The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry has pointed to ‘a stable result’ in world sales in the first quarter of 2015, although it notes that watch exports worth CHF.1.8bn ($1.9bn) ’varied hardly at all’ between April 2015 and the same month in 2014 (-0.8%).

The association said: “The good showing in March was therefore partially offset. The cumulative result since January remains focused on consolidation, with a variation of +2.1%.”

Over the 12-month period to April, the association pointed to precious metal watches, particularly gold, displaying a marked decline, ‘clearly dragging down the overall result’. It added: “On the plus side, bimetallic timepieces made the strongest positive contribution, while steel stagnated. Volumes showed a more pleasing trend, thanks mainly to steel and the category of other metals.”

The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

MOST GROWTH IN LOWER-PRICED SECTOR

In overall terms, the Federation noted that growth was concentrated in the segment of watches costing less than CHF.200 ($214) at export prices, where the number of timepieces increased by 7.9%. Prices between CHF.200 ($214) and CHF.3,000 ($3,179) registered export sales downturns in the region of -7%, while those costing more than CHF.3,000 were not a driving force in April, with exports down slightly.

The Federation commented: “While there were few declines on main markets, those in evidence were significant. Not least Hong Kong, where the decline in exports seems to be aligned with the reality of local sales.

Source: The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

“The United States continued its steady and ultimately positive trend. China recorded particularly strong growth, albeit distorted in all likelihood by temporary exports. Ignoring these inputs, the result would be in the region of +10%. Japan registered a decline, though less steep than on other markets. An unfavourable base effect due to an excellent 2014 is a key factor in this result. In Europe, Italy and France recorded strong growth.”