Times are hard for luxury watch brands, with richer people spending less as the credit crunch eats away at their assets.
News from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS) suggests that companies such as Rolex and Omega are facing tough times in the current financial downturn. With the global economy predicted to register negative growth across 2009 - near-unprecedented in peacetime - the firm confirmed an annual decline of 26.3 percent in watch exports.
Moreover, the contraction in the market was revealed to have picked up pace over the first four months of the year, with a 24.3 percent drop registered so far in 2009.
The FHS figures signal that high net worth individuals are now less willing to spend big on jewellery and other luxury purchases in these straitened economic times. "Steel and gold wristwatches saw their value fall by the average rate for the sector," the trade body added.
"Bimetallic timepieces again recorded a very steep decline."
It is likely that the UK - which faced a 1.9 percent contraction in its economy over the first three months of the year - has seen a particularly sharp decline.
Earlier in the week, the Centre for Economics and Business Research revealed that the total number of British millionaires had halved in the past year, going from 489,000 individuals to just 242,000. Declining house prices, stock markets and City bonuses were blamed for the trend.
