How many watches does the world produce in a year?

The world produces about 1 billion watches and 80 million mechanical watches a year. Many people have been asking this question and wanting to know. But you can hardly find a relatively precise number. The above figures are approximate figures calculated based on the actual output of the world's major watch producing countries in 2019, and then estimating the output of non-major countries. for reference only.

Generally, for industry statistics, the complete data of the most recent year will be referred to. However, to calculate the number of global watch production, due to the impact of COVID-19, the data of the past three years is not of reference value, that is, the data of 2020, 2021, and the first half of 2022 will not be used for the time being. The data calculation source is the most recent 2019 of the normal year.

There are three major countries in the world watch production: China, Japan and Switzerland. Other watch producing countries are Germany, France, India and so on. Among them, China has been the world's largest watch producer for many years. In 2019, China produced 672 million watches, of which less than 10% were mechanical watches, or about 61 million. In 2020, data shows that the total output of watches and movements in China has reached an astonishing 1.34 billion pieces, of which the total output of watches is definitely higher than in 2019.

In 2019, Japan produced about 66.2 million watches, of which about 2.8 million were mechanical watches.

In 2019, Switzerland produced about 21 million watches, of which about 8 million were mechanical.

The data source for Switzerland is export volume, but Swiss watches are mainly exported. Therefore, the difference between actual production and export should not be very large.

In the above statistics, the main countries should not be included in the smart watch. This is a bit uncertain. Have any countries already counted smart watches in watch production? Or is it calculated separately? Traditionally counted in watch production include mechanical watches, quartz watches and electronic watches. Switzerland lists both quartz watches and electronic watches in the "Electronic" category. As far as I know, smart watches are counted separately in major watch producing countries and are not included in traditional watch production.

If you count smart watches, the United States is also a big producer of watches. The annual shipment of Apple Watches alone exceeds 30 million, surpassing the total number of Swiss watch exports in one year. The world's smartwatch shipments in 2021 will be nearly 130 million. Among them, China produced tens of millions of them.

In simple terms, the world's population is 7 billion, and the watches produced in the world can make one-seventh people wear watches in one year, and the whole world will wear watches in a few years.

However, the reality is that many people don't wear watches now. Therefore, it can be seen from this output that many watches are cheap electronic watches and quartz watches, which are only for short-term use. The same is true for smart watches. After a certain period of use, they become electronic waste and waste. There is only one end to them, that is to be scrapped or discarded.

There are very few mechanical watches, very few good watches, and even fewer high-end good watches, and good watches that can be worn for a long time or even inherited are very few.

So, please cherish the expensive watch on your wrist!