From Rihanna to watch fairs, how the watch world shifted in 2023
Timepieces are having their moment as the culture moved beyond niche blogs and industry-only events.
Rihanna arriving at the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix earlier this month wearing a custom $US400,000 ($603,600) anklet watch from the niche high-end brand Jacob & Co may be the greatest sign that watch culture has evolved.
The singer and style icon is no stranger to a horological flex. Her watch collection includes everything from a custom Rolex Midas to several other blinged-out Jacob & Co pieces.
But her pronounced love of watches, particularly unconventional ones, proves that timepieces are more entwined with pop culture and fashion, and changing whims and tastes, than ever.
It’s a sign too that watch appreciation has emerged beyond the world of niche blogs and industry-only events. This year watch love could be clocked everywhere, from Ryan Gosling as Ken in the blockbuster Barbie movie wearing three vintage gold Tag Heuer watches at once in a pivotal scene to industry events such as Watches & Wonders and the newer Geneva Watch Days fair opening their doors to the public. And next year Watches & Wonders will hold three open days.
The stereotype of watches being toys for the boys is over, too. Recent statistics from Allied Research found the women’s watch segment is set to reach $US26.7m by 2027, up from $US23.7m in 2019. Influential social media accounts such as Dimepiece, run by New Yorker Brynn Wallner, and TikTok star Trang Trinh are garnering followings for their informative and entertaining insights into the watch industry, while a slew of female watch dealers and collectors are shaking up the industry.
There are other signs the watch world is broadening its scope, too.
Earlier this year luxury French brand Louis Vuitton announced its decision to champion independent watch brands such as Rexhep Rexhepi with its program of collaborations, and a new prize for independent watchmakers.
LVMH, Louis Vuitton’s umbrella company, also announced it would revive independent brands Daniel Roth and Gerald Genta. Swiss watchmaker Genta, who died in 2011, was famous for designs for other high-end makers, such as the Patek Philippe Nautilus and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, but also created under his own name.
Luca Solca, a senior analyst across the luxury industry at research firm Bernstein, says consumers are interested in brands willing to try new things. There is power too, he says, in the niche.
“Consumers remain very interested in watches and reward innovation,” Solca says.
“Rolex and Swatch – at different ends of the price spectrum – stand as examples of that. As much of the luxury market growth is driven by high-end consumers, niche sophisticated brands stand a better chance. Yet they are far from challenging the lead of the three champions: Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe.”
As Solca notes, the much-reported boom in luxury watches during the pandemic years, which also caused prices to rocket on the secondary watch market, also has stabilised.
“Swiss watch exports are still growing but more moderately so. Product availability is improving, while (secondary market) prices have descended to more reasonable levels,” Solca says.
Kennedy general manager – timepieces Debbie Kok says the luxury retailer has noticed a pronounced uptick in watch appreciation and knowledge from clients. What’s more, she says, they are willing to invest in seriously high-end (and high-priced) pieces.
“I think in the recent two years we’ve been talking a lot about quiet luxury, and it’s the same completely for watches,” Kok says.
“The trending phenomenon has bled into our industry, but we’re seeing clients absorbing better and trying to buy better and trying to buy more qualitative time pieces because there is that level of appreciation.
“So they’re really comfortable with purchasing, let’s say skeletonised movement, but in a brand that was much lesser known.
“However, what the clients appreciate is the innovation and the artwork and of course the craftsmanship of that brand.”
Later this week Kennedy will host the Australian-first Patek Philippe: A Passion for Workmanship exhibition at the Ritz Carlton in Melbourne. It will showcase a selection of more than 100 timepieces, including unique pieces on display for the first time in Australia. A similar exhibition was staged in South Korea.
The Melbourne event joins other recent watch exhibitions such as the Sydney International Watch Fair – Artisans of Time, which gave visitors an opportunity to try on pieces from independent brands such as Speake Marin and Arnold & Son.
