South Africa imports about R1.9 billion of watches a year (HS 9101 + HS 9102, $102.7 million in 2024) and exports just R214 million ($11.6 million) — a ~9:1 net-import gap, the widest on record over the six-year window. Within that, the high-value Swiss subset — precious-metal-cased pieces (HS 9101) plus Swiss-origin other-cased watches (HS 9102) — is about R1.13 billion ($61.2 million), with the Swiss automatic-mechanical core (HS 9102.21, 94% Swiss) anchoring R500 million of that on its own. Switzerland supplies 58% of watch imports; China about 36%, concentrated in quartz, digital and mass-market sub-codes.
Source: UN Comtrade, reporter South Africa (710), HS Chapter 91 and sub-headings 9101–9114. Data verified May 2026. See full methodology + caveats at the bottom of this page.
Watch imports vs the full chapter — the figures, labelled precisely
HS Chapter 91 in customs terms covers clocks, watches and parts. To stop the chapter total being misread as “the watch trade,” we separate the figures throughout this page:
| Subset | Definition | 2024 USD | 2024 ZAR | Role on this page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-value Swiss | HS 9101 (all origins) + HS 9102 from Switzerland | $61.18M | R1.132bn | Headline subject |
| Watch imports | HS 9101 (all) + HS 9102 (all origins) — the actual watch trade | $102.70M | R1.900bn | Watch-trade total |
| Swiss mechanical core | HS 9102.21 (auto-mechanical wrist) from Switzerland | $27.05M | R500M | Anchor sub-line |
| Full HS Chapter 91 | Watches + clocks (9103–9106) + ancillaries (9107–9114) | $116.08M | R2.148bn | Chapter context only |
Watches per se (HS 9101 + HS 9102) account for 88.5% of HS Chapter 91 in 2024. The remaining 11.5% — clocks (HS 9103–9106), time switches (HS 9107), clock movements (HS 9108–9110), watch cases (HS 9111), watch glass and parts (HS 9112–9114) — is a small, separate trade that uses the same chapter. R1.9 billion is the watch-import figure. R2.15 billion is the full chapter including ancillaries and is included here only as customs-classification context.
SA watch imports by HS heading, 2019–2024 (USD)
The watch trade splits between two four-digit headings. HS 9102 (wrist and pocket watches with base-metal cases) is the bulk of it. HS 9101 (watches with cases of precious metal or precious-metal-clad) is the premium tier. The remaining headings — clocks, time switches, movements, straps, parts — are shown below for completeness and to reconcile to the full chapter figure.
| HS code | Description | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9102 | Wrist/pocket watches, non-precious case | $58,493,790 | $36,596,536 | $49,595,814 | $63,430,416 | $67,776,878 | $82,058,984 |
| 9101 | Watches, precious-metal case | $32,045,430 | $21,447,538 | $28,591,017 | $25,328,496 | $18,208,380 | $20,638,010 |
| 9101 + 9102 | Watch-import subtotal | $90,539,220 | $58,044,074 | $78,186,832 | $88,758,912 | $85,985,258 | $102,696,995 |
| 9107 | Time switches with clock or watch movement | $2,963,015 | $2,808,729 | $3,403,011 | $3,310,167 | $3,037,506 | $3,343,151 |
| 9113 | Watch straps, bands, bracelets and parts | $2,562,884 | $2,153,488 | $2,729,920 | $2,716,929 | $2,341,484 | $2,874,136 |
| 9105 | Other clocks (wall, alarm, mantel) | $2,432,378 | $2,294,872 | $2,580,118 | $2,496,830 | $2,427,099 | $2,569,521 |
| 9106 | Time-of-day recorders, parking meters etc. | $1,891,514 | $1,807,604 | $2,233,729 | $2,151,729 | $2,135,872 | $2,444,967 |
| 9103/04/08–14 | Small clocks, movements, cases, glass, parts | $3,842,435 | $3,217,422 | $3,696,870 | $2,939,807 | $1,630,110 | $2,151,287 |
| All Chapter 91 | Watches + clocks + ancillaries | $104,231,446 | $70,326,189 | $92,830,479 | $102,374,374 | $97,557,329 | $116,080,057 |
In 2024 the chapter split was: HS 9102 70.7%, HS 9101 17.8%, all other headings combined 11.5%. The watch-import subtotal (HS 9101 + HS 9102) is 88.5% of the chapter — consistently so every year.
Watch import trend, 2019–2024 (with 2025 provisional)
Watch imports (HS 9101 + 9102) recovered from a $58 million COVID trough in 2020 to a six-year high of $102.7 million in 2024 — R1.9 billion, and a still-provisional $129.0 million in 2025. 2025 is shown as a provisional point — the figure is a complete annual aggregate (Comtrade release dated 15 May 2026, monthly data Jan–Dec 2025) but is subject to revision as further partner data is reconciled. It is shown only as a trajectory indicator and is excluded from headline figures.
