Precious metal watches generated revenue of 579.5 million francs, a figure up 13.1% year on year.
Watch exports recorded solid annual growth in January, rising 8.6% to 1.86 billion francs. Growth was notably driven by the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore, said the Federation of the Watch Industry (FH) on Tuesday in a press release.
Precious metal watches generated revenue of 579.5 million francs, a figure up 13.1% year on year. “They alone generated nearly half of the growth in January, although they only account for 3% of total volumes,” comments the FH. In number of parts, the growth is less spectacular, with a gain of 1.7%.
Steel watches totaled exports of 690.9 million, up 4.6% year on year, when other metals saw their sales abroad swell by a third to 106 million. Only bimetallic watches suffered an annual decline, of 3.3% to 335.5 million.
Exports of watches to the United States, the leading outlet for the watch industry, totaled 318.8 million francs, up by more than a quarter over one year. Towards Hong Kong, they jumped by 10.3% to 167.6 million, more or less returning to their 2021 level. For the second outlet, China, the situation has clearly not recovered, while a decline of 17.3% was wiped to 185.2 million.
In addition to these three markets, the 100 million franc mark for watch exports in January was exceeded in Japan, with 115.2 million (-0.8%), in Singapore, with 111.5 million (+19.7 %), in the United Kingdom, with 106.1 million (+5.2%) and in Germany, with 104.9 million (+19.9%). France rose to ninth position among the main export markets, with a volume of 84.6 million (+16.8%).
By price range, it was the two extremities that saw their sales increase, i.e. watches costing less than 200 francs at the export price (+27.6% in value) and those costing more than 3,000 francs (+12.6% ). In the middle of the range, exports fell back, both for timepieces whose export price is between 200 and 500 francs and for the segment between 500 and 3,000 francs.
