Have we lost our appetite for fine timepieces? Not quite, but the numbers don’t lie, and they tell us that since the unexpected surge of demand during the peak years of 2022 and 2023, things have not merely returned to “normal” but have dipped further.

Leading the downward trend are the former hotspots of demand, China and Hong Kong, where imports of Swiss watches have dropped dramatically, by 50 per cent and 35 per cent year-on-year respectively in September, dwarfing Australia’s 7 per cent decline. The immediate reaction has been a trimming of production, with both manufacturers and component suppliers reducing hours in some cases.