SA watch trade balance — imports vs exports (HS 9101 + 9102)
On the actual watch headings, South Africa is overwhelmingly a net importer. In 2024 the country imported $102.7 million of watches and exported $11.6 million — an ~9:1 net-import ratio (8.9:1 exactly), the widest gap on record over the six-year window. The export side is mostly returned consignments, second-hand pieces and small trade with neighbouring states; SA does not manufacture watches at scale.
The two-origin trade: Switzerland vs China
SA’s watch imports are a two-origin trade in a way few other consumer-goods chapters are. Switzerland and China combined supplied 94% of all watch imports (HS 9101 + 9102) in 2024, but they supply economically different products into very different price points.
Switzerland dominates the precious-metal-cased trade (HS 9101): 90.3% of HS 9101 imports came from Switzerland in 2024 — the gold-cased, platinum-cased and precious-metal-clad pieces that anchor the high-value retail tier. Switzerland also dominates the mechanical wristwatch sub-code 9102.21 (auto-mechanical wrist), where it accounts for 94.2% of the trade ($27.0 million in 2024). Mechanical movement, precious case — that is the Rolex, Omega, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe class of product.
China dominates the quartz-with-optoelectronic-display sub-code 9102.12 (i.e. digital-display watches): 91.9% of that sub-code is Chinese-origin ($11.3 million in 2024). That is the Casio digital, G-Shock, Timex digital, and white-label fashion-watch trade. China is also the leading origin for HS 9102.11 (quartz-electric, base metal) at 65.2% of that sub-code — the mid-market analogue quartz pieces. None of these are smartwatches: connected wearables (Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch and similar) are classified under HS 8517.62 in a different chapter altogether (see methodology).
HS 9102 sub-codes — Switzerland vs China shares, 2024
| HS code | Description | World total | Swiss % | China % | Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9102.21 | Auto-mechanical wrist | $28,725,497 | 94.2% | 3.3% | Swiss luxury anchor |
| 9102.11 | Quartz-electric, base-metal case | $27,695,286 | 24.8% | 65.2% | Mid-market analogue |
| 9102.12 | Quartz, optoelectronic (digital) display | $12,287,387 | <0.1% | 91.9% | Digital mass market |
| 9102.19 | Quartz-electric, other | $7,423,242 | 56.4% | 39.9% | Mixed segment |
| 9102.29 | Mechanical wrist, other | $3,635,801 | 43.8% | 43.3% | Split origin |
| 9102.91/99 | Pocket watches (electric / mechanical) | $2,291,771 | 36.5% | 51.8% | Niche |
The pattern is consistent year on year. The Swiss share of HS 9102 has been growing: from 36.6% in 2019 to 49.4% in 2024 — the SA watch market has been progressively concentrating into Swiss product within the wrist-watch category, while Chinese-origin trade has grown in absolute terms but is increasingly the “everything else” rather than the dominant flow.
The high-value Swiss subset
Pulling out the figures that customs duty, valuation risk and insurance actually concentrate on — the high-value Swiss subset of the watch trade:
| Subset | Definition | 2024 value (USD) | 2024 value (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| HS 9101 (all) | Watches in precious-metal or precious-metal-clad cases | $20,638,010 | R381.8M |
| HS 9102 Swiss-origin | All HS 9102 sub-codes, imports from Switzerland | $40,546,054 | R750.1M |
| High-value Swiss subset | 9101 all + 9102 Swiss | $61,184,064 | R1.132bn |
| vs. watch imports (9101 + 9102) | The actual watch trade | $102,696,995 | R1.900bn |
The high-value Swiss subset is 59.6% of watch imports by value in 2024 (R1.13 billion of R1.9 billion). The remaining ~40% of watch imports is mostly Chinese-origin quartz, digital and mass-market product (HS 9102 sub-codes 12, 11, 19 and 29 from China) plus smaller flows from other origins.
Top-10 origin partners — HS Chapter 91 imports, 2024
The partner table below covers the full chapter (which is how Comtrade publishes partner data at chapter level). The 94% Switzerland-plus-China concentration also holds when you restrict to the watch headings alone (HS 9101 + HS 9102); the small balance of partners shown here is mostly clocks, time switches and ancillary parts.
