The Swiss watch industry is bouncing back to health after two years of falling exports.
The country notched its third successive month of export growth in July, with the value of watches sold increasing by 3.6% to CHF 1.7 billion.
For the the year-to-date, January-July, exports are 0.4% higher than for the same period as last year, according to figures released today by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.
Exports to the UK fell by 8.5% in July, but remain 12.1% higher in the first seven months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016.
The UK is the fourth largest watch market in the world this year, with imports worth CHF 702 million.
July is the first full month when sales in the UK can be compared to the summer of 2016 when the Brexit vote caused the pound to crash, making watches in this country 25% cheaper than in rival markets.
Harrods has already revealed to WatchPro that traffic has been down at the Fine Watch Room this summer, although chief merchant Helen David says that sales of very high value watches — priced at over £200,000 — have been strong.
Swiss export figures are a good measure of sales into retailers, rather than sell-through.
GfK, which tracks sell-through data from hundreds of point of sale records across Great Britain, recorded a rise in sales of 5.5% in July across all price points. More expensive watches, priced at over £1000, notched a rise in sales of 11.8% over July 2016.
