The party is still on for a Swiss watch industry that enjoyed another export increase in 2007, but the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis has become an unwelcome guest that watchmakers fear could start impacting business in the year ahead. Swiss watch exports reached about 15.75 billion in U.S. dollars (16 billion Swiss francs) last year, a 16 percent increase over the previous year, and a rise of more than 50 percent over the previous four years, said Jacques Duchene, president of the BaselWorld Exhibitors Committee, at press day on Wednesday, the day before the show opens.

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