At the turn of this century, the image of a typical Rolex customer would have been a retiring dentist looking forward to a life of leisure at his local golf club.
Fast forward 20 years and these baby boomers are outnumbered and outgunned by their grandchildren.
Enough Gen Zs appear to have that illusive combination of youth and wealth on their side, and are looking to demonstrate their taste, status and spending power by flaunting a new (or used) Rolex.
And they are only just getting started.
“Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, are estimated to account for around 20% of the US population right now. That’s approximately 68.6 million people. With an anticipated spending power in excess of $360 billion in the US alone, their economic influence is only going to get bigger and bigger,” says Edouard Caumon, US country manager at Watchfinder & Co., which has just released a report examining how Gen Zs approach the purchase of new or pre-owned luxury watches.
“A new generation of watch enthusiasts is emerging, and they are coming in hot,” the report suggests.
The survey, titled The Next Generation of Watch Shoppers and Culture, canvased the views of 2,400 Gen Z 16-26 year olds (no additional demographic data on respondents is provided) from the USA over five days in March 2024.
41% of Gen Zs surveyed had come into possession of a luxury watch in the last 12 months and over a third feel watches are better investments than gold (33%), fine wine (32%) and even real estate (23%).
Among those ready to pull the trigger on a purchase, they said an investment averaging $10,870 would be their starting price.
This compares to millennials who would be willing to spend $5,325, Generation X an average of $5,423 and boomers — widely known to have the largest disposable income of the three generations — a paltry $2,632.
This spending power might be thanks to a life-long education from their political masters that borrowing is the way to get ahead.
In comparison to older generations, Gen Zs are 21% more likely to use a retailer’s finance options like split payments and interest free credit.
They are also prepared to trade-in to trade-up. 49% would be more likely than their elders to sell something else before buying, 24% were more likely to exchange a watch they currently own and a massive 130% more likely to have taken out a loan.
They may approach shopping for luxury watches differently, but Gen Z tastes are broadly the same as all other age groups.
Almost half (43%) said their favourite watch brand is Rolex. Cartier will be pleased with second place and Omega a respectable third.
Seiko, which is rarely compared to the Swiss watchmakers, comes equal-fourth with Patek Philippe and ahead of Tudor and Breitling.
What Gen Z wants to buy may be similar to older generations, but how they buy and what influences their decisions is distinct.
Online sales still account for less than 10% of luxury watch purchases across all demographics, but the majority of Gen Zs surveyed felt they would be likely to purchase a watch from a brand’s or authorised dealer’s online store (65%) or a pre-owned specialist online (55%).
Pre-owned watches have been gentrified as a genre for all age groups and Gen Z are embracing the opportunity to shop for a much larger range of brands and styles as well as expecting to find a bargain on the secondary market.
Social media is an important way to influence Gen Z customers, but the demographic still wants to spend some of their reportedly stunted attention span on researching and seeking the opinions of experts.
TikTok ‘watchfluencers’, many of them promoting their own trading activities with punchy posts, are driving a rise in watch flipping as a hobby or side hustle.
Almost three quarters (73%) of Gen Z are aware of the trend, over a third (36%) have seen the content online (e.g. on TikTok), and 36% said they had even flipped watches themselves.
The sugar rush of social media is said to influence over half of the Gen Z respondents, but word of mouth from colleagues is just as important and online reviews are even more valued.
“This generational watch boom has been caused by Gen Z finding themselves in the centre of two powerful forces,” says Watchfinder & Co.’s Mr Caumon.
“First, they thrive on social media and online culture is of huge importance to them. They are seeing Watchfluencers like Vookum or Mike Nouveau garner millions of views from live negotiations for watches, giving them important exposure to luxury models, heritage brands and what represents good value in a purchase. Secondly, they are placing new value on watches as jewellery-like accessories, which provide a symbol of status. When combined, these forces have combined to create spiking demand, explaining Gen Zs’ high levels of spend,” he concludes.
Beware the Paradigm Shift, Gen Z, a target for College Loan Forgiveness by Biden & Co., could be set in the first year! They’re not buying cars, they’re currently, not buying homes, so their purchase goes to conspicuous consumption and being accepted, with a benchmark Timepiece, replacing their Apple! The ‘Double-edged Sword’ cuts both ways, what does this do for Rolex, the Timepiece of Champions from Palmer to Nicklaus to Player and Woods, Federer, Killy, Cousteau, JFK, Winston Churchill, MLK, Newman, Eastwood, the list is endless. That all said, when the Timepiece of Champions becomes the Watch of those of shallow accomplishments, there is created a vacuum, and it will be filled, but how will the King react, is the question?