(Adds Blancpain)
* Tissot sees 2009 sales up 5-10 percent vs 2008
* Hublot expects near flat sales in 2009
* Ebel sees 2009 sales down
* Van Cleef & Arpels could invest more in 2009 than 2008
By Katie Reid and Astrid Wendlandt
BASEL/PARIS, March 26 (Reuters) - Swiss watchmaker Tissot forecast a rise in sales this year, putting on a brave face in spite of deteriorating consumer confidence and echoing reassuring comments from rival Hublot.
Tissot Chief Executive Francois Thiebaud told Reuters at the Baselworld watch and jewellery fair on Thursday he expected sales to be 5 to 10 percent higher than in 2008 and banked on appetite for timepieces to recover quickly once the economic crisis was over.
His comments came after Hublot Chief Executive Jean-Claude Biver told Reuters on Wednesday demand for its watches was holding up and French and South American markets were doing better than the United States, Russia and Japan.
Thiebaud said demand in the UK was still strong in January and February, where sales were up 41 percent in local currencies and 11 percent in Swiss francs, though some other markets were weak.
"We are in an economic crisis and there is a lack of confidence. People are not in the mood to buy," he said.
Makers of timepieces have been more severely hit by the global drop in discretionary spending than some jewellery makers, as high-end watches are regarded as big-ticket items which consumers can live without during tough times.
Demand for jewellery tends to be more resilient as people still need to buy engagement, wedding rings and other presents. However, jewellery demand has weakened too in recent months, industry specialists say.
At the Swatch Group, Tissot sits alongside upmarket brand Blancpain, which later on Thursday forecast stable 2009 sales.
Blancpain Chief Executive Marc Hayek said in an interview at Baselworld that he expected the wealthy to start treating themselves again to a luxury watch.
"The mood in general is positive and the spirit is back a bit," Hayek said. "At the start of the year, people were a bit panicky." However, he added that overall, 2009 sales so far were down between 10 and 15 percent against 2008.
Meanwhile, Hublot which is owned by LVMH, said customers were still buying and also predicted near flat revenue for this year. .
HEAVY EXPOSURE
Analysts expects orders at Baselworld, the world's biggest watch and jewellery fair, to drop up to 30 percent in 2009. Many jewellery and watch makers hope to secure 50 percent of their orders for the whole year at the event.
Ebel, part of U.S.-listed group Movado, on Wednesday struck a more cautious note than Tissot, Hublot and Blancpain, saying it expected revenue to decline this year as it was heavily exposed to the U.S. market.
German watchmaker Glashuette Original, also part of Swatch, said on Thursday it saw orders down 30 percent in 2009 as customers were reluctant to invest in upmarket watches.
In recent weeks, watches and jewellery units of LVMH, Hermes , Richemont and Bulgari have posted poor fourth-quarter results when compared with other luxury goods such as leather bags and shoes.
Scilla Huang Sun, who manages a 20 million euro ($27.2 million) luxury fund at Julius Baer in Zurich, shared the positive mood of some luxury houses.
"I think we have seen the worst in terms of negative investor sentiment and negative sales momentum," she said. "I think the news flow will improve throughout the year ... but the market will continue to be volatile."
However, her Julius Baer Luxury Brands Fund has lost 38 percent since it was launched in January 2008 and is down 10 percent since Jan. 1 2009. By comparison, the DJ Stoxx Personal and Household Goods index has lost 7.1 percent since the beginning of the year and 46.3 percent since Jan.1 2008.
Adding to some watchmakers' unwavering optimism, French jewellery maker Van Cleef & Arpels, part of Swiss luxury group Richemont, said it remained upbeat in spite of the downturn.
It told Reuters in Paris on Wednesday it was preparing for the "after-crisis" and could invest more this year in new collections and shop openings than in 2008, even if it was witnessing "the worst crisis in our generation."
The jewellery house, one of the world's fastest growing established jewellers with 80 shops worldwide, said people were making less impulsive buys and were thinking more carefully about how they spent their money.
(Editing by David Holmes and Erica Billingham) ($1=.7366 Euro)