Swiss Watch Exports Fall in November on Steep Hong Kong Decline
- Value of timepiece shipments fails to exceed 2 billion francs
- Industry faces first annual drop in exports since 2009
A Swatch Group AG Sistem51 plastic mechanical watch belonging to Tony Fadell, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nest Inc., not pictured, is arranged for a photograph in Palo Alto, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. When Fadell isn't rethinking basic parts of your home, he collects watches. But he doesn't just like them, he has a seven-figure collection, and, more important, he really knows watches.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergSwiss watch exports dropped in November, led by a 28 percent decline in shipments to Hong Kong, the industry’s largest market.
Shipments slid 5.6 percent to 1.95 billion Swiss francs ($1.96 billion), according to figures released Tuesday by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. That compares with a 14 percent drop in the year-earlier period and it’s the first time the value of November shipments fell below 2 billion francs in four years, the group said. Exports to the U.S. fell 5.3 percent.