Gen Z Doesn't Want a Rolex — The Industry Isn't Ready for That

Here's a number that should terrify every authorised dealer in the country: among Gen Z watch buyers on Chrono24, Cartier's market share has quadrupled in seven years — from 1.7% to 6.8%. Not Rolex. Not Omega. Cartier. The brand that makes Tanks and Panthères, not Submariners and Speedmasters.

The watch industry built its entire modern infrastructure around one assumption: that every serious buyer eventually wants a steel sports watch on a bracelet. That assumption is dying, and the generation killing it already accounts for nearly a third of watch auction buyers (per Sotheby's), with 54% increasing their luxury watch spending since 2021 (per BCG).

The Data Is Stark

A joint report from Chrono24 and Fratello in late 2025 laid it out clearly. Gen Z buyers are driving a measurable shift away from the chunky steel sports watches that dominated the last decade, toward smaller, dressier, more design-led pieces. The share of dress watch transactions among Gen Z has risen 44% since 2018. Today, 12% of all Gen Z watch transactions are dress watches — the highest share of any demographic.

The models they're buying tell the story. On Chrono24, Gen Z's top ten most-purchased watches include two Cartier references and a Grand Seiko — a brand that doesn't appear in any other age group's top ten. Meanwhile, the Watchfinder & Co. report from 2024 found that when asked about style preferences, 36% of Gen Z chose "fashion-forward and on-trend," 27% chose "minimalist and dress," and 26% chose "vintage." The classic steel sports watch — the thing the entire grey market is built to sell — didn't lead a single category.

This isn't a blip. It's a generational realignment.

The Chrono24 report does note a very slight dip in dress watch momentum in H1 2025, particularly in Asia and North America. Sceptics will seize on that. But a minor pause after two years of explosive growth doesn't invalidate the structural shift — it just means the trend is maturing. The direction hasn't reversed. The buyers who moved away from steel sports watches aren't moving back.

What They Actually Value

The usual industry response to any Gen Z trend piece is to dismiss it as TikTok hype. But the data suggests something more structural.

Gen Z buyers, according to every survey I've seen, care about three things in roughly this order: design distinctiveness, the story behind the watch, and accessibility of purchase. They want something that looks different from what everyone else is wearing. They want to know who made it and why. And they want to buy it without a two-year waitlist, a "purchase history," or a trip to a boutique where someone in a suit decides whether they're worthy.

That last point is crucial. Watchfinder's UK survey found that only 14% of Gen Z rely on influencer content when researching a watch. The idea that this generation is mindlessly following TikTok trends doesn't survive contact with the data. What they are doing is researching obsessively online — Reddit threads, YouTube deep-dives, Instagram discovery — and then making their own decisions. They're better-informed first-time buyers than any previous generation, and they have zero tolerance for the gatekeeping that the traditional AD model depends on.

Bloomberg ran the headline last December: "Cartier Is Gen Z's Rolex." But that framing misses the point. Cartier isn't winning because it replaced Rolex in the aspiration hierarchy. It's winning because it offers something Rolex structurally cannot: distinctive design, accessible pricing at entry level, availability without theatre, and a product that works as jewellery — as personal expression — not just as a status signal that says "I have money and I waited."

The Industry's Blind Spot

The Swiss watch industry's response to this shift has been almost comically slow.

Rolex noticed enough to launch the 1908 collection — a precious metal dress watch line — in 2023. Elsewhere in the range, it's been experimenting with playful dial colours and smaller sizes in the Oyster Perpetual and Datejust lines. But the fundamental Rolex experience hasn't changed. You still can't walk in and buy one. The entire distribution model still revolves around scarcity, purchase history, and dealer discretion. A 22-year-old with £3,500 who wants something interesting for their wrist is not going to play that game. They're going to buy a Cartier Tank, a vintage Omega, or something from an independent maker they found on Instagram at 2am.

The grey market is equally misaligned. It's built almost entirely around flipping the same fifteen Rolex and Patek Philippe references. The infrastructure — the pricing tools, the authentication services, the dealer networks — all optimise for a world where "desirable watch" means steel sports model from a household name. When a generation shows up wanting a 34mm dress watch from a brand they discovered through a Reddit thread, the grey market has nothing to offer them.

And authorised dealers? Most of them still present watches the way they did in 2005. Dark wood cabinets, hushed tones, a salesperson who treats a 24-year-old in trainers like they've wandered into the wrong shop. Gen Z buyers are overwhelmingly researching and purchasing through digital channels — 71% use social media for discovery, and platforms like Chrono24 and eBay are where the transactions happen. They're not walking into boutiques. The boutiques aren't designed for them, and they know it.

Where This Gets Interesting

Here's the part the mainstream watch media keeps glossing over. The Gen Z shift isn't just toward Cartier and vintage. It's toward the entire category of watches that prioritise design over brand recognition. Microbrands. Independents. Small makers who sell direct, tell their story on social media, and treat every customer like they matter — because at their scale, every customer does.

Watchfinder's US data shows Gen Z spending an average of $10,870 on watches, with over 80% of Gen Z buyers acquiring their luxury watches through the pre-owned market. But the entry-level dress watch segment — the £500 to £2,000 range where independents thrive — is exactly where Chrono24 reports the strongest Gen Z demand alongside the high-end tier. The middle market, dominated by the same Rolex and Omega references every dealer carries, is where interest is weakest.

That's an enormous opportunity for anyone paying attention. A generation of well-researched, design-literate buyers with real spending power, actively looking for watches that are distinctive, available, and sold by people who care about what they're making. And the traditional industry is too busy managing waitlists and polishing display cases to notice.

The Bottom Line

Gen Z doesn't hate Rolex. The Datejust is still their most-purchased Rolex model on Chrono24. But they're not building their identity around it. They're not grovelling at ADs for the privilege of buying one. And they're spending at least as much energy — probably more — discovering Cartier Tanks, Grand Seiko Heritage pieces, vintage Omegas, and independent makers that nobody in the mainstream press is writing about yet.

The watch industry spent the last decade convincing itself that demand for steel sports watches was permanent and structural. It wasn't. It was a cycle — amplified by speculation, social media, and pandemic-era FOMO — and it's now being replaced by something more interesting: a generation that treats watches like fashion, like jewellery, like personal expression. That wants craft over clout, and story over status.

The brands and dealers who understand this will thrive. The ones waiting for Gen Z to "grow into" wanting a Submariner are going to be waiting a very long time.

CalderoneWatchCo stocks watches from independent makers who design with intention and sell without games. If that sounds like what you've been looking for, you're in the right place.