Gianluca Colla I Bloomberg via Getty Images
An employee assembles a Hublot wristwatch case at the company’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland,
Is time being called on the watch industry as a reliable source of income for Switzerland?
July marked another weak month with exports of timepieces falling 14.2 percent compared to July 2015, netting a total of 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.56 bn) in sales.
The figures, provided by the Federation of Swiss Watches, also revealed exports have also declined – for 13 months in a row.
Antoine Lesne, Head of SPDR ETF Strategy at State Street Global Investors told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” Tuesday the data doesn’t bode well for Switzerland as the watch market is “pretty impressive as an overall contribution to the Swiss economy.”
In 2015, the value of watch industry exports stood at 21.5 billion Swiss francs, the first fall since 2009.
Lesne said the drop in exports can be traced in part to decisions made by the Swiss National Bank.
“The Swiss franc has appreciated quite markedly against the euro in the last 18 months since they de-pegged, so this is an example of a monetary policy decision translating on to the real economy.”
Lesne also argued the prolonged dip in Swiss watch sales could be considered something of a signal that many economies are slowing down.
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