Zurich, Switzerland: Independent Swiss watch and jewellery maker Chopard expects sales to fall 20 percent in 2009 and is bracing for tough conditions for the next 18 months, its co-president was quoted as saying.

"We will probably end 2009 with a sales drop of 20 percent," Karl-Friedrich Scheufele said in an interview with Swiss magazine Bilan.

"I think that we have 18 difficult months ahead of us and I do not expect significant growth for the watch industry in 2010."

Demand for Swiss watches has fallen sharply as customers worry about the economy and their jobs. Swiss watch exports slumped 25 percent in the first five months of this year.