Rolex Seller’s US Sales Tick Up 20% Despite Tariffs

One of the world’s top Rolex sellers said tariffs have not hurt sales in the United States.

Watches of Switzerland, the largest authorized seller of the luxury watches in the United Kingdom, reiterated its outlook for the year in a Thursday (Nov. 6) press release, thanks in part to sales among U.S. consumers.

“The U.S. has been the standout performer, with sales up 20% in constant currency, driven by broad-based growth across brands and categories throughout the period,” CEO Brian Duffy said in the release.

Duffy said in a Bloomberg report Thursday that many of his company’s core customers are often on waiting lists for the most sought-after watches and are typically less vulnerable to price hikes and economic pressures.

Still, he said in the report that he is closely monitoring the situation as several watch brands upped their prices in September and October, “so it’s still early days.”

Watches of Switzerland’s stock is down about 26% since the beginning of the year, with a 39% U.S. tariff on Swiss imports hitting the luxury watch space, according to the report.

Jefferies analyst James Grzinic said, per the report, that the “past semester has seen remarkable U.S. revenue progress, with price inflation an effective and timely offset to mounting tariff challenges.”

Whether Swiss trade negotiations will help reduce the tariff rate “will remain an important swing factor for the shares,” he said, according to the report.

Other luxury companies are feeling more tariff-related pain. Among them is U.K. carmaker Aston Martin, which last month forecast an operating loss of over $140 million.

The company reported third-quarter deliveries that declined 13% year over year, blaming weak demand across North America and Asia and, “most pointedly, disruption from U.S. import tariffs,” PYMNTS reported last month regarding tariffs’ impact on corporate earnings.

“The most apparent trend from the most recent earnings is that tariff impact is no longer hypothetical,” the report said. “Companies are not merely signaling exposure. In many cases, they’re quantifying the cost, embedding it into forecasts, and reworking supply and sourcing strategies. That shift matters, as it forces trade risk from footnote to planning horizon.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “What Uncertainty Means: US Goods Firms Retool Product Plans Amid Tariffs” found in May that 1 in 4 product leaders had switched up their product design, pricing or go-to-market strategy due to tariffs. In addition, 92.6% of goods firms were grappling with higher raw-material costs, and 74.1% said they were facing shortages or delays in getting certain products.