How Gen Z is rewriting the rules of the watch game

Here is a plot twist nobody saw coming: A generation raised completely on smartphones and digital timestamps is obsessed with wearing an analogue-handmade-mechanical timekeeper on their wrist. This is not a vibe, it’s a value system. Gen Z isn’t subscribing to info-engrossed trackers, smartwatches with notifications about their every move, but to an actual watch. Ideally one with a dial worth staring at, and an idea that makes it their own.  

According to Bain & Company’s 2024 luxury market study, more than 70 per cent of younger luxury buyers now consider craftsmanship and material quality as the top factor influencing their repeat purchases. Where previous generations chased steel sports watches, the chunky Submariner-and-Nautilus-code markers of arrival that dominated wrists for decades, this generation has quietly, decisively moved in the opposite direction. Dress watches. Slim profiles. Clean dials. Vintage references. Research also found that the pre-owned luxury watch market is growing faster than the new-watch market in several categories, with a projected annual growth rate of 9.2 per cent through 2030, driven largely by younger buyers who prize the story behind the object as much as the object itself.

And then, there is the Cartier moment, which is the most telling cultural indicator of all. The Tank, the Baignoire, the Panthère—watches that have been around for decades, and previously read as elegant but slightly conservative choices, are now the most coveted pieces among younger buyers. Hollywood star Timothée Chalamet has been photographed in a vintage Cartier so consistently. In Saltburn (2023), actor Jacob Elordi radiated old-money ease in every frame, a sensibility that sent an entire generation to vintage watch listings. Actor Zendaya in a Bvlgari Serpenti at the Challengers (2024) premiere, confirmed that the wrist moment is fashion’s new frontier.

What’s driving all of this, underneath the aesthetics, is something more interesting than trend-chasing. In a world increasingly generated by artificial intelligence, where perfection may lack a human fingerprint, a mechanical watch is among the artisanally handmade objects that a person can wear every single day.   

Back to basics  

Deloitte’s 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, conducted across 44 countries, found that younger consumers are no longer motivated by logos or status-climbing alone. They want meaning. They want to know how something is made,  where, and by whom. A McKinsey 2024 consumer sentiment survey found that more than 60 per cent of high-income younger shoppers are now favouring quality-over-quantity buying behaviours. The watch, more than almost any other object, is the perfect vehicle for all of that.

The MoonSwatch is exhibit A. When Omega and Swatch launched their collaboration, the queues outside stores made global news, which is not something that typically happens for a watch retailing under ₹32,000. The reason was simple: It put 60 years of space-race history, moon-landing mythology, and genuine Swiss movement heritage into a bioceramic case that a 23-year-old could wear to a music festival without a single moment of anxiety. “The MoonSwatch collection salutes the saviours of our industry in a witty and accessible way. The  Swatches are perfect for budding  Moonwatch fans, and I can’t think of a more appropriate icon for our shared project. We went to the moon, now we’re exploring the whole Milky Way. They’re great watches, in fantastic colours, and they make me smile,” shares Raynald Aeschlimann, CEO and president, Omega.  

The most recent drop, the Mission to Earthphase in Moonshine Gold, sold out before most people had finished reading about it. That is what happens when design meets story meets accessibility. The Fossil x Nick Jonas Machine Luxe collection operates in similar territory: Bold, tactile, with a retro-industrial energy that sits squarely at the intersection of nostalgia and now. It is a watch for someone who curates their world with intention, from playlist to wrist. Armani Exchange’s Spring/Summer 2024 chronograph, with its wave-textured dial and actor Kartik Aaryan as its India face, makes a similar argument at a price point that does not require a dramatic life decision. Aaryan also rightly points out, “This season’s watches reflect not just style but a commitment to innovation and quality. It’s about making a statement  with each piece that embodies the essence of modernity.” Because this generation does not just want to wear something interesting. They want to understand it.  

Dial it up   

For those ready to move up a tier,  the options only get better. The Tissot PRX Powermatic 80 in forged carbon has become one of the most beautifully considered watches at its price point in years: Integrated bracelet, carbon case, a dial so clean it reads as a design manifesto. The Longines Master Collection 34mm, with its engraved Arabic numerals and uncluttered face, is the dress watch equivalent of knowing exactly who you are and being entirely comfortable with it. And then there is the Omega Seamaster Railmaster 38mm, a revival of the 1957 reference originally built for scientists working in extreme conditions. Anti-magnetic, understated, wearing its heritage without making a fuss about it. At 38mm, it sits perfectly on any wrist, which matters because the move towards smaller, more refined case sizes is another thing this generation got right before the rest of the market caught up. 

Category is: Gen Z looked at a watch market built around status- signalling and decided to reroute it around something more durable. The result, it turns out, is more interesting than anything that came before.

This article originally appeared in Cosmopolitan India's March-April 2026 print issue.

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