PARIS – Watchmakers and retailers rushing to beat a looming, but moving, deadline for U.S. tariffs fueled timepiece exports in April.

A total of 1.3 million watches with a value of 2.45 billion Swiss francs left the country during the month, an 18.2 percent increase year-on-year, according to figures published Tuesday by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.

The U.S. alone took a 33 percent share of the market, with exports leaping 149 percent to 851.9 million Swiss francs. That is equivalent to a fifth of last year’s full-year exports to the country.

But the April boom does not signal the end of a turbulent period marked by shrinking markets across the board.

“The sharp rise in exports is more a reflection of a one-off response to an uncertain commercial situation than a genuine sign of a structural strengthening of demand,” the industry body said.

“Without the U.S., the month result would have been a decline [in value] of 6.4 percent, again penalized by China and Hong Kong,” territories that once occupied the top steps of the podium and have now sunk to fifth and sixth place respectively, it added.

On April 2, the U.S. announced 31 percent tariffs for goods made in Switzerland, although negotiations are ongoing and exports are currently subject to the global 10 percent rate.

Bar the American market, the rest of the world presented a mixed picture, similar to earlier months of 2025, with the U.K. and Japan showing slim, single-digit growth. Along with France, which rose nearly 5 percent, those were the only markets in the top 10 to grow in April.

China and Hong Kong tumbled 30.5 and 22.8 percent respectively, while Singapore sank 9.2 percent.

By materials, it seems the American consumer has a taste for steel, precious metal and bimetallic watches.

The federation pointed out that without the U.S., the total number of watches exported would have declined 5.7 percent, but did not specify the effect on value. As it stands, units exported to North America rose by 77 percent.

The dominant steel watch category drove the increase in volume with an 18.9 percent leap, with bimetallic and precious metal pieces also seeing a sharp uptick, albeit on far smaller unit numbers as a base.

In value, precious metal watches came first at 953 million Swiss francs and a 23.4 percent increase, followed by steel and bimetallic watches.

The “other materials” and “other metals” categories did not benefit from increased shipments to the U.S., shrinking in value and volume by high-single or mid-teen percentages.

The bell-shaped curve by price category continued, with the high-end of the market of watches priced above 3,000 Swiss francs at export price growing 22.9 percent in value and almost 20 percent in volume, while entry-price pieces under 200 Swiss francs rose by a more modest 10.4 percent in value and 6.5 percent in number of units.

Meanwhile, the middle segment was early flat in volume, while value contracted for the 200-to-500 Swiss francs category while growing 5 percent for the 500-to-3,000 range.