It wouldnât be wrong to say that when the coronavirus pandemic hit Europe in the spring, forcing watch factories and retailers to shutter their premises for a couple of months, there were genuine fears that the watch industry was on the brink of crisis. But nine months on, it appears those fears were misplaced. Sure, initially exports and sales fell off a cliff. But taking the UK as an example, following the reopening of watch showrooms in mid-June, sales of luxury watches have gone turbo-nuclear. According to market intelligence company GFK, sales of watches priced more than £1,000 in this country were up by 10.3 per cent year-on-year in September. China meanwhile, which was already an industry crutch, has imported 11.3 per cent more watches this year, according to the Federation Of The Swiss Watch Industry. Crisis? What crisis?