By
Bloomberg
Published
September 7, 2025
Swiss watchmakes at their annual return to school in Geneva were putting a brave face in the rates of President Donald Trump, threatening their businesses. That can change if your American reservations run out.
An increase in exports in July should save watchmakers, at least in the short term, for supporting the worst part of the 39% tax imposed by the United States last month on Switzerland products, and exhibitors were generally optimistic about the possibilities of Swiss officials to obtain a better treatment before their wooden room accelerates.
“This must be resolved, or partially resolved in the following weeks or months. So we are still positive,” said Breitling Executive Director Ag, Georges Kern, at the opening of the gin Watch Days meeting on Wednesday. “Everyone has support plans and some months of inventory just.”
The Trump rate scale about Switzerland, part of its strategy to revitalize the manufacture of the United States, shocked the government in Bern that expected a tax similar to 15% negotiated by the European Union. On the other hand, exporters such as Swatch Group Ag and the owner of Cartier Compagnie Financière Richemont Sa suddenly faced the highest rate imposed by the United States in any developed economy.
It arrives at a difficult time for luxury watchmakes, since geopolitical tensions and recorded gold prices weigh on demand. The United States is the largest or largest market for most Swiss brands, which represents approximately 20% of watches exports worth 2.6 billion Swiss francs ($ 3.3 billion) in the first half of 2025, according to the Swiss surveillance industry federation.
The watch response was varied. Favre Leuba, based in Grechen, one of the oldest brands established in 1737, paused plans to enter the US market, part of a strategy to expand its client base beyond its strength in India, as soon as the rate was announced, President Patrik Paul Hoffmann said.
“If tariffs remain in place more than only three or four months, the impact will be quite substantial for the Swiss watch industry,” he said.
Others are advancing. ZRC 1904, known for making the first diving clock with a patented crown protection system that creates a hermetic seal and avoids accidental floods, continues with a plan to add retailers that began a few months ago despite the tariffs.
The companies that rushed to the United States before the tariffs delivered a shot in the export numbers of July, which increased 6.9% compared to the previous year. However, excluding the US, exports would have fallen 0.9% as they ship to markets such as Japan and China underlined industry struggles.
Bloomberg Intelligence expects the decorting trend to be resumed after storage of the United States in July and early August.
Even so, executives in Geneva, where 66 brands had installed stores in hotel rooms, cabins and exhibition spaces to show their products, said that much depends on what happens with tariffs.
Swiss commercial negotiators are still working to reduce the tax. “We hope to find a better treatment. The difference with Europe is quite shocking,” said Delphine Bachmann, a state councilor of Geneva by the Department of Economy and Labor of the canton.
The Swiss delegation met with Friday the United States Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, for more commercial conversations.
Meanwhile, the clocks of the Switzerland group, the best seller of the Rolex watches in the United Kingdom, also gave the industry the cause of optimism despite commercial friction. The trade had been “consistently strong” particularly in the US.
“The general mood in Switzerland is that the situation will improve what is today,” said executive director Brian Duffy in a Bloomberg television interview.
