According to the figures released by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, the U.S. hit a record +27.7% growth in 2022 when compared to 2021. These figures do not account for the month of December 2022, but I am confident that with the holiday frenzy, the percentage might go even higher. Today, the U.S. solidifies its position as the most important Swiss watch market in the world with China and Hong Kong distantly following. In a period of two years, the U.S. market has almost doubled in size in terms of Swiss watches.
The Swiss Watch Industry in the U.S. is twice as large as Hong Kong and about 3.5 times larger than the United Arab Emirates. Almost all top 30 markets registered significant growth with the exception of China and Hong Kong which were down -12.8% and -9.7% respectively, due to the COVID restrictions that were still in place up until last month.
Markets like Qatar, Thailand, Turkey, and Malaysia registered significantly higher growth rates than the rest of the market and as high as +69.8% in the case of Malaysia.
Swiss mechanical watches continue to be on the rise with more than 5.5 million units worth $18.9 billion Swiss Francs. While Swiss mechanical watches surpass Swiss electronic watches in terms of value, they represent a little bit over half of the units of Swiss electronic watches which account to close to 9 million units. While certain markets like the U.S. experienced explosive growth over the last two years, the Swiss watch exports as a whole only increased by +12% this past year 2022. However, Swiss watch exports have grown by +34% since 2022, which is a huge growth rate for only two years.
By region, the Asian region continues to be the most important region for the Swiss Watch Industry holding close to 50% share of all Swiss watch exports by value and accounting for $11.1 billion Swiss Francs. The Swiss watch industry as a whole is worth $22.8 Billion Swiss Francs with Europe representing almost a third of it at 29.8% share —$6.8 billion Swiss Francs— and followed by the Americas at 19.2% share —$4.3 billion Swiss Francs.
As soon as the figures including the month of December 2022 are released at the end of this month, I will bring you an update. My guess is that the figures will go up even more.
For more info on the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH click here.
