Two watch brands have confirmed that they will absorb all increased costs brought on the jump in the Swiss Franc exchange rate.
Ball confirmed that it would not be increasing its UK pricing despite the Swiss Franc’s current historic high, brought about by the Swiss National Bank removing a currency peg that had artificially limited its currency’s strength against the Euro.
A spokesman for the brand said: “The strength of our brand in markets like United States and Asia, and the solidness of our company foundation, will allow us to overcome this temporal situation.
“Hence, we reinforce our will to invest in the UK market and to offer timepieces, with unparallel technology at a very reasonable price.”
Family-owned Victorinox confirmed that it would stick to its policy of absorbing any losses, sharing them with its distributors, rather than pass the additional costs on to customers.
Carl Elsener, chief executive officer, Victorinox AG, said: “The decision by the SNB with the consequence of a stronger Swiss Franc will have an impact on our export business, affecting our market competiveness. This is particularly relevant for Europe, our home market, as we invoice in Euro and are faced with a significant drop in margin.
“We will now have to review our pricing structure and decide on how much we can increase our prices for Europe on all products made in Switzerland. As a principle, we will stick to our policy of absorbing the losses by sharing them with our distributors.
“It does have though a particularly strong impact on our product categories Swiss Army Knives, Household and Professional Knives, Watches and Fragrances. Our latest product lines such as Apparel and Travel Gear, manufactured outside of Switzerland, will remain unaffected.”
