(IDEX Online News) – Sales of fine jewelry and watches were an estimated $20 billion for the two-month November-December period, according to the US Department of Commerce, a gain of 2.4 percent over the same period in 2014.

 

The 2015 holiday period jewelry sales gain was in line with our forecast.

 

The jewelry sales gain in the all-important 2015 holiday selling season represented a turn-around from the prior two years’ holiday sales, when jewelry sales declined modestly, as the graph below illustrates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine jewelry sales advanced by just over 2.4 percent in the November-December holiday selling season, while fine watch sales declined by about 1.2 percent over the same period, according to government figures. Fine jewelry sales represented just over 88 percent of total US jewelry industry sales in the holiday selling period, while fine watch sales were a little less than 12 percent of total industry sales.

 

A full report on holiday jewelry sales in the US market, including a breakdown between jewelry sales at specialty jewelers versus multi-line merchants, will be available when revised figures become available.