Most Swiss watchmakers were glad to see the back of 2024.
Swatch Group saw sales decline by 12.2% to CHF 6.7 billion in FY24.
Richemont’s Specialist Watchmakers saw sales dropped by 13% for the 12 months ended March 31, 2025, although the group says the rate of decline slowed in the second six months of the year, and there was growth in the Americas.
LVMH’s Watch and Jewelry Group sales dipped by 3% in 2024, with jewelry performing significantly better than watches.
Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, which are privately owned and do not publish financial information, grew sales and thus increased their market share last year, analysts at Morgan Stanley and Vontobel estimate.
Another global watchmaker that quietly outperformed many of its Swiss rivals is Seiko Corporation, home to Seiko and its high end stablemate Grand Seiko.
Full year sales for the 12 months from April 2024 to March 2025 show global watch sales rising by 11.7% to JP¥ 175.9 billion ($1.22 billion), its parent company Seiko Group Corporation reports.
This growth was driven by a surge in domestic sales due to the weakness of the Japanese yen.
Worldwide revenue from both Grand Seiko and Seiko rose by around 15% while sales in Japan dropped by 1% for Seiko and by 13% for Grand Seiko.
Seiko Corporation says that Grand Seiko has been “struggling for the past two years” in common with many watch brands in the luxury space.
“Since it became an independent brand back in 2017, Grand Seiko has continued to grow both its domestic and international sales steadily year after year. We are aware that some Swiss brands with sales volumes similar to GS have suffered a sales decline over the past two years, but we believe GS can still continue to grow,” the corporation says in a Q&A provided alongside the latest financial results.
It sees future growth in Europe, the United States and China as key to re-igniting profitability for Grand Seiko, but expects difficult conditions in these regions to continue for another year.
“We still expect a positive performance in our [international] watch business compared to the previous year,” it adds, while its Japanese market will remain stable.
Seiko sales appear to have risen due to a migration of customers to its more premium collections like the Seiko 5 Sports automatics and pricier Presage pieces.
“We believe this is because these lines respond to customer desires for slightly lower-priced, yet high-quality products amid the sluggish luxury business,” Seiko suggests.