Post caption
Is Gen Z breaking up with Rolex? 💔⌚
For years, the ultimate watch flex was a steel Rolex, preferably one you had to beg a dealer to sell you.
But the kids might be getting bored.
Rolex’s share of spending among under-30 buyers on Chrono24 has fallen from roughly 50% to 34%. Meanwhile, Cartier has quadrupled its share of Gen Z purchases, and brands like Tudor and IWC are getting plenty of attention.
Smaller watches. More interesting designs. Less obsession with waiting lists and resale premiums.
Maybe the younger generation has finally discovered that there’s an entire watch industry beyond the crown.
Rolex will be just fine. But more competition makes the whole hobby more interesting.
\#Rolex #Cartier #LuxuryWatches #WatchCollecting #GenZ
Transcript
Is gen Z falling out of love with Rolex? Rolex has a bit of a problem, not a financial problem. It's still the undisputed king of Swiss watchmaking, but something interesting is happening with the next generation of collectors. According to transaction date from Chrono tier bad in 2022, buyers 30 worse spending roughly half their watch budgets on Rolex. By 2026, that figure had fallen to just 34%. And that's a pretty extraordinary shift in just four years. So where's that money going? Well, Cartier is one of the big winners in 2018 Cartier account purchased 1.7% of gen Z purchases on chrono '24. Today, it's 6.8%. That's four times the share. And I think that tells us something interesting about how younger people are approaching luxury because Cartier isn't really selling the same thing as Rolex. The tank isn't trying to look like a Submariner. It's elegant, understated and rooted in over a century of design history. It's a very different expression of best and there's movement elsewhere in the market too. In the first half of twenty twenty five Tudor and IWC worse among the strongest performers on chrono '24. IWC gained 4.9% in market share compared with the previous six months. Now that isn't specifically Gen z data, but I think IWC is an interesting brand to watch. Its identity is built around engineering, aviation, and functional design. And watches like the Angineur, originally designed by Gerald Genta, have a very different appeal to the traditional luxury status symbol. Of course, there's another explanation for all of this. The pandemic turned watches into speculative assets. People were buying Daytonas and Submariners at absurd premiums, sometimes treating them more like stocks than watches. And perhaps what we're seeing now is simply that speculative bubble unwinding. But I suspect there's something cultural happening too for a generation that grew up surrounded by luxury branding, perhaps the most obvious status symbol isn't necessarily the most desirable anymore. Maybe having your own taste is becoming more interesting than demonstrating your wealth. And to be clear, Rolex isn't going anywhere. It still represents around 31% of the value of watches sold on chrono 24, but younger collectors are clearly diversifying. And I think that's actually brilliant because the most interesting watch collection isn't necessarily the most expensive one. It's the one that actually tells you something about the person wearing it.
