The watch year 2025 – a review of highlights, controversies, and innovations, part 1

Before the watch scene descends into the busy and sometimes hectic preparations for upcoming trade fairs and events, it is worth taking a look back at the past year in watches. And while there is much that can be said about it, it certainly cannot be accused of being boring.

Every month, we take another look back and remind ourselves and you of the most important events and innovations in the watchmaking world in 2025 that we have reported on in INSIGHT LUXURY.

January 2025

Allow me to begin with a personal highlight. In January 2025, ideas and visions became reality. Launched in 2022 as an online magazine as part of the cooperation with Inhorgenta that was established at that time, we successfully launched INSIGHT LUXURY as an independent magazine.

Our content includes the latest news, exciting stories, new products, personnel changes, economic topics, market trends, and reports on manufacturers, brands, retailers, and other players in the watch and jewelry industry.

In doing so, we classify events and developments and share our own views with you, our readers.

We had chosen a good time. After all, the global community should not be stingy with excitement. There was a lot to report.

And things initially looked really good for the watch industry. Swiss watch exports rose by 4.1 percent in January 2025 compared to the same month last year.

A fantastic year for watches seemed to be on the horizon after the Swiss had closed 2024 with a decline of 2.8 percent.

Then Trump came along. But we’ll come back to that later.

February 2025

The second month of 2025 proved to be mixed. First, the bad news: the Swatch Group had to admit to a 14.4 percent drop in sales and a 75 percent slump in profits for 2024. Nevertheless, Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek gave the watch industry a grade of 3 for 2024.

Things didn’t look any better at Kering. The group is suffering from the weakness of its main brand, Gucci, and reported a 12 percent decline in sales for 2024 in February 2025. Meanwhile, the pre-owned watch platform Chrono24 announced a streamlining of its management and the dismissal of 110 employees.

Speaking of the pre-owned watch market: After Morgan Stanley and Luxeconsult attested to Rolex’s sustained and even growing market power in their 2024 annual report on the state of the Swiss watch industry, Chrono24 followed up with an analysis of the secondary market.

And here, too, the brand with the crown defended its dominance.

Speaking of Rolex: In February 2025, the Geneva-based company announced the end of the Carl F. Bucherer watch brand. It was only in the summer of 2023 that the watch giant had taken over the globally active Bucherer jewelry chain, whose owner, Jörg Bucherer, had personally founded Carl F. Bucherer in 2021.

And the good news? On the one hand, there was the unwavering creativity and innovative strength of watchmakers, who delighted us with new watch designs at the beginning of the new year. In addition, the Swiss watch industry announced a 4.1 percent increase in exports for January compared to the same month last year. Today we know that this was the calm before the storm.

Some of the creative new watches launched at the beginning of the year were on display from February 21 to 24, 2025, in Hall A1 of the Inhorgenta trade fair in Munich. Here is just a small selection:

Exhibitors and visitors alike expressed their satisfaction and optimism. This was especially true for the winners of the Inhorgenta Awards 2025, which were presented at a ceremony in the Kleine Olympiahalle on February 22 and celebrated in style.

We at Insight Luxury were also delighted to have many exciting encounters and conversations at the Munich industry event.

This included Breitling CEO Georges Kern, whom we welcomed for an interview at our booth in Watch Hall A1.

The next watch event was already casting its shadow. Watches & Wonders announced new exhibitors: from MeisterSinger to Armin Strom, Christiaan van der Klaauw, Genus, Hyt, and Bulgari, the Geneva watch fair in February whetted appetites for the April event even more.

March 2025

March 2025 was marked by people, personalities, movers and shakers, and characters from the watch industry. Some came, others left, and still others changed … there were honorees, supporters, and ambassadors. Here are the corresponding headlines on INSIGHT LUXURY:

MeisterSinger: Second generation takes off at single-hand watch specialist

G-SHOCK welcomes Sandro Wagner as its new brand ambassador

Will the new Gucci head designer bring about a turnaround?

BVSU president begins his seventh term in office

Jean-Marc Pontroué leaves Panerai

Frédéric Arnault leaves LVMH’s watch division

Alexander Shorokhov dedicates another watch to Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev

Breitling: New brand ambassador and new in-house caliber

Eppli auctions Leonid Brezhnev’s IWC pocket watch

LVMH: Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin replaces Frédéric Arnault

Successful Christian campaign for children

And the figures? In March 2025, Garmin announced a whopping 20 percent increase in sales for 2024, with smartwatches performing particularly well. Meanwhile, the Swiss watch industry is struggling to gain momentum and is even recording a decline in the US. And things were about to get even worse.

Not to be forgotten are the watches of March 2025, which once again showcased the creative spirit of the designers and engineers.

That was it, the first quarter of the 2025 watch year – or at least a small part of it. The second quarter was no less exciting and multifaceted: a little cliffhanger: the customs bomb exploded in the middle of the idyllic world of the Watches & Wonders luxury bubble.

Stay tuned!