The return of the dress watch: what the data shows

For nearly two decades, the center of gravity in watch collecting revolved around sport watches: steel, integrated bracelets, robust cases. Rolex Daytona, Patek Philippe Nautilus, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak — for an entire generation, the vocabulary of collecting desire was that of the tool watch worn as a status symbol.

Something has shifted over the past two years. And this isn't an industry impression: it's what the secondary market's own data shows, with precise, verifiable figures.

The Numbers Behind the Shift

The "Secondary Watch Market Report H1 2025," published by Chrono24 in partnership with Fratello Watches, captures a shift driven in particular by one specific demographic: Gen Z. According to the report, the share of dress watch purchases among Gen Z collectors grew 44% from 2018 to 2025, compared to an average growth of 29% across other age groups. Dress watches now account for 12% of all Gen Z purchases, the highest share among every generation tracked.

This isn't an isolated phenomenon tied to a single brand: it's a structural shift in how a new generation of collectors approaches watches, favoring refinement and restrained proportions over the sporty ruggedness that dominated the previous decade.

Cartier as a Case Study

No brand tells this story better than Cartier. According to the same Chrono24 and Fratello report, Cartier's share of purchases among Gen Z collectors rose from 1.7% to 6.8% over seven years — more than a fourfold increase. Across all age groups combined, Cartier's growth still comes in at a significant +65% (from 2.9% to 4.8%) — a figure that on its own shows how disproportionately Gen Z is shaping the brand's trajectory.

We've dedicated a full piece to its history and key references in our article on Cartier Tank, history and models of a dress watch icon: it's exactly the kind of reference benefiting from this shift.

The Bigger Picture: What the 2025 Market Recap Shows

Chrono24's subsequent "2025 Watch Market Review," published in early 2026, confirms this isn't a Gen Z-only or Cartier-only phenomenon. Over the course of 2025:

• Demand for rectangular cases grew 9.3% compared to 2024
• Vacheron Constantin posted 13.4% growth at the high end, one of the sharpest increases in the entire secondary market
• IWC staged a significant comeback, growing 14.4%
• Cartier overall grew 8.3% year-over-year, driven in particular by the classic Santos and Tank silhouettes
• Classic complications benefited too: moon phase popularity rose 15.3%
• On the aesthetic side, "jewelry-adjacent" dial tones — green (+9.5%), champagne (+7.9%), gold (+6.5%) — grew sharply, while classic blue and black tones stayed flat

The overall picture is a market re-evaluating elegance as a category in its own right, not simply as a fallback when sport watches become too expensive or too hard to find.

Why It's Happening

Several factors help explain this shift. The first is generational: those coming to watch collecting for the first time today didn't live through the most speculative phase of the steel sports market, and arrive with different aesthetic priorities, closer to the idea of a watch as a style accessory than as a collectible asset.

The second factor is more substantive: after years of emphasis on technical ruggedness, the market is rediscovering the craftsmanship value of slim proportions, shaped cases, and artistic dial work — the same territory we explored in our article on Piaget, gold, ultra-thin cases and hard stone dials, another direct example of this same trend.

What It Means for Vintage Collectors

For a vintage collector, this shift opens up a real opportunity: many historical dress watch references, less pursued during the sport watch years, remain more accessible today than the major sport names from the same period, even as they benefit from the same growing market attention.

That said, the same caveat we always apply when discussing market value still holds: a trend, however well documented, is not a guarantee of future returns. We cover this with the appropriate depth in our guide on investing in luxury watches, and for anyone entering vintage collecting for the first time, the advice remains the same as in our beginner's guide: buy for passion first, not to chase a trend.

A Dealer's Perspective

Those who've followed this market for years recognize in these numbers something more than a passing fad: it's a rebalancing toward an aesthetic that never really disappeared, it simply took a back seat during the sport watch decade. What the Chrono24 data confirms today is that a new generation of collectors is rediscovering, with fresh eyes, exactly the same ground where fine watchmaking began.