The Swiss watchmaking industry reported very good performance in 2002. For the second year in succession, results were better than forecast. For the year 2002 as a whole, Swiss watch exports were worth 10,640 bilion francs. That figure is almost equivalent to 2001, with a downturn of just 0.1% of 13.7 million francs. This level confirms that good health of the Swiss watchmaking industry, despite a fluctuating economic situation and consolidates the results of previous years.

The situation improved constantly as the year progressed and the gap on 2001 narrowed at an increasingly fast pace. The closing month of the year, which also account for the biggest export figures, were decisive and their positive trend brought a substantial improvement in the annual result. The favourable base effect also plays a role here, following the unsatisfactory figures reported at the end of 2001.

Exports of complete watches showed better than average performance. At 9,716.3 million francs, their value was 0.4% higher than in 2001. The beaon product of Swiss watchmaking is therefore still growing. That is also the case in volume terms. The number of exported timepieces in fact rose by nearly 450,000 units (+1.7%), to reach 26.8 million pieces. This pleasing trend marked the end to ten years of falling numbers of exported watches.

Like finished watches, most small volume products also experienced favourable sales. Movement exports rose by 9.8% in volume and 3.4% in value. Results for watch cases and hands were also good. The articles which are having more difficulty and finally tilt the balance slightly into the red are wristlets (-24.3%) and large volume products (-21.6%), in particular alarm clocks and large cocks.

After marking time, gold watches did distinctly better toward the end of the year 2002. Over the twelve months period, the progession was 0.9% in value terms (+25.9 million francs), so making a significant contribution to overall growth. Platinum watches are a much smaller niche article but also experienced substantial growth (+17.2%). The best-selling line, steel, also added its contribution, which was by no means insignificant (+58.7 million, or +1.5%). At the other extreme, plastic, aluminum and silver watches performed less well than in 2001.

In volume terms, the rise was explained almost entirely by exports of steel watches (+9.8%). This material accounts for nearly one timepiece out of two, with 1.1 million units more than in 2001. Plastic has been showing a falling trend and was down by 8.2%.

Markets
In 2002, the rend on the fifteen main market was as follows;

The three foremost countries, United States, Hong Kong and Japan, ended the year 2002 on a flourish with value growth of 31.3%, 19.6% and 38.6% respectively, compared to December 2001. This growth enabled a higher annual result to be reported for these three markets, although on a more moderate scale. The leading trio account for 40% of the total value of Swiss watch exports.

The situation is not quite so good in Europe where the economic situation is difficult. Italy and France did less well than in 2001, while Germany fell sharply (-19.5%). The situation in Great Britain remained good with 10.4% growth.

Beyond the fifteen rank, the excellent performance of China (+161.7%) is outstanding, admitedly from a modest base; however, sales have been rising strongly for the past twelve month. The fact that a substantial volume of products exported to Hong Kong are shipped on to China is also well known.