US overtakes Hong Kong as biggest Swiss watch market

Declining export: A Rado Sintha Swiss Watch at the Baselworld in Basel, Switzerland, 2005. Currently, demand for Swiss watches is down.

ZURICH: The United States overtook Hong Kong as the No.1 market for Swiss watch exports in July as cash-strapped watch retailers in Hong Kong held back from ordering new timepieces.

Swiss watch exports dropped 14.2% in value terms in July, taking the decline for the first seven months of 2016 to 11.1%, the Swiss watch federation (FH) said in a statement on Aug 23.