The UK is officially the world’s fastest growing major market for Swiss watchmakers, according to the latest statistics from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.
In the nine months to September 2015, exports of Swiss watches to the UK rose by 20% compared to the same period in 2014.
The UK is now the eighth largest market for the Swiss watch industry, worth CHF 825.6 million (£551m) to the Swiss watch industry, up from CHF 687 million (£458.5m) last year. In the rankings it is behind Germany (CHF 913.5m/£609.6m) but ahead of Singapore (CHF 812.8m/£542.4m).
The devastating effect of Chinese government anti-corruption policy is still rocking the luxury retail sector in Hong Kong with exports down 20.5% in the same period, and by 9.2% to China.
Hong Kong is still by far the world’s largest market for Swiss watches worth CHF 2.4bn (£1.6bn), compared to America in second place with CHF1.7bn (£1.1bn).
Market growth in the Netherlands (24.4%) and Austria (21.5%) surpassed that witnessed in the UK but both are much smaller markets by value, representing CHF 180.4m (£120.4m) and CHF 223.1m (£148.9m) respectively.
Swiss watch exports so far this year total CHF 15.8 billion (£10.5bn).
Top 10 Swiss watch export markets by value (millions of CHF) Jan-Sept 2015
1. Hong Kong 2,415.5 (down 20.5%)
2. USA 1,721.8 (up 2.2%)
3. China 977.4 (down 9.2%)
4. Italy 973.6 (up 9.5%)
5. Japan 964.6 (down 2.9%)
6. France 922.0 (up 13.7%)
7. Germany 913.5 (up 3.4%)
8. UK 825.6 (up 20.0%)
9. Singapore 814.8 (up 1.4%)
10. UAE 681.6 (down 9.2%)
