Swiss Watch Exports 2025: Premium Segments Offset Global Slowdown, Middle East Remains Resilient

   
 
 

Market News

 

Swiss Watch Exports 2025: Premium Segments Offset Global Slowdown, Middle East Remains Resilient

Swiss watch exports ended 2025 at CHF 25.6 billion, down 1.7% year on year, despite a strong December rebound. Growth in value was driven by bimetallic watches (+41.2%) and the premium segment above CHF 3,000 (+2.1%), while steel watches supported volumes. Geographically, the US and France led gains, while Asia and parts of Europe declined. The Middle East showed resilience, posting +2.1% value growth despite lower volumes, reflecting sustained demand for higher-value timepieces, particularly in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
 

LVMH Reports 2025 Revenue Decline of 5% Amid Global Challenges, Watches & Jewelry Show Resilience

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported revenue of €80.8 billion in 2025, reflecting a 5% decline amid a challenging global economic and geopolitical environment. Despite these conditions, the Group demonstrated solid resilience and sustained innovation, with the Watches & Jewelry division performing particularly well. Europe experienced a slowdown in the second half of the year, while the United States recorded growth driven by strong local demand. Japan declined compared to 2024, which had benefited from tourist spending linked to a weaker yen. Asia showed improved momentum, returning to growth in the second half. Profit from recurring operations reached €17.8 billion, with an operating margin of 22%.
 
 

Company News

 

YATAGHAN Brings Signature Collections to Riyadh with New Boutique Opening

YATAGHAN, founded in 2008 by Saudi designer Sarah Abudawood, has opened its Riyadh boutique on Level 2 of Kingdom Centre, marking a milestone in the brand’s journey. The space embodies YATAGHAN’s vision of modern heritage, blending precision, balance, and materiality with sculptural brass accents, geometric lines, and striped grey onyx. Expansive windows filtered through the signature hexagonal motif allow natural light to enhance the experience. The boutique presents signature and fine jewellery collections, including Calligraphy Series, Turathi, Ginea, Hubb, Chakra, and Infinity, celebrating personal identity, heritage, and architectural aesthetics. Each piece reflects meticulous craftsmanship, symbolic meaning, and timeless contemporary design.
 
 

Product Launch

 

Chaumet Unveils Envol, Its New High Jewellery Capsule Collection

Ever evolving, Chaumet unveils Envol, a High Jewellery capsule collection created in 2026 as a new chapter in the Maison’s nearly 250-year dialogue with nature. Evoking freedom, grandeur and self-affirmation, the collection continues a lineage that began in the 1870s, flourished during the Belle Époque, and was reinterpreted with Les Ciels de Chaumet (2019) and Un Air de Chaumet (2024). Envol invites ascent toward the azure sky through nine majestic wing designs in signature blue, enhanced by grand feu enamel and deep midnight-blue sapphires. Celebrating versatility and savoir-faire, each creation features technical ingenuity allowing multiple ways to wear them today.
 

Louis Moinet Marks the Year of the Horse with the Tourbillon Puzzle Fire Horse

The year 2026 opens under the rare and powerful sign of the Fire Horse, a celestial pairing that occurs only once every sixty years in the Chinese calendar. Symbolising intensity, confidence and unstoppable energy, it inspires Louis Moinet’s TOURBILLON PUZZLE FIRE HORSE. Crafted in the Maison’s ateliers, this exceptional timepiece showcases the celebrated puzzle dial, composed of 81 meticulously assembled pieces. Hand micro-painted, the Fire Horse is depicted in dynamic motion, its flaming mane and focused gaze expressing strength and determination. Warm, vibrant tones and flowing forms amplify the sense of movement, transforming the dial into a striking work of métiers d’art.
 

