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NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 04: Watches are viewed in a window display outside of a Manhattan store on June 4, 2015 in New York City. As the Apple Watch and other smart-watches continue to make in-roads into the traditional watch market, many in the industry are paying close attention to consumers preferences when it comes to purchasing a watch. Fossil Group, which produces watches for Michael Kors, Tory Burch, DKNY and other designers, has reported a 7 percent decline in revenues in the first quarter, to $725 million. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Monthly Swiss watch sales to the UK slump £2.4m

Swiss watch exports to the UK dropped 3.3% last month to CHF93.1m (£67.1m), a fall of CHF 3.3m (£2.4m) on the same period last year.

Based on the latest numbers, the UK is now the seventh largest importer of Swiss watches in the world, behind Germany but slightly ahead of the UAE. This time last year, however, the UK found itself in fifth place.

Despite a slowdown in sales volumes versus February 2015, the UK market for Swiss watch exports is still a third larger than it was two years ago.

The largest market for Swiss watch exports continues to be Hong Kong, however it shrunk by more than CHF70m (£50m) against the corresponding period last year during February.

The data was published this morning by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. It said an overall downturn in global exports was “less marked” than in January as the value of sales reached CHF1.7 billion (£1.2 billion), but acknowledged that it still represented an eight consecutive month of decline.

Wristwatches recorded a less pronounced fall in value of 2%, with bimetallic timepieces dragging the figures down, despite steel products registering an upturn.

In volume terms, the decline was more substantial and, paradoxically, influenced to a large extent by steel watches.

Watches costing more than CHF3,000 (£2,165) in terms of export price returned to positive growth in February, both in value and volume terms. Below this marker, all price segments recorded a downturn, the report said.

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1 Comment

  1. It’s hardly a slump of 3.3% that’s sloppy reporting to take one month’s sales figures and call it a slump. The reasons could be multitude such as lack of supply as much as anything else. Especially as medium to higher end watches are showing an increase and we haven’t even finished Basel. WatchPro should be talking up the UK Market not talking it down. Talk of a slump if it happens at the end of the year, not based on one month’s figures please! Especially when in two years comparison it is a third larger, what slump…?

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