But people aren’t in a mood to buy, particularly in the U.S., where there’s a feel-guilty factor at play.

Fornas said business was stronger in other regions.

“When I come back from the Middle East and China, I’m still optimistic,” said Fornas. “When I come back from New York, I’m not optimistic at all.”

Stanislas de Quercize, president of Van Cleef, said business has continued at the high end.

“We’ve done some exceptional high-jewelry sales,” he said. “When your bank statement means little, people are taking refuge in tangible objects. Jewelry from certain brands retains its value. We are taking our collection higher in terms of technical innovations and creativity. This is the right time to do that.”

De Quercize said Van Cleef would continue to expand, with openings slated for San Francisco; Palm Beach, Fla., and Las Vegas.

“We are not resting on our laurels,” said de Quercize, who also predicted more stylistic restraint after obvious bling. “People will buy less, but better quality. Globally, we’ve been accumulating without enjoying ourselves. People will now buy for themselves and not to show off to others.”

“People will still pay $200,000 for a watch,” added Lutz Bethge, chief executive officer of Montblanc. “But they will not be buying to show their wealth to the outer world. They will be buying for themselves.”

Jerome Lambert, CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre, is focusing on the high end.

“We will see the return of ultraclassic, understated elegance,” he said. “The high end is what we have the best chance to sell.”

Juan-Carlos Torres, managing director of Vacheron Constantin, said the brand was “suffering like all of the others” due to the climate, but Vacheron had seen an increase in U.S. orders this year. He attributed the success to continued demand for expensive, highly complicated watches.

Most brands said they would rein in unnecessary spending this year and concentrate their investment on research and development. Advertising as a result is expected to suffer across the board, with many watch brands saying they are reconsidering how best to connect with the customer in the current environment.

“We just canceled all our ads for the year except in newspapers and trade,” said François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet North America.

Bennahmias said Audemars wanted to communicate in a one-on-one way. For instance, he said the firm had done its first radio ads with Howard Stern and had seen great success via a related Internet promotion.

Bennahmias said the company had 965 watches in stock in the U.S. at the end of December after having 1,450 pieces in stock at the end of November.

“We should have 1,600 watches in stock at a regular basis in the U.S., but no one is replenishing stock now,” he said. “We sold 500 watches in a month and a half, which is good. But people are scared to buy more.”

Bennahmias said the company would scale back production this year to drive demand. He said Audemars, which produced 29,000 pieces last year, would shave production by about 10 percent this year.

“We want to create a shortage to drive prices back up again,” he said. “Nobody today can say they are selling at full retail price.”