Evan Fry was born in 2003, some extent in human historical past when many individuals’s again pockets held a Nokia 1100 or the Sony Ericsson T610. Mobile telephones had been displaying the time on their LCD screens for nearly a decade by this level — and the anxiousness of how they could change the standard wrist watch was already in full swing. “Many young people see them as obsolete as sundials,” learn one 2005 newspaper article. “For them, cell phones are the new watches.”
Throughout his life, the time has been accessible to Fry on iPhone screens, laptops, TVs, electrical ovens, central heating methods, Nintendo DS’s and even beamed eeriely by way of bathroom mirrors. Which makes it all of the extra attention-grabbing that Fry has collected greater than 35 watches, averaging between $1,000 and $2,000 a bit. So far, his prized possession is a Tag Heuer Carrera — a silver linked piece with a deep magenta bezel which he purchased for round $3,500. One day, Fry hopes to have a H Moser on his wrist, although some fashions retail for roughly round $50,000. He’s already tried on his favourite, that includes a vanta black dial and no indexes, within the store. “It’s just to die for,” he stated.
Aged 22, Fry is a part of a rising Gen Z cohort of watch lovers. According to secondhand luxurious watch retailer Bezel, these below 30 account for a 3rd of the corporate’s transactions. This group has been beforehand underestimated by legacy manufacturers, stated Bezel’s CEO Quaid Walker. “I think the watch world is just starting to really pay attention to younger demographics,” he instructed NCS. According to Walker, the Gen Z market are those on common spending probably the most on a single watch buy.
Longines, the storied luxurious Swiss watchmaker, has additionally seen an uptick in youthful clients — significantly in these trying to restore or service older items. Thiago Abrantes, an assistant supervisor in London, stated round 50% of these he encountered on the metropolis’s flagship retailer trying to service a watch have been below 30. He put it down to inheritance. “A lot of people get a watch from dad as a gift,” he stated.
Although his pals are catching on, Fry’s degree of enthusiasm for watches means he’s nonetheless “an outlier” amongst his friends. He makes YouTube movies from his house in Utah discussing his newest obsession and new releases from manufacturers. He additionally provides digital excursions of his formidable classic assortment, which incorporates items from the ‘60s, ‘70s and even a Zenith pocket watch from last century. His interest, he says, is partly down to a curiosity in our cultural history. “They were a real companion in someone’s life, and due to their necessity that they had to be used each single day,” Fry stated in a telephone name. “There’s something deeply fascinating and almost sacred about holding and owning a piece that has gone through so much.”
That similar sense of nostalgia may very well be driving design preferences, too. According to data collected in 2025 by luxurious watch resale market Chrono24, Gen Z purchase extra basic costume watches than some other age demographic. The variety of timepieces on this fashion — slim, formal with easy dials in gold, silver and infrequently with a leather-based strap, just like the Cartier Tank Louis Cartier, the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony or a classic Seiko — purchased by these aged between 14 and 28 has risen 44% since 2018. “It anchors onto a time when things were collected, or made to last,” stated Walker.
Dahyn Lee, proprietor of the net classic watch store Teia Collective, says that over 45% of her 10,000 followers on Instagram are Gen Z. “They grew up in this highly digital enviroment… It seems to me that it only intensified their desire for tactile and tangible objects,” she stated. Once a month Lee sells her assortment, sourced by way of a mixture of vintage festivals, eBay and relationships cultivated with Japanese sellers, at classic markets in London. With costs starting from $60 to $460, these are entry-level purchases. She stated youngsters will typically strategy her stall and select a bit as a result of “this is just like what my grandma used to wear.”
“I think it almost works as a connection to the past,” Lee stated. “They can feel nostalgic for a time when they didn’t even exist.”
Lee’s clients are additionally “obsessed” with dainty women watches — irrespective of their gender. “I’ve sold quite a lot of what is categorized as women’s watches to guys,” she stated. “And then there are girls who ask for men’s watches as well.” Fry additionally owns numerous timepieces initially designed for ladies. “I wasn’t brave enough to start wearing smaller, more feminine pieces until Timothée Chalamet wore that Cartier Panthère,” he stated, referencing Chalamet’s 2024 “Dune: Part II” purple carpet look in Mexico City. “Especially because he and I have very similar physiques. It was just that initial spark.”
Abrantes echoes that celeb affect is large within the watch world — particularly for these beginning out and determining their style — giving youthful clients permission to buck tendencies, uncover impartial manufacturers and break conference. After the Academy Awards, which noticed A-listers reminiscent of Hudson Williams, Michael B. Jordan, Shaboozey and Pedro Pascal experiment with smaller, extra female kinds, Abrantes had clients coming into Longines with screenshots from the purple carpet trying for related items. “People come in and try it on for curiosity. Sometimes they buy, sometimes they don’t,” he stated.
“We have the same experience,” stated Walker, whose app Bezel pairs clients with an in-house watch knowledgeable who can present analysis, recommendation and buy strategies on request. “Folks will say, ‘I’m buying my first watch,’ and they’ll show us a photo of someone on the (red) carpet wearing something interesting,” he added. This concierge service can alert youthful buyers to lesser recognized names, deepening model information outdoors of stereotypical massive hitters like Rolex or Patek Phillippe. “It’s not just ‘I want to collect this watch because everyone else collects this watch,’” Walker stated. “It’s actually an inversion of that.”
Lee says her buyers are much more eager to prioritise design over particular model cache — or typically in her expertise, even perform. “I see my customers as predominantly people who love beautiful things, rather than people who are obsessed with watches,” she stated. “All of my watches listed on my website are working, but then sometimes when I see something very special in terms of design, I do collect and sell it at the market,” Lee added. “Some customers really don’t mind a watch not working because they actually want a bracelet. I think that is very characteristic of Gen Z.” It’s typically extra about “the look,” she says.
Sometimes, a 14 or 15 12 months previous — start 12 months: circa 2011, reigning cell phone design: iPhone 4 — bounds up to her stall excitedly, about to purchase a bit. “And then they tell their friends, ‘I don’t even know how to read time.’”