New Delhi, April 11 -- On 9 April, Donald Trump backed down. Probably spooked by domestic stock market meltdown, the US president put a 90 day pause on his reciprocal tariffs plan. While this will help global trade avoid immediate disfunction, it is a threat that will not go away soon. This is truer than ever for Swiss watchmakers. After all, the Swiss watch industry has just gone through a traumatic week.

Between 1-7 April, Geneva was supposed to be abuzz with the world's biggest annual watch fair-Watches and Wonders. And it indeed was, but not because of the Land-Dweller, the first new Rolex watch model in years, or the countless other new wristwatch launches from the who's who of Swiss luxury watchmaking. It was abuzz instead with anx...