Mark Gilbert , Columnist

Middle-Class Angst Is Depressing Swiss Watch Sales

The future looks bleak for Swiss timepieces.

December 12, 2016 at 2:39 PM UTC

Mark Gilbert is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering asset management. A former London bureau chief for Bloomberg News, he is author of “Complicit: How Greed and Collusion Made the Credit Crisis Unstoppable.”

Out of time?
Photographer: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Stagnant wage growth for the global middle class has been cited for everything from the rise of Donald Trump, the U.K. vote to leave the European Union and the referendum that prompted the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. I'd like to add a business victim to the list: Switzerland's luxury watch industry.

QuickTake What is the Middle Class?