch exports year on year, some of the declines being experienced in 2009 can appear alarming. However it should be remembered that 2008 was a record year for exports and even though the market in a number of key markets, adjustments are being made by the Swiss watch industry to ensure a healthy long term future.

Related posts:

1. The Sale Of Luxury Watches Is Recovering The sale of the luxury watches has dropped a lot...
2. The Truth About Swiss Army Men’s Watch Velcro, Swiss cheese and Swiss chocolate are some of the...
3. The Astounding Historical Account Of Swiss Army Women’s Watch The iconic Swiss Army men's watch have an extensive history...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Related posts

• Watch Choice Says Online Luxury Watch Buyers Must “Buy the Seller”, Not Just the Watch (0)
• The Rolex Dive Watch You Don’t Need But Will Want All The Same (1)
• What Type Of Movado Watches Are Available? (0)
• Watches – High Value Watches (0)
• WatchChoice.com Sees Pre Owned Watches Become The Hot Ticket In A Cool Market (0)
• The Popular Tag Watches (0)
• The Historical Timeline of Breitling Watch Company (0)

Tags: Luxury Watches, swiss watch exports, swiss watch markets, Swiss watches

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 12:38 am and is filed under Jewelry, Diamonds and Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.