IndexBox has just published a new report: ‘Switzerland – Watches – Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights‘. Here is a summary of the report’s key findings.

China ($2.5B) emerges as the largest and fastest-growing importer of Swiss watches, ramping up its purchases by +9.1% per year on average over the past decade. Despite the Covid crisis, it increased imports by 31%, while the rest of Switzerland’s trade partners decreased supplies. The U.S. ($2B) and Hong Kong SAR ($1.7B) followed China in the top importer ranking. 

Switzerland’s Watch Exports

Watch exports shrank markedly from $20.6B to $17.2B (IndexBox estimates) in 2020. The total export value increased at an average annual rate of +1.7% over the past decade.

China ($2.5B), the U.S. ($2B) and Hong Kong SAR ($1.7B) were the largest markets for watches exported from Switzerland, with a combined 36% share of total exports. Japan, the UK, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, South Korea, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Russia lagged somewhat behind, together accounting for a further 37%.

China (+9.1% per year) became the fastest-growing importer of watches among Switzerland’s ten largest trade partners in the last decade. In 2020, China significantly ramped up its Swiss watch purchases from $1.9B to $2.5B, while most other countries reduced their imports.

Top Watch Importers Worldwide

Hong Kong SAR ($5.1B), the U.S. ($3.7B) and China ($3.5B) constituted the countries with the highest levels of watch purchases in 2020, with a combined 40% share of global imports (this includes not only Swiss watches but refers to the total figures). China (+32.5%) saw the highest growth rate of the value of imports over the last year, while purchases for the other global leaders experienced a decline in the imports figures.

Source: IndexBox Platform