12-08-2025
British watch dealers hit by Trump's trade war with Switzerland
British watch dealers have been caught in the crossfire of Donald Trump's trade war after US tariffs on Switzerland wiped out demand for luxury timepieces.
Sellers of second-hand Swiss watches said American customers were no longer buying from them after Mr Trump imposed a 39pc tariff on goods imported from Switzerland.
Tom Bolt, who runs the watch dealership Watch Guru, said demand from US customers had been 'killed', adding: 'I have offered approximately £2.5m of watches in the last three weeks. Not one sale.'
Mr Bolt warned that customers were 'just saying that until this whole tariff thing gets sorted out, they can't be doing it'.
The tariffs, which rose from a previous rate of 10pc to 39pc earlier this month, apply to Swiss-made products, meaning buyers of used watches still have to pay them even if they order them from the UK or other countries.
Adrian Hailwood, a watch industry expert and founder of The Watch Scholar, said: 'Even if I'm sending it from the UK, I have to say the origin of the goods is from Switzerland, and therefore they accrue a tariff.
'It doesn't matter where it's coming from in the world and this is why it really hits the pre-owned market. Once they're sold out of Switzerland, they could go to Australia, Japan, the UK – but if they're then being bought by US dealers or consumers, they have to pay tariffs because they're Swiss goods.
'The whole watch industry has been scratching its head as to what possibly can be done.'
With a reputation for high-quality craftsmanship, Swiss-made watches have long been coveted by wealthy people across the world, with brands including Rolex, Omega and TAG Heuer.
Manufacturers can only call their goods 'Swiss-made' if 60pc of the value of the final product was made in Switzerland.
Americans are the biggest global customers of Swiss watches, making up about 17pc of Switzerland's total watch exports by value, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.
However, Mr Trump has cited Switzerland's high trade deficit with the US as the reason why he has imposed such steep tariffs on the country.
Jordan Beer, who runs the watch dealer Watches of Henley St, added: 'We've not exported one [watch] in the last two or three weeks to the US, which is relatively unusual for this time of year.
'I would say in general it's down from the US since all the tariffs started being floated around, regardless of whether it was 10pc on UK exports or [the recent higher tariffs on Swiss goods].'
He added that Mr Trump's trade war was slowing the speed at which items make it through customs in the US and that he had been forced to warn customers of delays.
Mr Bolt said he believed the high tariffs on Swiss watches could lead to an increase in goods being smuggled into the US.
He said: 'What [customers will] do is, they'll say, 'Listen, send the watch to Hong Kong' because there's no import duties in Hong Kong. And the next time they're there, they'll pick it up and then they'll smuggle it back to their country.'
