Interview: A Brief History Of The Swiss Watch Industry & America

Europa Star is one of the very few Swiss-based publications on the watch industry - whose history has mainly been a publication serving the industry itself Maillard spoke with me about some of the history of the Swiss watch industry and America and a little bit about what luxury Swiss watchmakers will face in the United States when they return to business after the COVID-19 pandemic has abated Serge Maillard: If you look at the statistics of Swiss watch exports for the year 2005, the United States was still ahead of Hong Kong in terms of value, while mainland China accounted for only 350 million CHF.

In the luxury watch industry, as well as in luxury in general, the great boom of Chinese consumption really took off from 2005 The focus for many Swiss watchmakers turned to Chinese consumption, which became pivotal in allowing the Swiss watch industry to almost double its total export value between 2005 and 2015 The mass market was for everyday pocket watches at a time when having a watch was a daily necessity! Despite the high volumes of American watch production, Swiss watchmakers were continuously able to produce more than their American counterparts in the 20th century, which is important for maintaining competitive prices.

I think two moves are relevant: moving from a Swiss watch industry towards a global watch "Community," in which all shareholders, including aficionados around the world, as well as retailers and the media, are engaged around a shared passion, which requires a collective effort; and using the most innovative new technologies to convey the passion for watches A good indicator of the relevance of the watch industry today is the number of new watch projects on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter. . Source