By
Reuters
Printed
April 3, 2025
Swiss watch vendor Sacha Davidoff was scrambling on Thursday to grasp what new U.S. tariffs on Switzerland introduced by President Donald Trump meant for the products he was as a consequence of export from his store in Geneva this week.
Reuters
“I made a deal and now we’re stuck. We are supposed to ship the watch, but what do we do now? He (the client) won’t want to pay 31% more. It doesn’t feel real,” Davidoff mentioned.
Shares in European luxurious firms dropped on Thursday after Trump introduced import tariffs, together with 31% on items from Switzerland and 20% from the European Union.
The classic watches Davidoff sells are price a mean of 20,000 Swiss francs ($23,272) and will now be topic to a different 6,000 Swiss francs in import tax.
JPMorgan analysts mentioned they anticipated to see most strain on the Swiss watchmakers, with each Cartier-owner Richemont and Swatch Group already on skinny margins. Richemont didn’t reply to a request for remark. Swatch didn’t remark.
The U.S. is Switzerland’s prime international watch market, accounting for 16.8% of exports, or 4.4 billion francs price, based on Federation of the Swiss Watch Trade.
Davidoff mentioned he sells on common about 250 classic watches by Rolex, Piaget and Patek Philippe yearly and that the U.S. accounts for 60% of his enterprise.”I’m assuming that retailers are freaked out over there too,” mentioned Davidoff. “It is just going to put the market into complete freeze, or free fall.”
At a big convention corridor in Geneva on Thursday the place hundreds of individuals flocked to admire the newest merchandise being promoted by Swiss manufacturers like Rolex, Cartier and Chopard, trade insiders had been fretting concerning the future.
“It’s been tense. Some meetings with Americans have been cancelled. Sales will surely be down. The year ahead doesn’t look very promising for the watch industry,” mentioned Clement Fehrenbacher of Le Cercle des Horlogers.
The Neuchatel-based firm manufactures the small components inside watches for large watch manufacturers in Switzerland.
“It’ll be very difficult to get new projects if the market doesn’t recover,” Fehrenbacher mentioned. “One of our clients is American, and we’re waiting to see.”
Behind the regular circulation of champagne and glittering watches on the convention, concern was palpable amongst watchmakers after an already difficult 2024, which noticed gross sales to China, the no. 2 market, decline by greater than 1 / 4.
Lots of the huge names setting out their stalls in Geneva opted to stay silent about Trump’s commerce measures.
Vacheron Constantin marked its 270th birthday on the Watches and Wonders present by presenting an intricate new wristwatch boasting greater than 1,521 element components. Nevertheless it declined to touch upon the tariffs, as did these of different well-known names.
“The U.S. market is absolutely critical,” mentioned David Sadigh, founder and CEO of Digital Luxurious Group, a enterprise consultancy. “With potential slowdown domestically in China, I think that you can feel some nervousness.”
© Thomson Reuters 2025 All rights reserved.
