Swiss watch exports rise 11.7% in September, a fourth month of growth

Swiss watch exports reached 2.23 billion Swiss francs, or $2.74 billion, in September, a rise of 11.7% on the year, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. It was the fourth consecutive month of growth for the business.

Across the first nine months of 2026, export value totalled 19.5 billion francs, an increase of 2.7% on the same period a year earlier. September alone added 228,000 more watches to the export tally compared with August.

Steel watches carried the month, posting a 13% gain in value and a 21.5% rise in unit volume, with value and volume moving together. Bimetallic models did better on value, with sales up 29.3%, the fastest-growing material category the federation named. Timepieces in other materials added a 17.9% increase in units.

The federation said steel watches and the other-materials category together account for 81% of all Swiss timepieces exported. The advance was broad: every price segment grew, not only the top of the range.

How the price segments moved

Watches with an export price above 3,000 francs rose 9.9%, making a significant contribution to the overall upturn, the federation said in a statement on Tuesday.

The sharpest increase came at the cheapest end. Watches priced below 500 francs at export posted a 39.5% gain, the highest rate the federation reported for any price segment, and the federation said every other segment also grew.

Which markets drove the month

Exports to the United States jumped 85.7%. Japan grew 12.3% and Hong Kong rose 3%. In the European Union as a whole, Swiss watch exports gained 15.5% over the month, with one market far ahead of the rest.

That market was France, where exports surged 128.8%. The federation said the gain likely reflects trade flow allocations between markets, to the detriment of other European countries, rather than a doubling of French demand.

The other top-ten markets all declined in September. Swiss timepiece sales to Mainland China fell 14.2%, those to the United Kingdom dipped 5.2% and those to the United Arab Emirates dropped 9%.

The federation did not say what drove the Mainland China decline. Its statement attributed the upturn to the above-3,000-franc segment, to the steel and other-materials volumes, and to the strength of the US market.

What the figures leave open

The nine-month total of 19.5 billion francs is up only 2.7%, so September's double-digit month is against a year that is still modest overall. Four months of growth have lifted the cumulative figure but not transformed it.

Steel and the other-materials category, which make up 81% of exported watches, produced the unit gains of 21.5% and 17.9%.

The federation's own caveat on France matters for the regional picture. If the 128.8% jump reflects redistribution between markets, the 15.5% European Union gain may overstate underlying demand there, while the US figure stands without such a caveat.

For the sub-500-franc tier, the federation reported value only, so the unit picture there is not known.

The federation publishes its export statistics monthly, and the October figures will be the next reading. They will show whether the fourth-month streak extends to a fifth and whether the US and French jumps repeat.

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Image: Courtesy of Patek Philippe