Smart watches more popular than Swiss watches

Time may be running out on Swiss watches.

Smart watches, like those made by Apple, Samsung and Fitbit, shipped more units in the fourth quarter than Swiss watches, a research report reveals.

It was the first time that happened.

In the quarter, 8.1 million smart watches were shipped, up 315 percent from a year earlier. that total eclipsed the 7.9 million Swiss watches shipped in the three-month period.

The number of Swiss watches, like Tag Heuer, actually fell 4.8 percent from 8.3 million in the last quarter of 2014, according to Strategy Analytics.

“Smart watches are growing rapidly in North America, Western Europe and Asia,” Cliff Raskind, a director at the Boston company, said in a statement. “Apple Watch captured an impressive 63 percent share of the global smart watch market in [the quarter], followed by Samsung with 16 percent. Apple and Samsung together account for a commanding 8 in 10 of all smart watches shipped worldwide.”

Neil Mawston, the executive director at Strategy Analytics, noted that the “Swiss watch industry has been very slow to react to the development of smart watches.”

“The Swiss watch industry has been sticking its head in the sand and hoping smart watches will go away,” Mawston said in a statement. “Swiss brands, like Tag Heuer, accounted for a tiny 1 percent of all smart watches shipped globally” in the fourth quarter, and they are long way behind Apple, Samsung and other leaders in the high-growth smart watch category.”