Updates

Watches of Switzerland - US sticker prices for Rolex stable despite tariffs

September 2025

Investing in shares may lose you all or some of your money. Past performance is no indication of future performance. Some of the shares recommended here may be small company shares, which can be relatively illiquid and hard to trade and this makes such shares more risky than other investments.

Trump’s decision to slap a 39% tariff on imports from Switzerland, including watches, has hit the shares. Typically, timepieces arrive in the United States declared at about half their eventual retail price - the wholesale figure paid by retailers to importers. Only a handful of Switzerland’s storied brands, from Rolex and Patek Philippe to Audemars Piguet and Breitling, know the true numbers. But it is that wholesale value on which the hefty tariff is now calculated so the impact on buyers will be lower. For now, sticker shock has been delayed. Watch export figures suggest Swiss exporters rushed to airlift shipments into the US earlier this year, leaving retailers with several months’ worth of inventory. Prices have yet to climb ...

To access our archive of articles and to receive current issues you need to subscribe.

Subscribe now

Already a subscriber? Login

Shoe Zone

Auction Technology Group - Buys US art and antique marketplace for US$85m

Watches of Switzerland - Trading strongly in the US (December 2025)

Watches of Switzerland Group (June 2025)

Watches of Switzerland Group - Q2 sees positive inflection point (January 2025)

Watches of Switzerland (October 2024)

Watches of Switzerland (August 2024)

Watches of Switzerland - Luxury jewellery brand acquisition (June 2024)

With small companies there is an above average degree of risk compared to buying blue chips. Please be aware that we have not assessed the suitability of any of these investments for you. The newsletter simply states a personal view and diarises the editor’s investment decisions. Please speak to your stockbroker or other qualified individual to ascertain whether any of these companies mentioned would form useful additions to your own portfolios. Past performance is no indication of future success.

All material on this website is protected by copyright. You may use Information retrieved from the www.scsw.co.uk website for your own personal non-commercial use which means that you may not sell or copy this information to any third party without prior written consent. ISSN 1358-183X