Time is ticking for Switzerland's luxury watchmakers

Companies hope entry-level timepieces offset cooling Chinese demand

Richemont Group, the company behind the Cartier brand, reduced staffing last year.

CLAUDIA BRUNNER and KATSUHIKO HARA, Nikkei staff writers

February 27, 2017 01:31 JST

GENEVA -- The extravagant luxury of Swiss watchmakers' timepieces once proved a winning recipe for continuous expansion. But now the industry faces a new reality, with exports dropping for the second straight year in 2016 as Chinese shoppers tightened their purse strings.