Editor’s Note
This article examines the significant challenges in tracing the origin of gold within Switzerland’s prominent refining and luxury sectors. It highlights a critical gap between global demand and the industry’s current capacity for supply chain transparency.
Switzerland refines about one-third of the world’s gold, and the watch and jewellery sector consumes around 50% of global gold demand. Yet tracing the origin of this gold remains a complex challenge – one that most brands are not fully prepared to face.
This opacity creates serious risks. Much of the gold used in watches is mined in regions where environmental laws are weak, deforestation is widespread, and child labour remains common. According to the WWF report, “the extraction of one tonne of gold in mining requires the production of about 100,000 tonnes of waste rock. This translates to 1,000kg of soil having to be moved to produce a 10g gold ring”.
In response to mounting pressure, many brands now advertise their use of “recycled gold” to satisfy customers’ desire for more sustainability. But definitions vary widely. There is currently no alignment of industry standards on the definition of what recycled gold is, which opens the door to greenwashing, the WWF Watch and Jewellery Report warns.
This vagueness can mislead consumers. According to expert Sabrina Karib, who has worked with refiners and founded the Precious Metals Impact Forum, a multistakeholder platform for all actors of the gold sector, many companies label gold as “recycled” even if it never left the supply chain, and therefore never faced a consumer.
According to the WWF report, currently gold is considered to be recycled if it has been transformed once after its primary refining from virgin gold. To address this grey zone, Karib’s team proposed a new standard for the industry that would limit the term “recycled” to materials that would otherwise be discarded – such as gold from used electronics – and encourages the term “reprocessed” for internal flows within the luxury industry.
This new, more restrictive framework for recycled gold faced significant opposition from watchmakers.
To this day, the definition proposed by Karib and her team is not recognised by the industry.
In early 2025, the Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030, a coalition of 72 watches and jewellery brands, published its annual stakeholder report, introducing a new framework to help brands build climate resilience, preserve resources and improve supply chain accountability. The move signals growing momentum within the industry to address its sustainability blind spots, including gold sourcing.
Many Swiss watchmakers still struggle to trace the origins of the precious metals they rely on. A 2023 WWF report found that even some of the industry’s best-performing brands fall short on transparency. The lack of clear answers raises concerns about environmental destruction, labour rights abuses and greenwashing.
The reasons are mostly inherent to the gold industry where traceability is complicated and costly. Most watchmakers don’t consider it a priority area for investment.
Although regulations and customers’ awareness have evolved, they still fall short of pressuring brands to indicate the origins of the gold they use in the watches they sell.
