Has the Swiss luxury watch market rebounded since the Covid-19 slump? As Geneva Watch Days opens, LVMH’s Bulgari is seeing ‘much stronger’ growth, while others predict a possible slowdown
- With Geneva Watch Days taking place from August 29 to September 1, the luxury watch industry has seen a strong rebound with the value of exports up 11 per cent in 2022
- Jean-Christophe Babin of LVMH jewellery and Bulgari says people are ‘positive’ but he wonders how long it can last, while H. Moser & Cie’s Edouard Meylan has seen ‘all-time highs’
Swiss watchmakers are not seeing signs so far that geopolitical tensions and recession fears are hitting demand for luxury timepieces, executives said ahead of the Geneva Watch Days event that opened on August 29.
Sales of Swiss watches have rebounded strongly from the 2020 pandemic slump, with the value of exports up 11.4 per cent in the first seven months of 2022.
“For now people’s state of mind stays positive. How long will it last? We don’t know,” said Jean-Christophe Babin, head of LVMH jewellery and watch brand Bulgari.
He said Bulgari was gaining market share, seeing “much stronger” growth in its watch business than the rate of Swiss watch exports.
While there were many reasons to be alarmed over the last two years, including the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and inflation, “watch exports are nevertheless close to all-time highs”, Edouard Meylan, head of independent watch brand H. Moser & Cie, said.
“We need to take advantage while it lasts, but we have to get ready for a slowdown,” he said, adding sales were up by more than a quarter so far this year, with some bottlenecks for watch cases and straps.
