Despite the continuing instabilty in the global financial system, the Swiss watch industry keeps chugging along seemingly unaffected by the malaise. The Federation of the Watch Industry (FH), is out with year-over-year results for the first six months of 2011 and they are very impressive. Some of the reasons for surging demand, despite a challenging economic environment, include:
- Renewed interest in gold watches
- Strong demand for lower-priced Swiss watches
- Growing demand for Swiss watches in rapidly developing countries, especially China
The details follow below which show country rank, sales, and percentage change compared to the same period (January-June) last year.
| Rank | Country | Sales* | +/- Change | |
| 1. | Hong Kong | 1,743.4 | +23.6% | |
| 2. | United States | 906.3 | +19.6% | |
| 3. | China | 715.1 | +47.8% | |
| 4. | France | 623.2 | +24.6% | |
| 5. | Singapore | 505.3 | +29.2% | |
| 6. | Italy | 496.1 | +5.6% | |
| 7. | Germany | 395.5 | +10.4% | |
| 8. | Japan | 380.1 | +5.2% | |
| 9. | United Arab Emirates | 357.5 | +28.4% | |
| 10. | United Kingdom | 287.5 | +5.5% | |
| 11. | South Korea | 171.5 | +30.6% | |
| 12. | Spain | 167.8 | +8.6% | |
| 13. | Taiwan | 166.0 | +8.9% | |
| 14. | Saudi Arabia | 135.6 | +26.8% | |
| 15. | Thailand | 128.9 | +42.7% |
* Millions of Swiss Francs. At the time of this writing, 1 Swiss Franc equals 1.30 US dollars.
Source: Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH)
The swiss watch is the best watch in the world. i have has 2 watches which have lasted over 60 years.
Stuart