BASELWORLD’16 BEGINS

The eight-day long watch jamboree, Baselworld, began today with François Thiébaud, president of the Baselworld Swiss Exhibitors Committee, stating that 28.1 million Swiss watches were exported in 2015, 1.6 per cent less than the previous year.

Given the global watchmaking industry, the value of Swiss watches exported is by far the highest in the world, Thiébaud underlined stating that Swiss watchmaking has grown by more than 60% since 2010!

The industry witnessed the export value of Swiss watch industry falling by 3.3 percent to 21.5 billion Swiss francs ($21.75 billion) in 2015.

Touching on the reality of today’s gloomy economic and political situation, and the consequences for the industry and Baselworld, Sylvie Ritter, Managing Director of Baselworld acknowledged that Baselworld had felt the uncertainty of some exhibitors among the smaller businesses, those that might not be in a position to prevail in times of low demand in the mid-term. However, almost all of those who had exhibited last year were present at this new edition, she added.