Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Swiss Watch Exports Increased by 11.2% in June 2026, According to the FHS
Following sales up at Richemont and Swatch, the Swiss Federation confirms what "COULD" be the first signs of recovery.
Earlier today, we reported the increase in sales indicated by the Swatch Group (+8.5% at constant rate), which follows almost identical signs reported by Richemont about a week ago (+8% for Specialist Watchmakers and +20% in total, with a growth mostly driven by Jewellery brands). Now, it’s time for the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (the FHS) to publish its monthly export figures report. And, for the month of June 2026, the FHS indicates that ” Swiss watch exports increased by almost 11.2%, to nearly 2.4 billion francs.” This marks the second consecutive month of rapid recovery, following two years of decline (in 2024 and 2025) for exports of Swiss watches. Are we witnessing the first signs of recovery for the Swiss watch industry…? Time will tell.
The year 2026 is, until now, far from steady for exports of Swiss watches. Following a first quarter barely better than flat (+1.4% for exports), the FHS reported a strong decline over the month of April 2026. Yet, potentially as a consequence of the new models released at Watches & Wonders 2026 now being delivered to boutiques and retailers all over the world, exports of Swiss watches have seen an opposite scenario in May and June of this year. Indeed, for the past month, exports have increased by 11.2%, accounting for almost 2.4 billion Swiss francs.
The FHS also reports that “all categories grew in value, particularly watches made from precious metals (+2.9%), steel (+5.0%) and bimetallic models, exports of which leapt by 42.1% – it has to be noted that, due to the currently high price of gold, the unit price of such watches has rapidly grown.” The same trend is also visible regarding volumes – while previous years have mainly shown a decline in the number of watches exported – with significant increases for steel watches (+7.0%) and those in the “other materials” category (+21.9%), which includes ceramic and titanium pieces.
As for markets, we can see that the main export market for Swiss watches remains the USA, with CHF 349 million reported, and a growth of 12.7% over the same period. A surprising second in the ranking is France, which is reported to have exports up by a whopping 103%, now accounting for 10% of the total exports of Swiss watches. The FHS indicates that “results in France remain broadly unrepresentative of actual demand in this market.” It nevertheless places it in front of the UK, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. China is not mentioned as part of the top 6 markers for June 2026.
Finally, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry mentions that apart from watches with an export price between 500 and 3,000 francs (a number that’s very different from the actual retail price), all other price segments achieved growth, in particular the 200–500 francs segment (+54%) and watches priced at over 3,000 francs – confirming the increasing demand for high-end watches.
Two comments remain necessary before we can claim to witness a recovery… First, these export numbers only reflect one month of activity for the Swiss watch industry, and are closely following Watches and Wonders 2026. The exports could be strongly driven by the delivery of new models to retailers. Second, over the first 6 months of the year, exports are just under stable, at 12.8 billion francs, representing a dip of 0.7%. For more details, please visit www.fhs.swiss.
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And let’s put these figures into context. Switzerland exported around 25.4 million watches in 2016, compared with only about 14.6 million in 2025, while the total export value increased from roughly CHF 18.3 billion to CHF 24.4 billion.
So the industry is exporting far fewer watches, but at much higher average values. That can reflect price increases and a shift towards more expensive products, but it does not by itself confirm growing consumer demand for high-end watches.
The overall +11.2% is also heavily flattered by France, where exports more than doubled in a single month. The FH itself says that this figure is not representative of actual French demand. Excluding France, Swiss watch exports increased by only about 5.6%, which presents a rather less spectacular picture.
One additional point may be useful.
June was certainly a positive month for Swiss watch exports, but it is also worth considering the scale of the sector.
The global luxury market is worth roughly €1.4 trillion a year, while Swiss watch exports amounted to around CHF 24.4 billion in 2025. For comparison, Amazon’s average monthly revenue is more than twice the annual value of Swiss watch exports.
This does not make watches unimportant. Quite the opposite: they have a cultural visibility and symbolic value that far exceed the actual size of the sector. Still, as Monochrome itself notes, we should be cautious before drawing broad conclusions from a single strong month, especially when the figures refer to export value rather than final consumer sales.