Chinese Watch Makers To Challenge The Swiss

This week, Parmigiani Luxury Watches Chief Executive Officer Jean Marc Jacot said that low end Swiss watch makers are going to have to watch out for competition from Chinese manufacturers as they can make watch parts for a lot less money then their Swiss counterparts.

'If I was producing cheap watches, honestly you have to go to China' said Jean in a statement to the media 'You have no solution. It is too expensive to produce in Switzerland.'

It does not help that the Swiss franc has grown in strength significantly against the Euro in 2010. Reports from financial advisors have shows that the Franc has shown nineteen percent growth against the Euro last year. This will make it even more difficult for international companies to afford Swiss made watch parts which are already highly priced. Asian based companies will be much more likely to step in and take the business away with their lower prices.

Last year China produced 560 million watches while Switzerland only produced 22 million units according to analysts at Bank Votobel. Even though the numbers of production are significantly higher than China the Swiss made five times more revenue at over twelve billion dollars.

The problem with China according to Swiss watch makers is they concentrate on kicking out higher numbers of watches when manufacturing instead of the quality that the Swiss put into their watches. Swiss watchmakers fear that more parts for Swiss watches will be coming from China in order to meet economic demand.

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