Geneva - The Swiss set a new record for themselves, exporting in 2008 some 17 billion francs' (14.7 billion dollars) billion francs) worth of watches, a report released Tuesday said.

While this was an increase of over 6 per cent compared to 2007, the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry warned that the final months of last year saw a 7.8 per cent decline in exports, as the financial crisis began to be felt across the real economy.

This year, the association said, will begin in the red, continuing the trend, though the highest end timepieces were holding steady through the initial phases of the crisis.

The largest destination of Swiss watches was Hong Kong, bringing in over 2.6 billion francs' worth of products, while the Chinese saw the largest percentage increase over the previous year, at 43 per cent, as they imported goods worth 826 million francs.

In general, the Asian and Middle Eastern markets proved very profitable for the industry, along with France and Germany,

The US, Russia, Japan and Spain all decreased their imports of Swiss watches in 2008. (dpa)