Sales volume of watches and precious jewellery in France struggles in 2025

The French watch and fine jewellery sector reported a decline in sales volume for watches and precious jewellery last year. This occurred even though turnover climbed due to rising metal prices.

“The creative industries of French watchmaking and jewellery-making have not been spared by either general economic uncertainties or the somewhat erratic changes in customs tariffs in the US,” the sector stated in a report.

Last year, the turnover for watches and precious jewellery in France climbed very slightly (+1 percent) to reach 5.9 billion euros (6.9 billion dollars). “The market is thus stabilising at a high level of activity, moving from a base of four billion euros in 2019 to approximately 50 percent more,” Francéclat indicated in its report.

Nevertheless, the sector qualified this performance. Given the sharp rise in the price of precious metals, this growth in value is accompanied by a contraction in volume. Footfall in points-of-sale is a marked source of concern for 2025.

In detail, the report recalls that the price of a gold bar jumped by 38 percent in euros in 2025; a silver ounce by 35 percent; and a platinum ounce by 27 percent.

Regarding the production of watches and jewellery in France, the trend last year was positive (+7 percent year-over-year), reaching 6.6 billion euros. It was boosted by jewellery-making production (+8 percent year-over-year) at nearly 6.2 billion euros. This included a 10 percent jump for precious jewellery to 5.6 billion euros. Meanwhile, costume jewellery production fell by 16 percent to 426 million euros.

The watchmaking segment remained stable at 425 million euros. Watch production grew by 5 percent to 105 million euros, boosted by mechanical watches (+10 percent). Conversely, domestic and technical clockmaking struggled, declining by 7 percent year-over-year.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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