Long forgotten, this watch now stands out in all shop windows. Once adored by our elders, the young people of Gen Z are also won over.
Watch silhouettes have evolved a lot since their invention in the 16th century. If the watchmaking world often goes back and forth, boldly reinventing yesterday’s classics by infusing them with a contemporary touch; since the 70’s, watchmaking aesthetics have been confined to the hyper visible, the imposing, even bling-bling, inspired by the ultra-popular metallic sports models which have won over laymen and purists alike (Audemars Piguet being the leader with its Royal Oak). For a long time, the models we wore on our wrists were prominent, opulent, visible from miles around. Proof of this maximalist quintessence: the watch G-Shock GA-V01, worn as a bangle bracelet at the fashion show Ottolinger. But this world has changed.
For two years, the lines of our timepieces have been refined, disappeared, and deconstructed. Some brands have even had fun demolishing watches with bracelets as we know them. End of 2024, Chanel thus imagined its iconic necklace in the form of a necklace-watch-wired earphones. If the pocket watch of yesteryear was equipped with a chain that could evoke the necklace, it had never before been equipped with headphones – since they did not exist then. During this same period, accessible brands like Casio Or Ice Watch chose to display the time on rings rather than bracelets.
Today, after this aesthetic error, the watch returns to its basics, is adorned with its bracelet, but is available in more delicate and discreet models: narrower bracelet, smaller and flatter dial, soft and minimalist look which takes up the codes of the fine watches worn by our elders.
A fashion and consumption trend, driven by Generation Z and confirmed by the agency Bloomberg And Chrono24 (L’Echo Belgique, Sabato). In today’s market, young buyers are mainly looking for small gold watches with a vintage look, which could almost be confused with jewelry. Proof of this is that since 2018, the purchase of “dress watches” has increased by 44%. As a reminder, “dress watches” – also called “evening watches” – are worn for special occasions and therefore aim for discreet elegance. Result: the aesthetics of the final piece meets tacit aesthetic criteria such as a thinness between 6 to 9 mm, a dial between 36 and 40 mm in diameter, etc. If the leather strap is usually appropriate for the dress watch; today, metallic is also accepted.
Models with vintage lines like the Bathtub Cartier Or the Serpenti of Bvlgari thus regain all their letters of nobility. Gen Z’s favorite luxury watches on the site? The Santos, the Tank or even the Panthère – all three signed Cartier. “Smaller and sleeker is now the new standard” of the watch market, written Bloomberg Business.
