Swiss watch exports post best half-yearly showing in six years

Shipments to Singapore jumped 9% to 531.7 million Swiss francs, making it the eighth biggest market for Swiss timepieces

Published Thu, Aug 23, 2018 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

EXPORTS of Swiss luxury watches in the January-June period posted their strongest first-half growth in six years, led by higher demand in Asia and the United States.

World shipments of Swiss high-end timepieces jumped 10.5 per cent from the year-ago first half to 10.5 billion Swiss francs (S$14.6 billion) in January-June this year. This was the first time the figure breached the CHF10 billion mark since 2015.

The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, in releasing the half-yearly export figures, said in a statement: "Asia held a practical monopoly on growth in the first half, genera…