News For obvious reasons, the world economic situation and its repercussions on the watch trade monopolised the attention of delegates at the 2003 General Meeting of the FH.
"Despite the difficult economic situation, we have confidence in the future of our industry, which has what it takes to strengthen its position in world markets." This was the hopeful message that ended Jean-Daniel Pasche's statement to the 2003 General Meeting of the FH, which took place in Fribourg on 26 June this year.
True, the current economic situation gives very little grounds for optimism, but it is by no means disastrous, as pointed out earlier by the FH President: "You are aware, and it is no surprise, that we have been experiencing some difficult months since the start of the year. At the end of May, the decline in total Swiss watch exports was 6.1%, at 5.5 billion francs. For finished products, the downturn was 6.5% in value and 12.6% in the number of pieces. I would point out that these are consolidated figures for the sector as a whole and that they can vary greatly from one firm to another. While this trend affects practically all materials, it should be noted that, in view of the world economic situation, it is not catastrophic, since it follows on from good years. Nevertheless, some firms are more affected than others. The war in Iraq and the SARS epidemic simply worsened the lacklustre economic situation that was already affecting consumer spending and world trade. The strength of the Swiss franc against the American dollar has also had a negative effect on our exports.
"It is difficult to be precise about when the recovery will occur, in view of the contradictory information that is available. Since the start of the year, economic forecasts have revised GDP downwards and regularly postponed the start of the recovery. Watchmaking is not immune to these developments. In all likelihood, we will not see a general recovery before the end of the year, or even the beginning of 2004, at least not in Europe. We remain confident however in the ability of the Swiss watch industry to retain its leadership, insofar as the crisis is affecting all watchmaking industries. So far as we can tell, we are not losing market share and we are increasing our exports in markets that seem to be less affected by economic problems."
In his report, the President of the FH also highlighted the association's main activities during the preceding year, primarily the defense of commercial and legal framework conditions allowing the sector to carry on its activities without too many restrictions and the fight against the global scourge of counterfeiting. He also mentioned the setting up of the travelling watchmaking exhibition Think Time - Think Swiss Excellence, the online availability of watchmaking statistics on the FH Internet site in a new format better suited to members' requirements, and the opening of the FH e-shop, which offers more than 200 references (Revue FH, NIHS standards, Illustrated Professional Dictionary of Horology, economic analyses, etc). Meanwhile, the number of direct members of the association increased last year from 220 to 231 as a net result of new members (18) and withdrawals (7, generally due to insolvency or cessation of activity).
With regard to the purely statutory part of the meeting, delegates passed unopposed the annual report and the 2002 accounts, as well as the system of contributions for 2004, which remains the same. The meeting also approved a further one-year term of office to the auditors (Fiduco SA).
Lastly, the final point on the agenda concerned elections. Jean-Daniel Pasche was re-elected as President for a statutory period of three years, while for the period 2003-2006 the Board will be composed of the following 20 members with, in parenthesis, their alternate members (with no mention of their corporate affiliation if this is the same as that of the holder): Friedrich Sauerländer Rolex BE (Claude Gygax), Hugues-Olivier Borès Patek Philippe (François-Claude Tissot Chopard), Georges Crevoisier SAH (Jean-Pierre Hagger), Franco Cologni Cartier (vacant), Jacques J. Duchêne Rolex GE (Alain Cerutti), Jean-Paul Girardin Breitling (Dominique Stoll), Marc Bernhardt IWC (Hannes Pantli), Albert Kaufmann Richemont (Cédric Bossert), Marc Küffer Roventa-Henex (Heinz Kulli Multitime), Hans-Peter Rentsch Swatch Group (Jacques-Alain Voirol), Roland Streule Rado (Hans-Rudolf Sutter), Jean-Christophe Babin TAG Heuer (Thierry Huron), Roland Bloch Swatch Group (Edgar Geiser), Kaspar Glatthard ETA (Beat Aebi), Pierre-André Bühler Nivarox-Far (Christian Feuvrier), Pierre-Alain Storrer Coloral (Renaldo Ciampi Brillor), Pascal Queloz Oréade (Jean-L. Guillod Guillod Gunther), Philippe Membrez Simon & Membrez (Pierre Huguenin USH), Claude Calderari Stettler (Jean-Daniel Renggli APIC), Erich Mosset Ronda (Christopher Bitterli Grovana).
The statutory part of the proceedings was followed by an impassioned talk by Jean-Pierre Roth, Chief Executive Officer of the Banque nationale suisse (BNS), entitled "An economic survey".
July 03, 2003
