The Swiss watch export industry recorded its fourth consecutive month of growth with value of exports rising by 4.2% in August as compared to a year earlier, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH said in a statement released this week. This has taken the cumulative growth in export for the year-to-date to a slightly positive 1.2%, the statement added.

Growth was driven by the stronger performance of goods at the upper end of the price spectrum and by watches manufactured in precious metals and steel, the statement revealed.

The Federation noted that the “overall trend is one of continuing recovery driven by half of the principal markets”.

In terms of price brackets, growth was attributable entirely to watches priced at over 3000 francs (export price). Products costing less than 200 francs continued to decline, although to a lesser extent than in previous months, especially in terms of the number of pieces exported.

Watches in precious metals (+9.4% in value terms) and steel (+2.7%) made a strong contribution to the overall growth in value while other materials, such as bimetal products, declined. In value terms, precious metal watches again had a major influence on the overall result, supported by a rise in steel timepieces too. Volumes were marginally down overall, though increases were seen in the precious metal, steel and gold-steel categories, but dragged down by the marked decline of the Other materials category.

A majority of markets reported higher sales in August. Hong Kong showed positive growth for the fourth consecutive month, with exports rising by 2.7% (on par with the global average), while China (+3.3%) continued with y-o-y growth though at a much lower rate than in the previous month. In Europe, the UK reported a growth of 6.9%, reversing the temporary fall last month, Italy was up 5.1% and Germany by 7.6%. Exports to Japan rose by 8.3%, the federation reported.