And last month luxury French brand Hermes hosted a small exhibition called Crafting Time at its Sydney flagship store and flew in a Swiss artisan who specialised in a particular craft of weaving for its dials to demonstrate her work for clients.
For Kok, beyond the opportunity to see pieces you might not ordinarily get to see, an exhibition such as the Melbourne event breaks down barriers to people learning more about complicated watches. She acknowledges that walking into a boutique can be intimidating. Kok says the evolution of watch knowledge and appreciation is partly driven by watch brands now sharing know-how on digital platforms and the influence of social media, which has helped foster new voices in the watch community.
She says this has meant people are beginning to view watches as something to be appreciated in the same way you might appreciate art. “I think interest has surpassed just a client wanting a watch because it has a certain function or it looks a certain way or it’s just a status symbol and therefore they feel they need to have it,” Kok says.
“Clients are really becoming more educated about the mechanics of watches, how they function, what they mean, what each component means, how they’ll come together to form a wearable piece of art essentially. Everyone is welcome and you may be beside some people who have travelled far and wide to do the same thing.
“We sort of think of it as a Winter Masterpieces (exhibition) for the (National Gallery of Victoria); it’s a travelling collection of art pieces. Everyone’s welcome. You don’t have to own a Monet, you don’t have to own a Picasso (to appreciate it). All you need to do is have a curiosity.”
An increased appetite for “if you know you know” watches, albeit at a more affordable scale, has been a driver of the decision by watch publication Time + Tide to open a bricks-and-mortar retail arm and exhibition space on Collins Street in Melbourne.
Time + Tide general manager Scott Jungwirth says the appetite for niche independent watch brands is growing in Australia.
“Many of the brands we are presenting in the studio including Studio Underd0g, Baltic, Furlan Marri, Norqain and Zodiac advised us the Australian market is one of their largest worldwide,” he says.
These brands, many of which began with a direct-to-consumer model, are experiencing exceptional growth, he says.
“Many of these independent brands have been recording remarkable sales campaigns throughout 2023 despite tough economic conditions,” Jungwirth says. He notes that British brand Studio Underd0g, named by GQ magazine as one of the top five new brands of the year, recently sold $4.5m of watches during a nine-hour online sales period of its new Field watch.
This maturation of the Australian watch market, with room for extraordinary pieces at the pointy end of the watch industry and cool, under-the-radar brands at a more attainable level, fits with the influx of new watch brands arriving or expanding Down Under.
In recent years the likes of Roger Dubuis have entered the market, while more established brands such as Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Piaget have expanded their footprints in recent months. Innovative brand Rebellion Timepieces has just launched into Australia with Hardy Brothers.
“I think a lot of brands, first of all, seeing Australia as a legitimate market, we’re seeing a lot more brands embark into Australia, be it within Sydney, Melbourne, and even as we can see a lot of brands rolling out through Perth and Brisbane,” Kok says.
“I think it gives a lot of consumers that seal of trust that Australia really is ready to embark on a new level of luxury.”
Kok says watches, having a collection of them, are becoming more of a lifestyle choice for some Australians, too. “It’s become very ingrained in Australian culture,” she says. “Whether it be a daily sports watch that you wear Monday to Friday and then sometimes on the weekend you go swimming or go surfing, you change into a dive watch. Then we have a really important function, for example, the opera, then you wear a skeletonised type piece.
“A lot of that, I think, is really becoming a lot more natural.”
As for what to expect for the watch industry next year, Solca is expecting, in these financially straitened times, a moderate approach and a focus on distribution.
The latter was another key talking point in the watch world this year, with Rolex acquiring the world’s largest watch retailer, Bucherer.
“FY24E should continue to bring moderation and an even greater contribution from Chinese consumer spend,” Solca says.
“I don’t expect much of a revolution in the watches industry, other than a continuing buttoning up of distribution: brands are tightening their grip in an effort to have better control on pricing and promotion.”
The exhibition Patek Philippe: Passion for Workmanship is open to the public and will be held at the Ritz Carlton in Melbourne from Friday to Sunday.
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