Swatch Implements Up to 10% Price Increase in U.S. to Counter Tariffs

Swatch is facing tariffs. The Swiss watch company has announced a 5% to 10% increase in the price of its products in the United States to counter the impact of the tariff policies imposed by President Donald Trump.

Swatch CEO Nick Hayek appealed to investors’ calm in the face of price increases and the market slump in China in his latest remarks, according to Bloomberg.

The group announced last July a plunge of 88.4% in net income for the first half of this year, standing at 3,059 million Swiss francs ($3,790 million at the exchange rate) compared to the same period last year, when it had a turnover of 3,445 million Swiss francs ($4,282 million). Swatch recorded a net profit of 17 million Swiss francs ($21.1 million).

Swatch has suffered the biggest slump in its market in China in the last 19 months

Swatch posted an operating profit of 68 million Swiss francs ($84.5 million), a drop of 66.66%. In the same period of the previous year, the company recorded 204 million Swiss francs ($253.6 million). Profit before taxes plummeted by a further 68%, from 72 million Swiss francs ($89.5 million) to 225 million Swiss francs ($279.7 million).

The group assured that the drop in sales is “exclusively attributable to China” where , however, it expects an improvement in the second half of the year, due to an eventual increase in consumption. Its wholesale business plummeted by more than 30% in the country, while its own stores held up better, shrinking by half, or 15%. China has gone from accounting for 33% of the group’s total sales to 24% in the last 19 months.

Born in 1983 in Switzerland after the merger of the watchmaking companies Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (Asuag) and Société Suisse pour l’industrie Horlogère (Ssih), and renamed Swatch two years later, the company is the world’s largest watchmaking group. In its brand portfolio, the group includes brands ranging from the luxury segment such as Omega, Longines or Breguet, to retail brands such as the eponymous Swatch or Filkflak.