EXCLUSIVE: British watchmakers react to Trump’s tariff threats

Just as the word ‘tariffs’ started to feel like it was in the rear view mirror, President Trump announced at the weekend the threat of a fresh round of them.

In his cross hairs are the countries that have publicly opposed his takeover of Greenland, with the threat of an additional 10% tariff on goods imported from those countries (as the country of origin for the good).

Keeping politics firmly to one side, what could be the real world consequences of these latest potential sweeping taxes?

One person who would have been asking himself this question a lot is Alistair Audsley, CEO of the Alliance of British Watch & Clock Makers – the de facto trade body for the British watch industry. “This latest round of tariffs against allied nations further erodes consumer confidence,” he told Watch Insider. “Watches, and indeed any luxury sector, need a macro economy with at least some degree of predictability. Instead, we find ourselves back in a state which can only be described as chaos.

“The headlines obviously talk about retail prices but, for our smaller UK businesses, the knock-on effect on supply chain and logistics – with endless administration resources and time needed to recalibrate for an economic cycle now measured in weeks rather than years – is rather more significant than ‘turbulence’ [a reference to the Prime Minister’s speech this morning].”

He rightly flags up the ripple effects of all this uncertainty too, specifically regarding the price of gold, which peaked at a record high of £4,689.39 (£3,499) earlier today.

“Investors race to gold and silver as their only standby, causing significant cost inflation for watches built from precious metals,” Audsley added.

Elliot Brown co-founder Ian Elliot was more on the fence about what the consequences may look like when he spoke with Watch Insider. “We were only chatting last week about rolling out some software to allow our offshore customers (especially those in the USA) full transparency at the checkout, showing and settling all their import sales taxes in one transaction, then guaranteeing delivery to their door with no further costs. 

“To do that and offer the guarantee, we need to be sure that we’re operating within a stable set of regulations and tariffs,” he said. “The background to the conversation just last week was that we felt the tariff landscape appeared to have settled.

“With that as the backdrop, we are yet to establish if the latest round of tariffs will affect us. Knowing how blunt Trump is prone to being and how he has no regard for regulatory statute, he may well slap an additional 10% tariff on goods simply because they were shipped from the UK – regardless of the actual country of origin. Time will reveal all.”

Richard Benc, founder of Studio Underd0g, also spoke to Watch Insider: “Our recent acquisition of our assembly partner, Horologium, was a deliberate step towards strengthening UK-based manufacturing and investing for the long term. 

“Any additional tariffs would inevitably have an impact on us, particularly as the United States is our largest market, and it’s not something we take lightly. Even so, we’ve built Studio Underd0g to be adaptable, and we remain confident in both our direction and the long-term future of British watchmaking,” he concluded.