H. Moser & Cie. Presents the Architecture of Transparency with the Endeavour Tourbillon Skeleton

H. Moser & Cie. expresses its philosophy of radical minimalism with the Endeavour Tourbillon Skeleton, a timepiece that removes the superfluous to reveal pure mechanical beauty. Fully skeletonised, the watch showcases a one-minute flying tourbillon with a double hairspring that appears to float effortlessly. Housed in a 40mm 5N red gold case, the open architecture allows light, depth, and symmetry to define the design. Anthracite-treated bridges contrast with gold-plated hands and indices for refined readability. Powered by the self-winding HMC 814 calibre, this creation balances transparency, precision, and enduring elegance with a distinctly contemporary spirit.
 

Franck Muller Introduces an Exclusive Vanguard Edition for Qatar

Franck Muller introduced an exclusive Vanguard timepiece created especially for Qatar, highlighting the Maison’s dedication to bold creativity, refined elegance, and exceptional Swiss craftsmanship. Blending contemporary design with haute horlogerie, this unique creation is enhanced by a sophisticated colour palette and the brilliance of diamonds. Offered in two sizes, the Vanguard 29mm features 287 hand-set diamonds totaling 2.74 carats, while the Vanguard 32mm showcases 302 diamonds weighing 3.45 carats. Each stone is meticulously set by hand in Franck Muller’s Swiss workshops, ensuring exceptional brilliance, precision, and enduring beauty in a truly distinctive timepiece.
 

Louis Erard x Monica Bonvicini

Louis Erard collaborates with artist Monica Bonvicini to create “Not For You,” a unisex 39mm watch that transforms timekeeping into a sculptural statement. Inspired by Bonvicini’s bold, darkly humorous work, the watch challenges authority, power, and gender norms. Its matte Clou de Paris dial features mirror-polished text that reflects the wearer, while guilloché patterns evoke her world of nails, leather, and metal. Rhodium-plated hands slice across the dial like sculptural elements. The caseback bears “not for you” in polished letters under sapphire glass, with “Louis Erard x Monica Bonvicini” and “Limited Edition 1 of 178,” emphasizing exclusivity and the artistic statement of this radical timepiece.
 

Frederique Constant Introduces the New Classics Manchette

Frederique Constant redefines contemporary watchmaking with the new Classics Manchette, reviving an icon through a daring glam-rock spirit. Completing the collection, an exclusive fifth model elevates the timepiece into a true style statement. The sculptural Clous de Paris bracelet alternates brushed and polished finishes, capturing light with architectural flair. An ultra-slim yellow-gold PVD case balances solar elegance and durability. At its heart lies a genuine black onyx dial, deep and mysterious, contrasted by yellow-gold hands and protected by anti-reflective sapphire. Unique and confident, this creation transitions effortlessly from daytime sophistication to evening glamour with timeless allure and bold modern character.
 
 

Exhibitions & Events

 

India–EU FTA to Double Gem & Jewellery Trade to USD 10 Billion

The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has welcomed the India–EU Free Trade Agreement, highlighting that zero-duty access on Indian gem and jewellery exports will unlock significant growth opportunities. The removal of 2–4% import duties is expected to strengthen India’s position in the 27-member EU market and drive market diversification. With bilateral trade currently at USD 5.2 billion, the agreement aims to double trade to USD 10 billion within three years. The pact will boost exports of precious, silver, and imitation jewellery, supporting key manufacturing hubs and helping exporters offset declining shipments to the US.
 

GJEPC Announces “Quantum Couture” as Theme for Artisan Awards 2026

The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has announced “Quantum Couture – Re-Engineering Beauty and Cultural Codes” as the theme for the Artisan Jewellery Design Awards 2026. This visionary concept challenges designers to move beyond convention, creating wearable art where heritage, technology, and contemporary design coexist. Encouraging “augmented imagination,” the theme emphasizes translating meaning rather than preserving form, pushing the boundaries of creativity. Now in its 9th edition, the awards invite participants to craft jewellery that resonates across generations, reflecting a future where design evolves dynamically. Quantum Couture positions jewellery as both cultural expression and forward-looking innovation.
 
 
 
 

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