ZURICH — Swiss watch exports slumped last year, marking their first fall in six years, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said on Tuesday, as the Hong Kong market tanked.After several years of record growth, exports last year dropped by 3.3% to Sf21.5bn ($21.2bn), the federation said.In 2014, by contrast, Swiss watchmakers had clocked a historic 22.2-billion Swiss francs in exports — up 1.9% over the previous year.Last year’s drop was the first since the sector was slammed with a sharp slowdown in 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.Last year’s slump was closely linked to a steep 9.1% fall in demand in Asia, the main market for Swiss watches, which absorbed exactly half of all the exports last year.In particular, "development of the Hong Kong market weighed heavily in the overall balance", the federation said, pointing out that the key market for luxury timepieces had contracted 22.9% last year.It said the domestic Hong Kong market had undergone "a major rea...
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