| # | Partner | Import value (USD) | % of chapter | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Switzerland | $60,409,098 | 52.0% | 52.0% |
| 2 | China | $44,995,385 | 38.8% | 90.8% |
| 3 | China, Hong Kong SAR | $1,605,174 | 1.4% | 92.2% |
| 4 | United States | $1,573,497 | 1.4% | 93.5% |
| 5 | Mexico | $1,131,824 | 1.0% | 94.5% |
| 6 | Viet Nam | $854,846 | 0.7% | 95.3% |
| 7 | France | $824,797 | 0.7% | 96.0% |
| 8 | Japan | $785,410 | 0.7% | 96.6% |
| 9 | Italy | $537,581 | 0.5% | 97.1% |
| 10 | Thailand | $518,501 | 0.4% | 97.6% |
| — | Rest of world (~140 partners) | $2,843,944 | 2.4% | 100.0% |
Two observations are worth flagging. First, the Hong Kong shadow is small: $1.6 million / 1.4% of the chapter. Re-export entrepôt routing of Swiss watches through Hong Kong — sometimes a feature of grey-market and pre-owned trade — is therefore a minor formal-trade phenomenon here. Second, the USA, Mexico, Vietnam and Thailand trades are dominated by branded factory locations (Fossil-group production in Mexico/Vietnam, Seiko/Citizen production in Thailand) rather than independent watchmaking traditions.
Methodology and sources
Source: UN Comtrade v1 API (reporter: South Africa, HS Chapter 91). Import values are CIF, exports FOB, all values USD, per Comtrade convention. Period covers 2019–2024 as the headline window (latest complete year); 2025 appears only as a provisional point in the trajectory chart, see Data status below.
What “watches” means on this page. The watch trade is HS 9101 (precious-metal cased watches) plus HS 9102 (other-cased wrist and pocket watches). The full HS Chapter 91 also includes HS 9103–9106 (clocks), HS 9107 (time switches), HS 9108–9110 (clock movements), HS 9111 (watch cases), and HS 9112–9114 (watch glass, straps and parts). The chapter-level partner table includes those ancillaries; the watch-trade total (R1.9bn) does not. Both figures are shown so the reconciliation is explicit.
High-value Swiss subset. Defined as HS 9101 (all origins, since precious-metal-cased watches are economically a premium product regardless of origin) plus HS 9102 imports from Switzerland (partner code 757) across all 9102 sub-codes. This is the segment that customs valuation, duty exposure, all-risk insurance and high-value air freight conversation actually concentrate on.
Rand conversion. USD figures converted at R18.50/USD (a working reference rate at the time of publication, not the SARS rate-of-exchange for any specific entry). For customs valuation, the SARS published rate for the date of entry should be used — this is an indicative conversion only.
Smartwatches sit outside HS Chapter 91. Connected wearables that perform telecommunications functions (Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch and similar) classify under HS 8517.62 (machines for the reception, conversion and transmission of voice or data) in HS Chapter 85, not in Chapter 91. The HS 91 watch trade analysed here is therefore not inflated by the smartwatch boom; it captures traditional analogue, mechanical, automatic and quartz-electronic watches only.
Off-Comtrade flows. Comtrade captures only declared customs trade. Personal-effects imports (watches brought in on the wrist or in luggage by travellers), grey-market parallel imports outside formal declaration, and intra-state second-hand transfers do not appear in these figures. Industry estimates of the SA off-Comtrade luxury-watch trade vary widely and we do not quote a figure; the values on this page are the formal-trade reality and should be read as a floor, not a ceiling.
Data status (applies to every year shown): the rows pulled for this page carry isReported=False in the Comtrade response — i.e., at the time of pull they were not flagged as direct South-African submissions to UN Comtrade. Comtrade derives and reconciles annual aggregates from available partner and submission data, and some lines carry a non-zero legacyEstimationFlag indicating estimated values (we observed flag=4 across 2019 and 2020 across the chapter; 2021–2024 lines carry flag=0). This pattern is consistent for SA across the years shown — not specific to any single year. Comtrade releases stabilise over the months following first publication as further partner data is reconciled, so recent years — especially 2024 and the 2025 provisional — are more subject to revision than older years. The 2024 release used here is dated ; the 2025 provisional release is dated .
Comtrade query slice: reporterCode=710, flowCode=M (imports) and X (exports), motCode=0 (all modes), customsCode=C00 (all customs procedures), partner2Code=0 (no second partner / direct trade slice). Sub-code splits draw on the 6-digit Comtrade dataset for the same slice. Re-exports are not separated from final-origin imports in this view; the small Hong Kong line (~1.4% of the chapter) is the most likely re-export entrepôt for Swiss watch goods.
Read our editorial analysis of these numbers — Where South Africa Buys Its Watches: R1.9 Billion a Year, 94% from Two Countries — for the freight, clearance and grey-market context behind the figures.
For inbound clearance through OR Tambo or Cape Town International, customs valuation on Swiss-origin watches, and high-value cargo handling, see our service hub: Import Luxury Watches into South Africa.
Charts: trend uses World-partner annual totals from the sa_flows_totals slice (motCode=0, customsCode=C00, partner2Code=0) summed across HS 9101 + 9102. 2025 dashed line is provisional per Comtrade release 15 May 2026. Trade-balance chart shows the same subset for both imports and exports. Luxury split = HS 9101 all + HS 9102 imports from Switzerland (partner 757), with the residual being mostly Chinese-origin 9102 sub-codes plus a long tail of other origins.