Exports of Swiss watches rose by 2.4% to CHF 21.7 billion during the year, but plummeted in volume terms by nearly three million items (-13%) as its largest market Hong Kong reported a 11.4% decline in value terms year-on-year, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH said in a statement released yesterday.

Though the downward spiral that has been witnessed over the last few months continued through December in Hong Kong (down 20.7%), strong growth in China (+49.4%) and US (+9.5%), saw overall exports for the month rise by 5.8% at a value of CHF 1.7 billion, the Federation added. Japan (+1.8%), Singapore (+25.1%) and France (+27.2%) were the other large markets that recorded significant growth during the month.

Growth in 2019 was boosted by China (+16.1%), Japan (+19.9%) and Singapore (+14.1%) among Asian countries, and a strong performance in USA (+8.6%).

During the last month of the year, in terms of materials, exports increase across all categories except steel (-3%), with a major increase (+15.4%) for watches made from precious metals. In volume terms, the total was down 9.3%, while the rise in value terms overall was 6.5%, with Gold-Steel, Other Metals and Other Materials all rising too.

The Federation also said that in terms of price segments, the pattern of recent months was repeated in December. Watches in bands below 3000 francs all saw declines in both value and the number of items. Products priced over 3,000 francs grew 9.7% in volume terms, and 12.9% in value terms.