Swiss watch prices could rise substantially following the Swiss National Bank’s removal of its three-year cap on the franc, which the chairman of Swatch decried as a “tsunami.”
The Jan. 15 decision by the country’s national bank to remove its minimum exchange rate caused its currency to soar and its stock exchange to tank. At press time, the Swiss franc had jumped 13 percent against both the dollar and the euro, after soaring some 30 percent against the euro in morning trading.
Swatch chairman Nick Hayek expressed outrage in a company statement.
“Words fail me,” he said. “Today’s SNB action is a tsunami for the export industry and for tourism and finally for the entire country.”
The company’s stock fell 16 percent following the action.
However, Patek Philippe USA president Larry Pettinelli says that “currencies are consistently in a state of flux. Patek Philippe takes a longterm view.”
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