Watch sales in the United States continued to explode in May, rising by 16.8% year-on-year, according to retail analyst Luxury Watch Barometer.
LWB’s information is based on monthly sales and inventory point-of-sale data received from a panel of over 2,500 luxury jewelers across America, but does not have access to Rolex figures.
The impressive growth in May comes after most watch brands raised prices following a 10% increase in tariffs imposed on imports from Switzerland.
A threat of an additional 31% tariff remains as negotiations between the United States and Switzerland continue.
It may be that this threat of worse to come may be encouraging consumers to buy now in the fear that they may otherwise have to pay more later.
There is also anecdotal evidence that wealthy Americans are doing more of their spending at home, rather than on their summer vacations, because the dollar has lost 10.2% of its value against the euro since the start of the year, 10.5% against the Swiss franc and 7.6% against the British pound.
Sales of Entry level watches, with an average price in May of $655, rose by 30.3% year-on-year.
The High price category, averaging $2,869 per transaction, was up by 20.2%.
Luxury watch sales, averaging $7,577, rose by 24.7%.
The Prestige price point, averaging $50,220 per watch sold, saw the most modest increase in the value of sales, by 2.2%. It also saw unit sales drop by 8.8%.
There was weaknesses in the Entry to Luxury market last year, which will have flattered the growth figures in 2025.
Swiss watch exports to the United States rose by almost 50% in April (compared to just 1.6% up in the UK), building up inventory in the channel as a hedge against further tariff chaos.
However, much of the stock appears to have either been held at the wholesale level or sold-through to consumers because inventory at retail stores increased by just 4% in value.
When President Trump imposed the global 10% additional tariff on imports, most brands increased prices — typically by low single-digit percentages, but also asked their retailers to accept lower margins so that the pain was shared across customers, retailers and the brands.
This showed up in a small 0.4% drop in retailers’ average gross margin.