Swiss watch exports in December 2025: The valley of tears seems to be over.
The sheer relief felt by the Swiss watch industry when the US retroactively reduced its tariffs on Swiss goods to 15 percent, effective November 14th, is almost unimaginable. The effects are already evident in the export statistics for December 2025.
Fifteen percent is still significantly more than what was due before the 39 percent shock: namely 0.6 percent.
And nothing is set in stone yet. Because so far it's only a... Letter of intent between Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the USA at the political level, not about a legally binding trade agreement.
And what Donald Trump thinks of such things, he just announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos:
„And then all hell really broke loose,“ said the US President in his speech about the imposition of a 39 percent tariff on Swiss imports in Davos.
„"And I had visitors from all over. Rolex came to me. They all came to me. But I realized I had to reduce it because I didn't want to hurt people, I didn't want to hurt them. And we lowered it for them, you know, a lower level doesn't mean it won't rise again, but we lowered it to a lower level. But now they're paying the price."“
This statement from Trump doesn't sound like a commitment that can be planned.
Swiss watch exports recover after 4 months of decline
Nevertheless, the letter of intent and the retroactive reduction of the US tariff from 39 to 15 percent, effective November 14, appear to have had an effect. Following a massive slump in exports to the USA In November of last year, the increase was 52 percent, while in December, compared to the same month of the previous year, it was a significant 19.1 percent.
Overall, exports increased by 3.3 percent compared to December 2024. Swiss watch manufacturers shipped 1.4 million watches (+7.6 percent) worldwide, with an export value of CHF 2.1 billion. This recovery resulted in a total annual value of CHF 25.6 billion, representing a moderate decrease of 1.7 percent compared to 2024.
Strong increases and significant declines
In addition to the increase in exports to the USA (+19.1%), exports to France in December 2025 were also a spectacular 50.8% higher than in the same month of the previous year. Singapore (+13%) and Great Britain (+9.3%) also showed positive development, while exports to Hong Kong (-8%), China (-6.8%), Japan (-1.9%), the UAE (-5.2%), and Italy (-20.1%) declined. Exports to Germany also fell significantly by 20.8%.
The growth in value was primarily driven by bimetallic watches, whose exports increased by 41.2 percent, while all other material categories declined. Export volume was driven by steel watches, which achieved growth of nine percent.
The USA will remain the strongest market for the Swiss watch industry in 2025.
Despite the tariff fluctuations, the USA remained the strongest market for the Swiss watch industry in 2025. A total of CHF 4.35 billion worth of watches were exported to the United States. This represents a slight decrease of just 0.5 percent compared to 2024.
Japan came in second with an export value of CHF 1.85 billion (-5.8 %), followed by China with CHF 1.8 billion (-12.1 %). Germany landed in ninth place: CHF 1.2 billion (-6.8 %).
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