Western watch and jewellery brands are suffering from a sales slump in Asia.

Swiss company Richemont, whose brands include Jaeger-LeCoultre and IWC, said Asia sales have dropped two per cent in the five months to August.

Global sales of Hermes watches also dropped seven per cent year-on-year during the first half, due to weakened demand in China.

Watch and jewellery sales have heavily decreased in Hong Kong due to political protests resulting in reduced tourist flow from mainland China.

Thomson Reuters has reported earlier that jewellery demand in China declined 22 per cent in the first half of the year.

“These headwinds adversely impacting Richemont in Asia fall in line with broader industry expectations that luxury’s main players will incur a continuing moderation of growth to the end of this year,” Luca Solca, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, told The Financial Times.