Research · Open data
The French watch market has traditionally been poorly documented. Each year we publish an edition consolidating the available public data (FH, INSEE, SIRENE, French Customs) to give a transparent, reproducible reading of it. All our datasets are freely reusable under the Licence Ouverte 2.0 from Etalab, the official French licence for public data.
2026
Edition
Crystal type and dial indices, brand by brand
Burberry fits sapphire to 85.7% of its watches, Hugo Boss to 1.4% at a comparable median price. The logo tells you nothing about the crystal. Survey of 3,275 watches with a documented crystal.
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2026
Edition
Crystal, movement and water resistance by price band
Sapphire crystal is not a slope but a wall: 0.4% of watches between €150 and €299 against 79.7% above €600. Survey of 5,776 references, interactive charts.
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2026
Edition
Declared ratings, case diameter, gender
Survey of 3,874 watches actually in stock: 38.4% of women's watches are limited to 3 ATM against 13.2% of men's watches. Diameter explains the gap.
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2026
Edition
Imports, prices, distribution, consumption
Inaugural edition. Four open datasets consolidating FH, INSEE, SIRENE and French Customs over the 2015-2025 decade.
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Every edition of the Observatory rests on five principles:
The French watch market combines significant economic weight (around €1.7bn of Swiss imports, around 11,000 specialist retail outlets) with a shortage of consolidated information. The only comprehensive studies are commercial, paid for, and rarely reproducible.
As a French retailer, we need this knowledge to steer our own business. We believe that sharing it, sourced, methodical and freely reusable, is the most useful form of transparency the sector can have.
