La Swiss Watch Federation, has just released its export statistics for February 2020 and, as expected, they are down sharply. Their value has contracted by 9.2% , equal to 1.6 billion Swiss francs.

 

But that doesn't even reflect the dire and dire situation on the market. If exports fell by 51% in China and 42% in Hong Kong, shipments in the United States have still increased by 17.8% , as the epidemic has not yet hit the country. The same situation is visible in Germany + 7.3%, France + 12.6% e Italy + 5%. The pandemic of Coronavirus, as of March 2020, it has now spread globally and this is just the beginning of the recession for Swiss watch exports. Of course, the Coronavirus is primarily a health problem, but secondly an economic one. The luxury industry, including the Swiss watch industry, is expected to be among the hardest hit sectors.

As already mentioned, Rolex and Patek Philippe, as well as most major watch manufacturers such as Hublot, Girard-Perregaux, Audemars Piguet, TAG Heuer and others have stopped production for safety reasons, preventing the coronavirus from spreading to its employees and the rest of the nation. Always in Switzerland, as mentioned over and over again, the two main shows related to the world of watches, Watches & Wonders Geneva e baseword, entered the list of canceled or postponed events. The Swiss government has blocked the nation and the work so that most brands and companies, not just watchmaking, are basically in full crisis.

Consumption collapses as many countries are now completely blocked. Billions in luxury sales will be canceled as travel restrictions curb Chinese spending. Such collapses were observed in all sectors. But to conclude on a very optimistic note, the situation is improving in China and it is hoped that Chinese shoppers will emerge from quarantine, slowly returning to the mall and shops. We enthusiasts of the sector remain hopeful even in a rise in the world of luxury, guided, why not, by the cry "revenge"!