Swiss watch exports rose 9.1% year on year in August 2026 to CHF 1.79 billion, according to figures published on 17 September by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, known as the FH. It was the second month running of growth close to 9%. In July, exports climbed 9.6% to CHF 2.63 billion, or about US$3.25 billion.
For readers in the Gulf, the most closely watched line moved the right way. Exports to the United Arab Emirates, a key hub for watch buyers across the region, rose 6.1% in August after a 3.7% fall in July. The FH said the August gains in the UAE, as in Germany, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, were partly a favourable base effect: they were measured against a weak month a year earlier.
Over the year as a whole, the picture is calmer than the summer headlines suggest. From January to August 2026, Swiss watch exports totalled CHF 17.24 billion, up 1.7% on the same period of 2025.
A low bar, and an extra day
The FH's monthly export statistics are the industry's most closely followed barometer. Each month, however, is compared with the same month a year before, and 2025 was an unusual year. In August 2025, exports fell 16.5% to about CHF 1.6 billion, and shipments to the United States, China, Japan and the United Kingdom dropped by between 20% and 36%. Matching such a low figure is not difficult, and August 2026 also had one more working day than August 2025.
The spring was distorted in the opposite direction. In April 2025, exports to the US surged by 149% as companies shipped stock ahead of higher American tariffs. A year later, against that inflated base, April 2026 exports fell 16.6% overall and 56% to the US. Excluding the US, they rose 3%. In June, Vontobel analyst Manuel Lang described growth outside the US as "more consistent with the gradual recovery in the watch market", according to Bloomberg Law.
America cools, Europe jumps
The United States produced the sharpest swings of the summer. In July, exports to the US rose 26.5% to CHF 701.3 million. That was 26.7% of all Swiss watch exports that month, and the third month in a row of double-digit growth. In August, they fell 19.4% to CHF 197.5 million.
Europe moved the other way. Exports to the UK rose 9.5% in July and 46.1% in August, to CHF 164.7 million. Exports to France more than doubled in August, to CHF 157.3 million, a result the FH called "atypical", adding that it could come at the expense of other European markets. Germany rose 34.0% in August, while Italy fell 40.4%.
Asia finds its footing
Asia's two summer months told different stories. Exports to China fell 18.5% in July, then rose 15.8% in August. Japan slipped 3.7% in July before climbing 22.1% in August. Hong Kong edged up 1.4% in August, and Singapore rose 8.5%. The FH's caution about base effects applies here too, since Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore were among the markets it named.
Where the value sits
The figures by price band show strength at both ends of the market and softness in the middle. These are export prices, what brands charge as watches leave Switzerland, which are well below what a buyer pays in a boutique. Watches with an export price above CHF 3,000, the top band in the FH's statistics, rose 12% in July and 10.2% in August.
At the lower end, watches under CHF 200 rose 13.3% in August, and those between CHF 200 and 500 rose 26.1% in July and 6.1% in August. The middle band, between CHF 500 and 3,000, fell in both months, by 3.9% in July and 0.9% in August.
By material, July exports of precious-metal watches rose 3.7%, steel watches 9% and bimetallic watches, which combine gold and steel, 23.8%. In volume, about 1.5 million wristwatches left Switzerland in July, roughly 97,000 more than a year earlier.
What the numbers mean for Gulf buyers
For collectors and investors in the region, the UAE line is the one to follow, and it was the only Gulf market reported in both the July and the August coverage. A 6.1% rise after a small dip in July suggests that the flow of Swiss watches into the Emirates is holding up. The FH's own caveat still applies: part of the August gain comes from comparison with a weak month in 2025.
The wider message is one of a market finding its level rather than a boom. The spring was skewed by stock moved ahead of US tariffs, and the summer by a weak 2025 base. Taken together, eight months of exports up 1.7% point to a market that is broadly steady in value, with growth in the top and bottom price bands and pressure in the middle.
A rise measured against a weak year is still a rise, but it is one to read with care. The FH publishes its figures every month, and the autumn releases will show whether the summer's pace holds into the final quarter of the year.
Sources: cash.ch (AWP), JCK, Bloomberg Law, Nau.ch, Ticinonline