THE JOURNAL

China remains the largest source of counterfeit Swiss watches in 2016

Watch industry and brand newsPublished 2017-01-05

Looking back at 2016, a total of approximately 100 counterfeit and replica Swiss watches were seized worldwide, and corresponding fraudulent online sales advertisements were also removed and blocked. According to Jean-Daniel Pasche, President of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH), in an interview with the Swiss News Agency on Tuesday (12 February 27), the vast majority of the nearly one million "Swiss" watches bearing the Swiss Made label that were actually counterfeit and substandard products were seized in China.

　　Looking back at 2016, a total of approximately 100 million counterfeit Swiss "replica watches" were seized worldwide, and corresponding online deceptive sales advertisements were also removed and blocked.

2016年中国仍为瑞士假表制造的最大源头

　　According to Jean-Daniel Pasche, President of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH), in an interview with the Swiss News Agency on Tuesday (12/27), nearly a million counterfeit and substandard products bearing the "Swiss Made" label, in reality "Swiss watches", were mostly seized in China. However, he also emphasised that this does not mean other counterfeiting hubs do not exist; for instance, around 13 thousand counterfeit Swiss watches were seized by police in Turkey, while Dubai and Russia confiscated 7 thousand and 9 thousand fake "Swiss Made" watches respectively. This trend of copying and replicating "Swiss Made" is by no means limited to the watchmaking sector; designer handbags, luxury jewellery, and fashion footwear are all affected. Alarmingly, many counterfeits have even found their way into Switzerland, passing off as genuine.

　　In 2015, mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for a staggering 80% of all counterfeit goods intercepted by post on their way to Switzerland. Meanwhile, for tourists attempting to transport fake goods into Switzerland, Turkey has become their preferred transit hub.

　　According to statistics, approximately 40% of all counterfeit and substandard goods flowing into Switzerland from various countries worldwide transit through Turkey. Consequently, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry has specifically stepped up its monitoring of suspicious advertisements widely circulated on the internet and social media suspected of selling counterfeit goods. According to its President, Mr Pasche, more than 100 thousand such advertisements have now been taken down and deleted. At the same time, the Federation has provided training to local authorities working at vulnerable, counterfeit-prone points in Dubai (UAE), London Heathrow Airport (UK), San Francisco (USA), Nice (France), Brussels (Belgium), Prague (Czech Republic), and Athens (Greece) to help them identify fake "Swiss Made" products.

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