In Depth

Swiss Watch Exports Rise 11.7% in September, but China and UK Fall

The FH's September export figures record a fourth monthly gain, driven by uneven markets and stronger volumes. They measure shipments, not retail sales.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 3 min read · 24 October 2026

Chart of year-on-year change in September 2026 Swiss watch export value to six leading markets — Hen & Mills, using FH data

A single percentage can make a complicated month look tidier than it was. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH reports that September 2026 exports rose 11.7 per cent from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive monthly gain. That is a welcome direction after a difficult period, but the destination matters as much as the total: shipments to the United States and France surged while China and the United Kingdom went backwards. This was a stronger month for Swiss watch exports, with a divided map behind it.

More watches crossed the border

The FH put total September watch-industry exports at CHF 2,225.9 million, up 11.7 per cent on September 2025. Wristwatches accounted for CHF 2,125.5 million of that value, an 11.6 per cent rise, while the number of wristwatches shipped increased 19.9 per cent to about 1.37 million. The federation estimates that roughly 228,000 more watches left Switzerland than in the same month last year. The gap between unit growth and value growth is a useful reminder that the mix of products moved alongside the headline figure.

Across January to September, cumulative export value reached CHF 19.5 billion, 2.7 per cent ahead of the corresponding nine months of 2025. Four rising months are more persuasive than one, although a modest gain over the full period is not a licence to describe every corner of the business as recovered. FH measures goods leaving Switzerland at export prices. It does not count a watch being sold to its eventual owner, and its combined figures cannot tell us how any individual maker performed.

America and France carry the sharpest rises

Exports to the United States reached CHF 292.9 million in September, up 85.7 per cent, making it the largest market in the FH's six-market table. The federation attributes that remarkable annual jump to a favourable comparison with the previous September. France rose even faster, by 128.2 per cent to CHF 246.5 million, but FH explicitly cautions that trade flows may have shifted between European markets. Taken together, European Union markets were up 15.5 per cent; the French number should not be read on its own as a surge in French consumers buying watches.

The rest of the table asks for a more measured reading. Japan rose 12.3 per cent to CHF 177.3 million and Hong Kong edged up 3.0 per cent to CHF 160.5 million. China fell 14.2 per cent to CHF 130.1 million, while the United Kingdom declined 5.2 per cent to CHF 164.3 million. FH points to an unfavourable comparison with last year for both China and the UK; it also recorded falls in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. One global growth rate cannot describe all of those routes equally well.

Steel and bimetal help explain the value

By material, steel watches rose 13.0 per cent in export value to CHF 698.7 million, while watches combining gold and steel gained 29.3 per cent to CHF 418.5 million. Precious-metal watches, still the largest material group by value at CHF 780.1 million, rose only 1.3 per cent. In units, steel was up 21.5 per cent. Those movements help explain why a rise in the number of watches can outpace the increase in their aggregate value, without proving what anyone paid at a boutique counter.

Chart of year-on-year change in September 2026 Swiss wristwatch export value by material — Hen & Mills, using FH data

The FH says watches with an export price above CHF 3,000 rose 9.9 per cent in value, and that all its price segments grew. It singles out watches below CHF 500 at export as having a particularly sharp 39.5 per cent increase. An export price is the value declared by the company shipping the watch, not the figure printed on a retail price tag. It would be tempting to turn these bands into a story about shoppers trading down or up, but the report does not measure shopper behaviour. We can say the export mix broadened; we cannot say why a particular customer bought.

There is reason to enjoy a good month without making it carry more certainty than it can. The reported rise spans several materials and price bands, and the nine-month total is positive. The same document warns that individual firms may diverge from the aggregate and that its data can later be revised. For me, the most useful number is not 11.7 per cent in isolation. It is the distance between that confident headline and the two markets on the chart that still moved the other way.