Analog Watch Statistics 2026: How Gen Z Revived the Mechanical Watch

For most of the last decade, the story of the wristwatch was a story of decline. The smartwatch was supposed to replace the mechanical watch on a generation's wrist. The 2026 data tell a more surprising story, and it runs in the opposite direction.

Across six independent datasets, from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, Chrono24, Deloitte, Grand View Research, The RealReal and Counterpoint Research, one pattern repeats: young buyers are pouring into traditional, mechanical, and pre-owned watches, while the smartwatch category has slowed to low-single-digit growth. Put the two sides by side and the gap starts.

Key findings

• Gen Z buyers drove a 44% rise in dress-watch purchases since 2018, versus 29% growth among all other age groups.
• First-time watch buyers jumped 46% in 2025.
• The pre-owned watch market reached roughly $35.7 billion in 2026 and is growing 13.3% a year toward $85.4 billion by 2033.
• Smartwatch market growth has cooled to about 3% a year, and Apple's share has fallen from 35.9% in 2021 to 23% in 2026.
• 36% of 18-24-year-olds already own or have considered a luxury watch, the highest interest of any age group (vs 26% overall).
• Affordable Swiss watches proved resilient: the CHF 500-3,000 export band held flat in 2025 while the premium tier fell, and entry-level exports surged 54% in June 2026.
• Deloitte projects in the secondhand watch market could reach CHF 35 billion by 2030, overtaking more than half of the new-watch market.

The Analog Revival Scoreboard

1. The generational flip: young buyers became the growth engine

The clearest signal comes from actual transactions, not surveys. According to the Chrono24 x Fratello H1 2025 report, dress-watch purchases by Gen Z buyers rose 44% since 2018, compared with 29% growth across all other age groups, and dress watches now make up 12% of everything Gen Z buys, the highest share of any demographic. On the resale side, The RealReal recorded a 46% jump in first-time watch buyers in 2025.

Interest is broad as well as deep. A Chrono24 x YouGov survey found 36% of 18-24-year-olds already own or have considered a luxury watch, a higher share than any older group, and 20% intend to buy within a year, versus 11% of the population overall. One important nuance for accuracy: younger buyers are the fastest-growing segment, not yet the largest; the 25-34 group still buys the most watches by volume.

2. The smartwatch matured, it did not collapse

It would be easy, and wrong, to say the smartwatch is dying. It isn't. Global smartwatch shipments actually grew about 4% year-over-year in Q1 2026 after a soft 2024. What has changed is the pace: the category's long-run growth has settled to roughly 3% a year, CCS Insight forecasts a 4% dip for full-year 2026 on replacement fatigue, and Apple, still the leader; has seen its share slide from 35.9% in early 2021 to 23% in 2026. The smartwatch has become a mature, replacement-driven product rather than the explosive force that once threatened the traditional watch.

3. Affordable mechanical proved the most resilient tier

When Swiss exports fell 1.7% in 2025 (with volumes down 4.8%), the decline was not evenly spread. Watches priced above CHF 3,000 fell 1.9%, while the affordable CHF 500-3,000 band held flat, and in the June 2026 rebound, entry-level exports in the CHF 200-500 band surged 54%. The accessible end of mechanical watchmaking held its ground while the middle wobbled.

4. The pre-owned engine

5. A sustained shift, not a passing fad

The most important word in this data is since. The 44% rise in Gen Z dress-watch buying is measured since 2018, a seven-year climb, not a one-quarter spike. Layered on top of a resale market compounding at double digits and a smartwatch category that has plateaued, the pattern reads as a structural change in what a young person wants on their wrist, not a seasonal trend.

Why it matters: the 4x gap

Set the two growth rates next to each other, and the headline writes itself. The pre-owned watch market is compounding at 13.3% a year; the smartwatch market is at about 3%. That makes the traditional-watch resale market grow more than four times faster than the device once expected to replace it.

The mechanical watch was never really competing with the smartwatch on features. The 2026 data suggest a generation has decided the two answer different questions entirely, and it is the older technology that is winning their attention.

Methodology & sources

This report combines publicly reported figures from six independent sources, published between 2022 and 2026. No data was modified; growth-rate comparisons place each source's own figure side by side, with timeframes labeled. Where a figure is a projection or forecast, it is identified as such. Figures span different scopes (Swiss exports, global luxury resale, smartwatch shipments) and should be read as directional evidence of a shared trend.

• Chrono24 x Fratello: H1 2025 Report (Gen Z dress-watch growth; transaction data).
• Chrono24 x YouGov: luxury watch buyer survey, 2,123 respondents (2024).
• The RealReal: 2025 Report (first-time watch buyer growth).
• Grand View Research: Pre-Owned Luxury Watches Market report (July 2026).
• Deloitte: Swiss Watch Industry Study (second-hand market projection).
• Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS): 2025 annual and June 2026 monthly export statistics.
• Counterpoint Research: Global Smartwatch Market, Q1 2026.
• FDM CCS Insight: 2026 wearables market forecast.
• Morgan Stanley x LuxeConsult: Swiss watch industry premiumization data.
• Boston Consulting Group: Gen Z luxury-watch spending (54% since 2021; to be confirmed against the primary BCG report before republication).

About Aurelle Watches

Aurelle Watches is a US-based watch brand. This report is published as an independent analysis of publicly available industry data; the figures and sources above are the property of their respective publishers. Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite this report with attribution to Aurelle Watches.