{"id":952,"date":"2026-02-11T16:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/952\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T16:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:46:08","slug":"the-state-of-the-swiss-watch-world-before-the-industrys-spring-fairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/952\/","title":{"rendered":"The State of the Swiss Watch World Before the Industry’s Spring Fairs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThis story is from an installment of\u00a0In the Loupe<\/a>, our weekly insider newsletter about the best of the watch world.\u00a0Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe spring watch fairs in Geneva are two months out, but the first few days of February have already ushered in a slew of Swiss watch news with potentially big repercussions for different aspects of the trade. From high-profile management shuffles to new collections that hint at bigger themes, the stories that caught our eye suggest an industry in flux, as volatility in material costs, currency swings, and the ongoing luxury slowdown continue to dampen prospects for growth. Below are the headlines that caught our eye:<\/p>\n

\n\tStephen Forsey leaves the brand he cofounded in 2004.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a recent statement posted on his Instagram account<\/a>, Stephen Forsey, cofounder of Greubel Forsey<\/a>, the prestige watch brand beloved for its rarefied horological creations, said that he\u2019d been \u201cregrettably disengaged\u201d from his operations at the brand and his contract had been terminated. \u201cI have since been liberated with immediate effect,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor an industry that values discretion, especially when it pertains to executive decision-making, the uncharacteristically candid post hinted at turmoil at the brand and left plenty of questions\u2014particularly about what famously media-averse cofounder Robert Greubel has to say about Forsey\u2019s forced departure. A follow-up story on Miss Tweed<\/a> went on to say that Greubel Forsey \u201cmay be looking for buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s the latest sign that the Swiss are struggling in the current climate. In January, not only did TAG Heuer announce that chief executive Antoine Pin had left the brand after just 18 months at the helm, Richemont shuffled executives at the North American divisions of IWC Schaffhausen, Panerai, Piaget, and Roger Dubuis. The luxury group also announced that it had sold its Baume & Mercier brand to the Italian luxury group Damiani.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGreubel Forsey\u2019s Handmade 1<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGreubel Forsey<\/p>\n

\n\tAudemars Piguet\u2019s new jump hour model affirms a budding trend.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of the most common critiques that AP has faced for the better part of a decade is its overwhelming reliance on a single product family, the Royal Oak (which, to be fair, spawned the Royal Oak Offshore and Royal Oak Concept lines, each considered their own collections). Notwithstanding the debut of the Code 11.59 collection in 2019, AP has long placed all its eggs in the Royal Oak basket.<\/p>\n

\n\tNot anymore. At the AP Social Club press event<\/a> in Le Brassus earlier this week, the brand introduced a genuine novelty: its new Neo Frame Jumping Hour<\/a>, a rectangular model in 18-karat pink gold with a sleek black sapphire dial, drawing on the brand\u2019s art deco history.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jump hour mechanism emerged about a century ago, when \u201cwindow watches<\/a>\u201d (Montres \u00e0 guichets)\u2014typically rectangular models featuring metal dials punctuated by a small aperture displaying numbers that \u201cjumped\u201d into place\u2014embodied the era\u2019s focus on clean lines and geometric silhouettes.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2025, the jump hour made its triumphant return with chic new models from Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and Bremont. With AP\u2019s entr\u00e9e into the category, it\u2019s now officially a must-have style.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe U.S. drove Swiss watch exports\u2019 December recovery.<\/p>\n

\n\tOverall, the value of Swiss watch exports in 2025<\/a> totaled 25.6 billion francs, a decline of 1.7 percent compared with 2024. The figures reflect declines in the Swiss industry\u2019s top three markets: China (12.1 percent), Japan (5.8 percent) and the U.S. (0.5 percent).<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s worth noting, however, that exports notched an increase of 3.3 percent in December to 2.1 billion Swiss francs (about $2.7 billion) after four consecutive months of sharp declines. The monthly recovery was driven by strong growth in the U.S. (up 19.1 percent, which the federation attributed to the reduction in U.S. tariffs<\/a> earlier that month), and France, which saw a 50.8 percent increase.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Rolex Deepsea in gold.<\/p>\n

\n\tCollected and Bezel release reports about the secondary market.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor further proof that the secondhand watch market is becoming more structured, look to two new reports published by Collected and Bezel, two platforms targeting buyers and sellers of pre-owned timepieces.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its first survey, Collected<\/a>, a new San Francisco Bay Area-based platform that offers contracts and other consumer protections to buyers of secondhand watches, asked nearly 100 respondents to answer a couple dozen questions about the market for used watches, including three free-form questions, Zach Scott, Collected\u2019s cofounder and COO, tells Robb Report: What\u2019s the best thing about the secondary watch market? What\u2019s your biggest frustration or challenge with the way the secondary watch market operates? And if you had a magic wand, what\u2019s one thing you would change about or add to your buying and selling experience in the secondary market?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere was definitely a lot of consistency for that first question,\u201d Scott says. \u201cHonestly, it was resounding access to inventory, from two points of view. One was from people who may be interested in modern but aren\u2019t interested in the AD experience\u201d\u2014referring to the waitlist and packaged buying that often accompanies purchases made at authorized dealers of brand such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet. \u201cAnd then the second theme was just access to vintage. For the biggest frustration, we saw that no matter if you\u2019re going to identify as a dealer, or as a collector who\u2019s buying or selling, whenever you\u2019re in the seat where you\u2019re buying something from an unknown party, you want protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Bezel report, by contrast, looked at the L.A.-based marketplace\u2019s transactional data, authentication outcomes and ownership behavior. The report\u2019s big highlight: \u201cBezel rejected 34 percent of the watches attempted to be sold in 2025. That\u2019s a 5 percent increase from our 2024 Bezel Report (where we ended the year at a 29 percent rejection rate), and an 11 percent increase from 2023 (23 percent).\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a big picture sense, the takeaway for buyers is that the used watch market\u2019s Wild West days are numbered as more digitally native providers\u2014such as the repair service WatchCheck<\/a>\u2014continue to bring more trust, transparency and confidence to both buyers and sellers of pre-owned timepieces.<\/p>\n

\tAuthors<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Victoria<\/p>\n

\n\t\tVictoria Gomelsky\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Victoria Gomelsky is editor-in-chief of the jewelry trade publication JCK and a frequent contributor to the New York Times and Robb Report. Her freelance work has appeared in AFAR, WSJ Magazine, The\u2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tRead More\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n