Sales of luxury watches surged by 44% in April, according to the latest retail sales data from GfK.
The eye-watering growth in value for watches priced at over £1000 appears to be benefiting retailers across the UK.
London was the hottest market in April, with the value of sales rising by a mighty 34.2%, but the rest of Great Britain also basked in a springtime boom of 18.8% year-on-year growth for all price points combined.
The overall value of the watch market for Great Britain grew by 24.7% in April, an acceleration over the 18.5% registered for March.
For the first four months of 2017, the value of all watch sales in Great Britain is up by 14.5% over the same period last year.
The only cloud in the sky is for less expensive watches, which continue to see the total value of sales declining.
Sales of watches priced less than £100 were down by 6.3% and those priced at £100-500 were down 5%.
Gilly Netherwood, senior account manager of lifestyle at GfK, said that the result is impressive, but sounds a note of caution for those assuming the salad days will last into summer and beyond.
“Yes it’s another strong performance,” she told WatchPro. “However April 2016 was before the luxury market really took off last year, which was primarily after the referendum.”
The annual growth figure in the April report from GfK shows that the 12 months from May 2016 to April 2017 saw the overall value of sales rise by a more modest 9% compared to May 2015 to April 2016.
“Perhaps the year-on-year rise of 9% reflects the underlying growth, some of which can be attributed to price increases brands have introduced in the last few months. I think we will only really know the strength of the market after June this year; if we continue to see month on month growth after that it will be remarkable,” concludes Ms Netherwood.
