November recorded the highest monthly value of the year for watch exports, and also the most moderate decline. Benefiting from a favourable base effect, the value of 1.4 billion francs represented a variation of -10.6% compared to November 2008. While negative, this rate is a marked improvement on previous months. The trough of the wave appears therefore to have been reached, and may even be receding. Levels remain low however. In eleven months, the sector exported the equivalent of 12 billion francs, a decline of 23.7%.
Gold watches played a very small part in this upturn in value, as was the case for precious metals generally. In contrast, steel recorded a slight decline, which helped push results higher. Bimetallic timepieces even registered an increase. In terms of the number of timepieces exported, the downturn was very moderate, thanks in particular to steel.
Wristwatches costing less than 200 recorded a moderate decline, much less pronounced than in previous months. The 200-500 franc category stood out by steady growth of around 20%, both in value and volume terms. The decline was also moderate in the 500 to 3,000 francs category, which saw a 4.3% downturn in value. The situation for wristwatches costing more than 3,000 francs showed less of an improvement than other segments; their value fell by 17.8% during the month of November.
Of the top 30 markets accounting for 90% of the total value of Swiss watch exports, ten recorded growth in November. This was particularly the case for China, which ranked fifth thanks to a sharp upturn. In the Far East, too, Singapore showed a positive trend. Hong Kong and the United States curbed their decline in relation to previous months. While Italy recorded a limited decline, France and Germany fell back more sharply even though they had fared better since the beginning of the year.
