{"id":45671,"date":"2019-02-18T11:09:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T11:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/?p=45671"},"modified":"2019-02-18T11:09:31","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T11:09:31","slug":"exclusive-research-state-of-the-nations-top-10-watchmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/exclusive-research-state-of-the-nations-top-10-watchmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH: STATE OF THE NATION’S TOP 10 WATCHMAKERS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s biggest watch companies increased sales by 9% in their 2017-18 financial years, according to accounts published at Companies House. WatchPro<\/em> has been tracking the financial results of British watch businesses since we launched in 2010. Over that time, the biggest ten companies in the UK have increased sales from \u00a3547 million to \u00a31.1 billion, and the overwhelming majority of that revenue comes from watches sold to retailers at wholesale prices.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rolex has not only confirmed its position as the country\u2019s biggest watch supplier by a considerable margin, it has continued to stretch its lead. With sales in 2017 hitting \u00a3329 million, it represents 29% of the \u00a31.1 billion generated from the biggest ten businesses.<\/p>\n

Rolex grew by 23% in the financial year while Patek Philippe, which remains in second place, grew by 9%.<\/p>\n

The only company in the top 10 that grew faster than Rolex was Richemont with 30% growth in sales to \u00a3143 million. That figure does not include Cartier, which files its accounts separately to its parent organisation.<\/p>\n

Seven of the top 10 grew sales, an impressive achievement in a year that was being compared to 2016-17 when the UK had a massive price advantage for luxury watches over European neighbours thanks to the Brexit vote weakening the value of sterling. Only Fossil Group, Time Products and Breitling saw sales decline.<\/p>\n

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Companies House data. Click to enlarge.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top 10 Watch Businesses in the UK (click link to view detailed analysis):<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Rolex Watch Company Ltd<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover (FY end Dec 2017): \u00a3329 million (+23%) | Operating Profit: 42m (+86%) | Share of Top 10: 29%<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Patek Philippe UK<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover (FY end Jan 2018): \u00a3155 million (+9.1%) | Operating Profit: \u00a317.2 million (+109%) | Share of Top 10: 14%<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Richemont UK Ltd<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover (FY end Jan 2018): \u00a3142 million (+30%) Operating Profit: \u00a317.2 million (+109%) | Share of Top 10: 13%<\/span><\/p>\n

4. LVMH Watch & Jewellery UK Ltd<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover (FY end Jan 2018): \u00a399 million (+6%) | Operating Profit: \u00a311 million (+15%) | Share of Top 10: 9%<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Fossil UK Limited (watches only)<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover from watches estimate based on global split between sales of watches and other goods (FY end Jan 2018): \u00a392 million (-7%) Operating Profit: \u00a33.4 million (+5%) |\u00a0Share of Top 10 (watches only): 8%<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Swatch Group UK<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover (FY end Dec 2017): \u00a385 million (+4%) Operating Profit: \u00a33.3 million (-47%) |\u00a0Share of Top 10: 8%<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Seiko UK Ltd<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover (FY end Mar 2018): \u00a377 million (+6%) | Operating Profit: \u00a32.2 million (-39%) | Share of Top 10: 7%<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Cartier (watches only)<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover from watches estimate based on global split between sales of watches and other goods (FY end Mar 2018): \u00a357 million (+10%) | Operating Profit (including jewellery): \u00a315 million (flat) | Share of Top 10 (watches only): 5%<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Time Products<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover (FY end Jan 2018): \u00a345.1 million (-34%) | Operating Profit: \u00a311 million (-60%) | Share of Top 10: 4%<\/span><\/p>\n

10. Breitling UK<\/strong><\/a><\/span>
\nTurnover (FY end Jan 2018): \u00a340 million (-6%) Operating Profit: \u00a31.1 million (+182%) |\u00a0Share of Top 10: 4%<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WatchPro compiles detailed financial information from Companies House on the biggest watch businesses and subsidiaries operating in the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":45673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false},"categories":[7039,6,7024,2,8637],"tags":[10227,10684],"newspack_lstngs_evt":[],"newspack_lstngs_gen":[],"newspack_lstngs_mkt":[],"newspack_lstngs_plc":[],"acf":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"WATCHPRO","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45671"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_evt","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_evt?post=45671"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_gen","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_gen?post=45671"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_mkt","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_mkt?post=45671"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_plc","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_plc?post=45671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}