Based on Morgan Stanley’s 2023 report, the following top 10 luxury watch brands are: Omega, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, Longines, IWC, Breitling, and Vacheron Constantin. They have demonstrated outstanding performance and innovation, solidifying their positions as industry leaders in the world of luxury timepieces. The cumulated market share of the top 10 brands of Swiss watches is 67.7%.
The most popular Daytona and the fastest-growing MoonSwatch
Introduced in 1963, the Cosmograph Daytona is Rolex’s flagship chronograph collection. Today, the Daytona is the darling of not only Rolex but the luxury watch-collecting world at large. Although pretty much every configuration in the collection is in demand—whether vintage, discontinued, or modern—three models lead the pack of the most coveted Rolex Daytona watches: the Stainless Steel and Ceramic Daytona, the Yellow Gold and Green Daytona “John Mayer” and the Everose Gold Daytona “Rainbow”.
The Tank watch collection is Cartier’s best-seller, beloved for over a century thanks to its classic and timeless design, and having been donned by the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Princess Diana, Angelina Jolie, and Michelle Obama, to name just a few.
The fastest-growing brand in the Swiss watch industry in 2022 was MoonSwatch. The Swatch-Omega collaboration proved to be a game-changer for Swatch, as it skyrocketed the brand to the position of the fastest-growing luxury watch brand. The runaway success of this unique partnership saw Swatch’s sales soaring by an impressive 90% in 2022.
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The MoonSwatch propelled Swatch Group back to the top as the leading volume contributor in the Swiss watch industry. Last year, the group sold an estimated 4.9 million timepieces across its multiple brands, including Omega, Longines, Tissot, and Swatch.
The Middle East is gaining Importance
According to the report of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS), Swiss watch exports rose to 24.8 billion francs in 2022, exceeding their 2021 performance by 11.4%. Watches benefited in broad terms from the strong demand for luxury products and the increase in global wealth. ‘Swiss-made’ entry-level watches were also a resounding success and ended the year with a positive result.
The US remains the top export region, reaching 3,9 billion Swiss francs; the second market is China, which totaled 2,6 billion Swiss francs, followed by Hong Kong and Japan, according to the report. The Middle East is becoming a hugely important market for Swiss watchmakers. Total exports to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain hit 1.1 billion Swiss Francs in the first six months of 2023, which would place it as the fourth largest market in the world.
