There is a lot of talk about the seemingly rapid decline in Swiss watch sales. CultOfMac, as usual, points the finger at Apple Watch sales while still others complain about millennials refusing to buy a $6,000 James Bond watch. So what is really happening? Watch exports have fallen 8.5 percent over the past three months, partly due to a slowdown in sales of luxury goods in Asia as well as a surge in the price of the Swiss franc. But the main slowdown appears to be at the low end – that is, between $200 and $500 – even as Switzerland desperately tries to convince younger people that a $6,000 watch is a good deal . So what's going on? Smartwatches are killing the low end. I predicted this almost a year ago when I wrote about how the watch industry was massively consolidating and a downturn as bad as the quartz crisis. It's the end for many small manufacturers, including OEMs that supply trash watches for Calvin Klein, Fossil and Burberry. Cheaper manufacturers with a history – Timex, Citizen and Seiko mainly – will survive because there will always be a market for a cheap watch that gets the job done. But everyone makes a toast. The smartwatch – and not just the Apple Watch – is eating up most of the low-end Swiss watches, which we are told are inherently better. They really aren't, simply because many aren't made with the care needed for even the most low-end electronics. In fact, right now, the most affordable watches are mass-produced trash. These are the watches that will disappear. But a subset of high-end watches – mostly still made by Swiss and German manufacturers – are still intrinsically important as works of art and science and well worth the investment. But how do you say that to someone who wants an aluminum Apple Watch with an orange strap but is content with not having a watch at all? Anecdotally, many of us still say that the Apple Watch is rarely seen in the wild, but that doesn't mean they don't sell. There aren't many watches in the wild these days and most of us aren't watchdogs who notice exactly what people are wearing across the room. But smart watches exist. Apple has probably sold about 6 million of these products and they will sell more. Android devices are making the rounds and I've seen more Samsung watches in New York than Omega. Things are changing.Related articlesAnother Swiss watch company launches activity tracker