Despite the state of the world economy, watch and jewelry sales were up 6.6% in 2008 for the Swatch Group. This statement is not indicative of all watch and jewelry brands as many companies have seen decreased sales in 2008. A press release from the Swatch Group helps to shed light on the their performance in the watch market. The Swatch Group is involved in more than just watches, with arms in the automotive, electronic, optics, and other markets with group growth of 4.3% last year. Regardless, the core business of the Swiss watch conglomerate are still watch sales. The purpose of the press release seems to be a note to the public that despite everything, you don't need to worry about the Swatch Group's future.

The press release admits that hurting currency exchanges and a drop in demand are the immediate causes of the watch industry sales and profit slowdown. Nevertheless, growth in certain markets has been strong enough to compensate for poor performance in other markets. As such, the Swatch Group states, "the slowdown was more acute in the USA in the last few months of 2008, which was offset to a certain degree in other growth markets." Markets that did display impressive growth are the Middle East and certain Asian countries most notably China. This does not necessarily mean that traditionally well performing markets such as Europe are doing poorly, but rather that growth is slow or nonexistent.

Key areas of growth involve a high demand for watch movements as well as an increase in retail watch distribution in many markets. I guarantee that news of impressive growth in China and the Middle East will garner attention by a number of industries including other watch companies. My hope is that such attention will not flood these markets and result in over saturation. Outlooks for 2009 are unclear, but I am glad the Swatch Group isn't speculating much. We shall wait and see.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.