There is an almost perfect correlation between political turmoil over Brexit and watch sales in Great Britain, analysis of GfK data reveals.
March, the original date for the country’s departure from the EU saw year-on-year sales dip by 2% in the month; and now the September to November period in which politicians failed to pass a single Brexit option, Theresa May resigned and Boris Johnson prorogued parliament, have seen further drops in sales.
Meanwhile, since the summer, prices for several luxury watch brands have increased and the pound has strengthened. This has wiped out the price advantage that the UK had over rival markets.
The upshot is that, for the year-to-date, the value of sales for all watches is unchanged from the first 11 months of 2018 and look certain to end 2019 flat or slightly down on 2018.
Only the category of watches selling at prices above £1000 has maintained any growth this year, according to GfK, with the value of sales up 4.3% for the year-to-date.
The value of watches sold at prices between £100 and £500 is down by double digits so far this year.
The average selling price for all watches has risen by 7.9% so far this year.
London has seen the value of sales fall by 5.9% over the past 11 months compared to the same period in 2018, while for the rest of Great Britain, sales have risen by 6.1%, GfK says.
