Swatch makes up for lost time with record sales

ZURICH: Swatch, the world's top watchmaker, on Wednesday announced an all-time record in half-year sales, saying it has millennials to thank for bringing wristwatches back Long the world's biggest watchmaker, Swatch has for years seen sales tumble as consumers around the world embraced the smartphone and smartwatch revolutions Group net sales increased by 147 per cent at current exchange rates in the first half of 2018 to 427 billion Swiss francs.

"Impressive acceleration in both sales and quantities sold was reported across the board by all brands and in all price segments, not only in the prestige and luxury segment, but also in the middle and basic price segment," Swatch said "All regions contributed to the best first semester sales in the history of the Group, led by Asia with very high growth rates," it added Swatch had a bad year in 2016, when Swiss watchmakers saw sales drop by 10 per cent after a more than 3 per cent fall in 2015.

The company returned to growth in 2017, driven by online sales. . Source