Global watch market: main export countries based on number of units 2019-2022

China was the top exporter of wrist watches of any country worldwide in 2022. In that year, China exported 540.5 million watches. This was an increase of over 110 million dollars compared to the previous year.

Leading Luxury Watches

Rolex, the iconic Swiss watch brand, is the leading luxury watch brand in the world in terms of turnover. In 2022, the Rolex brand generated around 9.7 billion U.S. dollars in turnover. Richemont's Cartier brand came in second place, with around 2.9 billion U.S. dollars in turnover. Although Rolex seems to dominate the global luxury watch market, when comparing watch companies rather than brands, the company was only only marginally ahead of Swatch in 2020, with a 26.8 percent share of the Swiss watch market, while Swatch controlled roughly one quarter of the market.

Cost of a Luxury Watch

Luxury watches are known for being exorbitantly priced, functioning both as a status symbol as well as a fine timepiece. That being said, some luxury watch brands are more accessible than others. Tissot, produced by Swatch, has an average price of about 762 U.S. dollars, according to 2018 data. In that year, an average Patek Philippe watch sold for over 54 thousand U.S. dollars, making Patek Philippe one of the most expensive major luxury watch brands worldwide.