Accounts in Blick reveal the difficulties of Swiss watchmaking behind the growth in exports

Zenith G.F.J., with calibre 135. In October the brand opened a staff consultation in Le Locle over a possible collective dismissal. © Zenith

On 30 October, the journalist Myret Zaki published a report in Blick in which industry professionals describe difficulties that the overall figures do not show. According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, exports rose 2.7% between January and September.

The jeweller Patrick Saegesser, from Crans-Montana, refers to staff reductions at Breitling, Chopard and Montblanc, as well as the hundred or so jobs at risk at Zenith, which the Radar reported on 23 October. He also says that subcontractors in the Jura are running out of orders, with machines at a standstill, and that the retailer Kirchhofer is said to have been on short-time work since March. The article includes no response from these companies.

The consultant Nicolas Rossé places the problem at the base of the pyramid: sales of watches under 200 Swiss francs have fallen from 20 million to 10 million pieces in ten years, and the 300 to 500 franc segment has dropped by about 50%. Over the same period, he estimates that the average export price has risen from about 720 francs in 2015 to more than 1,670. Growth is concentrated above 3,000 francs, led by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille.

Oliver R. Müller of the consultancy LuxeConsult estimates Rolex's 2025 sales at 11 billion francs, above the 6.3 billion for all the brands of Swatch Group combined. The United States has overtaken Hong Kong and mainland China as the top market for Swiss watches, and Müller does not expect Chinese demand to return to pre-pandemic levels.

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