Swiss watch exports rose 11.2 percent in June 2026 to 2.4 billion francs, narrowing the first-half decline to 0.7 percent, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. Growth came from the United States, up 12.7 percent, and Britain, up 12.2 percent, while France’s doubling reflects its role as a logistics hub. Switzerland shipped fewer watches at higher values, concentrating the rebound at the top of the price ladder.
France took in more than twice as many Swiss watches this June as it did a year ago, and hardly any of them were destined for the French. The country’s 103.5 percent surge, the most spectacular figure in the June export statistics of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, describes warehouses rather than wrists: France has served as a logistics hub for the industry since late 2025, and the federation itself notes that its import numbers no longer reflect demand in the market.
That correction is the right doorway into a release that otherwise carried the sound of relief. Swiss watch exports rose 11.2 percent in June against the same month last year, reaching 2.4 billion francs, after a May that had managed 0.4 percent. In one month, the arithmetic of the year turned: the cumulative decline for the first half of 2026 narrowed to 0.7 percent, and the losses of the spring were close to erased. Strip out the French warehouse effect, though, and the recovery rests principally on two markets, the United States, up 12.7 percent, and Britain, up 12.2 percent.
Fewer Watches Leave Switzerland, at Heavier Values
The May data, read alongside, shows what kind of recovery this is. In that month the export value edged up 0.4 percent while the number of watches shipped fell 1.2 percent, to 1.16 million pieces, with steel watches losing 9.6 percent of their volume. Rising precious metal prices flow directly into export values, and gold set a record quarterly average of 4,873 dollars an ounce in the first quarter. Switzerland is shipping fewer watches at higher values, which means the rebound is concentrated where the industry’s weight has been shifting for two years, at the top of the price ladder. Richemont’s Specialist Watchmakers, reporting for the quarter ended June 30, grew 8 percent, with demand led by the Americas and Japan, a confirmation from the brand side of what the customs data implies.
An Atlantic Recovery While China Falls 21 Percent
The geography of weakness completed the May picture: China down 21.4 percent, Germany down 18 percent, Japan down 3.5 percent. The June surge, in other words, is an Atlantic event carried by American and British buyers, with the world’s former growth engine still in reverse.
Washington’s Next Tariff Schedule Hangs Over Biel
Above all of it hangs the question the June number cannot answer. The current American tariff arrangement is temporary, and Washington is preparing country-specific successors. Through the tariff year of 2025 the US market proved remarkably durable, slipping only half a percent, a resilience the federation’s president Yves Bugmann has credited openly. Whether June’s 12.7 percent represents returning appetite or importers moving stock ahead of a new tariff schedule is a distinction the summer figures will begin to settle. The federation publishes its July data later this month. The crates, either way, are already moving.
