According to the WatchPro.com website, there is a growing sense that the luxury Swiss watch industry has learned to live with Apple Watch selling 20 million units per year. 

The tech giant is creating future customers for the historic Swiss maisons, they now argue, as young people reacquaint themselves with telling the time by looking at their wrists rather than their phones.

Besides, exports of Swiss watches have stabilised at around CHF 20 billion per year, and events like Hong Kong’s current protests or Brexit have far greater affects on sales.

That argument could be put the test if Apple goes ahead with plans to use ceramic and titanium for its smartwatches in the future, which looks likely according to technology reporters who have found references to the materials embedded in advanced copies of the next generation of its WatchOS 6 operating system.

The details were found in future versions of the startup screen that shows when a new Apple Watch is paired with a phone. That screen is based on the design of the back of the Watch, which describes its material and size.

It would not be the first time Apple Watch has used ceramic, but would be a first for titanium, which is valued for its lightness and toughness by watchmakers.

Apple has dabbled before with higher end materials. A gold Apple Watch launched in 2015 priced at $10,000, but it was quietly shelved a year later.