Swiss watch exports: US market drives March growth

Zurich - Swiss watch exports rebounded by 1.5 percent in March, climbing to 2.38 billion Swiss francs (2.56 billion euros), driven by watch shipments to the US, the Swiss Watch Federation announced on Thursday.

"Across the entire first quarter, however, the trend remains slightly negative, with a decline of 1.1 percent,” the Swiss Watch Federation said in a statement. Watch exports had fallen by 8.2 percent in February.

In March, watch exports to the US, the leading market for Swiss watchmakers, increased by 13.7 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. They also increased by 10.6 percent to the UK and by 1.1 percent to Japan, but decreased by 11.3 percent to Hong Kong and by 11.5 percent to China, according to the Federation's data.

Watch exports do not reflect sales to consumers but rather shipments of products requested by retailers for their watch stocks for their boutiques. Financial analysts closely monitor these statistics, as they indicate retailers' orders and, consequently, their expectations regarding local customer demand.

According to some analysts, the magnitude of this surge in the US in March suggests that watchmakers may have already started anticipating and increasing shipments to the US, a key market, to build up stocks. This was amidst tariff threats even before the White House's decision on April 2.

In a stock market commentary, Jefferies analysts believe that the March figures are “probably flattered by a pull-forward of deliveries to the US ahead of tariff risks”.

When asked by AFP, Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox, pointed out that “all indications point towards a slowdown in the US”. According to Cox, this increase in exports to the US in March “probably reflects” the fact that American retailers “got ahead of the tariffs in the US in April”.