ZURICH: Swiss watch industry has reversed two years of decline, growing by 2.7 percent in 2017, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH), Swiss media reported Wednesday.
Exports grew by to 19.9 billion Swiss francs (21.3 billion U.S. dollars), gaining almost 3.0 percent on 2016’s results, Le Temps newspaper reported. Growth returned sooner than expected,” the FH said on Tuesday. The biggest driver was the Asian market, which experienced the biggest growth at 4.8 percent and generated half of all export sales.
“A growing number of markets returned to growth, but several of them are still lagging behind,” said a statement by the FH. In the United States, by contrast, sales fell for a third successive year, down by 4.4 percent. There was a general trend towards more expensive watches, hence the value of exports grew despite a decrease in the number of watches exported (down 4.3 percent, at 24.3 million pieces).
