12/12/2019
 3 minutes

The Top Watch Trends of 2019

By Balazs Ferenczi
The Top Watch Trends of 2019

The Top Watch Trends of 2019

Similar to 2018, 2019 was a busy year for the watch industry. We saw new releases, a few microbrands emerged from Kickstarter and Indiegogo, and there were some changes made at Baselworld and SIHH. Buyers and sellers on Chrono24 are very sensitive to these types of changes and tend to react to them immediately. Today, we will share some of the buying and selling trends we saw on our platform, as well as the bestselling brands and watch types.

10 Bestselling Brands on Chrono24

10 Bestselling Brands on Chrono24
10 Bestselling Brands on Chrono24

The list of the 10 bestselling brands globally on Chrono24 isn’t very surprising. As you’d imagine, Rolex easily tops the list, followed by Omega. The third brand to reach our imaginary podium is none other than Patek Philippe. These results reveal that demand for high-end Swiss mechanical timepieces still rules the industry. This made even clearer by the rest of the list: Number four is Audemars Piguet, a high-end independent manufacture, followed by Breitling at number five. IWC, Panerai, Cartier, TAG Heuer, and Jaeger-LeCoultre round out the list in that order. All in all, it’s a very interesting line-up of mostly high-end luxury brands with a few more affordable brands sprinkled in.

Top 10 Countries Selling Watches on Chrono24

Top 10 Countries Selling Watches on Chrono24
Top 10 Countries Selling Watches on Chrono24

For several years now, the United States has been the country generating the most sales on Chrono24. Of course, this doesn’t mean that most sellers on the platform come from the US, but they are certainly the busiest. In second place is Germany, followed by the United Kingdom. Interestingly, the US is the only country in the top 10 that isn’t from Europe. Italy has nabbed fourth place, and the Netherlands rounds out our top 5. The Netherlands has a very active watch community, considering its size. We head south to Spain for number six and then over to Switzerland for number seven – yes, “the” watch country is only seventh on the list when it comes to selling watches on Chrono24. Eighth and ninth place are reserved for Monaco and France, respectively, while number 10 belongs to Belgium.

Top 10 Countries Buying Watches on Chrono24

Top 10 Countries Buying Watches on Chrono24
Top 10 Countries Buying Watches on Chrono24

Now that we’ve had a look at the countries selling the most watches on our platform, let’s see who’s buying. Once again, the top spot goes to the United States. Germany is second and the UK is third, which is in line with the seller’s list. France comes in at number four, even though it was ninth on the list of sellers. Italy has no shortage of watch buyers, earning it the number five spot. Dutch watch enthusiasts love to sell, but are also keen buyers, putting the Netherlands at number six, followed by Switzerland.

Archetype of the Most Popular Watch on Chrono24

Archetype of the Most Popular Watch on Chrono24
Archetype of the Most Popular Watch on Chrono24

We thought it would be an interesting experiment to use our data to create an archetype of the most popular watch this year. We drew on all the features that were trending on Chrono24 in 2019 and put them together in a single imaginary watch. Let’s start with size. According to our data, 40 mm was by far the most popular watch size; both 39 and 41-mm watches didn’t even come close. In terms of the case, it would be round and made of stainless steel. These specifications appeared 4-5 times more often than any other case shape or material. The archetype would be powered by an automatic movement, lack numerals on its dial, and be protected by sapphire crystal. The most popular dial color is black, which isn’t surprising, and the most beloved complication was a date display, followed by the chronograph.

User Interactions with Chrono24

Last but not least, let’s look at how users are interacting with Chrono24. Our data reveal that visitors from desktop computers are declining year on year. In the meantime, mobile users (especially iPhones) are rapidly increasing. But what about purchases? The gap between the number of sales being made on desktop and iPhone is closing gradually. We anticipate that mobile sales will soon overtake desktop sales. We’re not quite there yet, but this will almost definitely happen in 2020. Another interesting piece of data is the high number of private sellers that now list watches on Chrono24. We have double the number of private sellers than we did a few years ago. This tells us that more and more people are becoming interested in watches; not only as buyers but also as sellers or occasional traders.

Read more

Our Favorite 2019 Special Editions

Batman and Pepsi: The Story of Two Legendary Rolex Models

Omega: Reaching for the Stars


About the Author

Balazs Ferenczi

I’ve been interested in watches for as long as I can remember. I've always thought the only “jewelry” a man should wear is a nice watch. It also says a lot about …

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