Watchmakers at the annual 'Baselworld' showcase in Switzerland said Wednesday that they were looking forward to sparkling times, buoyed by booming luxury watch sales and the growing number of wealthy Chinese consumers.
"There has never been so much money circulating throughout the world," said Jacques Duchene, chairman of the exhibitors' committee at the world watch and jewellery fair, which opens on Thursday.
"Swiss brands have never been in such a healthy state, especially the big luxury brands," he told journalists.
Luxury watches made with precious metals, gems or fine-crafted mechanics now account for 80 percent of Swiss watch sales by value.
Exports nearly doubled in the space of a decade to 13.7 billion Swiss francs (11.2 billion US dollars or 8.3 billion euros) in 2006, according to the Swiss watchmaking federation.
"The start to the year is such that we should be in the double digits again," said Francois Thiebaud, head of the Swiss exhibitors and of Tissot watches.
Swiss watch exports grew by 12.1 percent in February in value compared to the same month last year, according to official industry data.
Asia remained the biggest market, accounting for 42.7 percent of Swiss watch exports last year, ahead of Europe.
Yet, industry officials from several countries pointed out that less wristwatches are being produced than before and output is still dropping.
The shape of the market has shifted drastically since the 1990s, when the stylish plastic watch with a cheap but reliable quartz movement was widely regarded as the saviour of the centuries-old Swiss watchmaking industry.
In 1996, the value of electronic watches sold abroad slightly exceeded that of mechanical watches, but the situation is now completely the reverse.
Complex, hand-engineered mechanical watches accounted for 8.3 billion Swiss francs of exports in 2006, while electronic watch exports were valued at 4.4 billion Swiss francs.
Even Hong Kong, once a byword for the cheap watch, is trying to respond to the growing demand for luxury in fast growing mainland China.
"We are trying to move upmarket. Hong Kong companies are focusing more on quality, design and production speed," said Ralph Chow of Hong Kong's Trade Development Council.
"We are targeting more than 200 million middle class consumers in China."
"Beyond the middle class there are a lot of US dollar millionaires in China --- as a rough estimate there are 300,000 of them," he explained.
Hong Kong's total watch exports reached 6.0 billion dollars (4.4 billion euros) in 2006, an increase of 2.0 percent, while jewellery exports increased by 14 percent to 3.7 billion dollars (2.7 billion euros).
Watchmakers in Basel vied in imagination with their designs, crafting ever more expensive precious metals like gold or platinum, sometimes bejewelled with gems like diamonds, in traditional or innovative shapes.
One small Swiss specialist at Baselworld was seeking added value with a new model that incorporates oxidised steel from the sunken wreck of the Titanic, alongside titanium, high-tech composite materials and saphire glass.
However, the trend for big prices is starting to cause some disquiet in the upper crust watchmaking establishment.
Thiebaud told a Swiss newspaper, Le Temps, that some prices were "overdone, abusive" and warned that a timepiece selling for 100,000 Swiss francs must have "intrinsic value."
Even counterfeiters are moving upmarket, according to worried industry executives.
"Counterfeits are more and more the realm of specialists - the days of cheap counterfeits are over," Duchene claimed.
The Baselworld trade fair until April 19 brings together 2,109 exhibitors from 45 countries, about two thirds of them from Europe. Hong Kong has the largest single foreign pavilion at the event, with 326 companies present.
