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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe Chrono24 and Fratello report for the first half of 2025 points to a more selective secondary luxury-watch market: dress watches and Cartier gained attention, particularly among Gen Z buyers, while Rolex remained the leading brand and its share decline slowed. These are findings from transactions on Chrono24—not a census of worldwide watch sales—and they describe buyer activity, not a forecast of resale returns.
What the report measures—and what it does not
Published October 22, 2025, the Chrono24 and Fratello H1 2025 report analyzes transactions on Chrono24, with comparisons to 2018 and the second half of 2024. Its market-share figures represent a brand’s share of total watch spend on Chrono24 during the period. For example, a reported 33.7% Rolex share means 33.7% of watch spend on that platform—not 33.7% of watches sold, and not Rolex’s share of the entire global secondary market.
The report expresses changes as percentage changes in share versus the preceding comparison period. That is different from a percentage-point change: a rise from 10% to 20% is a 100% increase in share. The findings are useful for understanding activity on Chrono24, but they do not establish market-wide sales, explain every cause of a change, or show that a watch will appreciate.
Gen Z and dress watches: the clearest shift
Chrono24 says dress-watch sales share among Gen Z rose 44% from 2018 to 2025, compared with a 29% increase among other age groups. Dress watches accounted for 12% of Gen Z purchases, the highest share among the age groups in the report. This points to a stronger presence for classic, dressier designs in the platform’s younger-buyer mix; it does not mean that most Gen Z watch purchases were dress watches.
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The trend also spans different budgets. Chrono24 found dress-watch demand concentrated in the €500–€2,000 range and above €20,000, with less activity in between. Those are segments observed in its transaction data, not a global estimate of demand or a guarantee of what a particular watch costs.
Cartier stands out, especially among younger buyers
Cartier’s share of watch sales among Gen Z rose from 1.7% to 6.8% over seven years, according to Chrono24. Across all age groups, the brand’s share increased from 2.9% to 4.8% over the same span. The Tank and Santos are highlighted as recognizable design-led collections; vintage and pre-owned Must de Cartier watches may offer lower-price entry points, though condition and service history matter as much as the model name.
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For a buyer considering a pre-owned Cartier Tank, compare the exact reference, case dimensions, condition, provenance, and service documentation. The report supports Cartier’s relevance as a market trend; it does not provide current asking prices, establish a fair value for any reference, or predict future resale performance.
Brand share changes in H1 2025
Rolex remained the largest brand by Chrono24 transaction share, while Omega held second place. The reported movements below compare H1 2025 with H2 2024 unless otherwise noted.
| Brand | What Chrono24 reported | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Rolex | 33.7% of Chrono24 watch spend in H1 2025 | Its share decline, which began in H1 2022, slowed in recent periods. |
| Omega | 11.3% share; up 4% from H2 2024 | Second-highest brand share. The report notes that certain limited editions, such as the Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award, can trade above retail; this should not be generalized to all Omega watches. |
| Tudor | Up 6.6% in the main report; up 6.8% in Chrono24’s announcement | The two Chrono24 pages give slightly different figures, so the gain should be read as reported rather than collapsed into a single exact value. |
| IWC | Up 4.9% | The report discusses the Ingenieur relaunch as possible context, not proven cause. |
| Patek Philippe | Down 8.2% in relative market share | The report notes that H2 2024 was unusually strong for Patek, an important comparison point. |
| Audemars Piguet | Up 0.2% | A small increase in relative share. |
The percentage gains and losses in the table are relative changes in share, not percentage-point movements. Chrono24 presents Tudor’s two slightly different figures in its main report and official announcement; neither should be treated as a precise, independently verified market-wide measure.
Rolex: still dominant, but not a signal about prices
Chrono24 reported a 33.7% Rolex share of platform watch spend in H1 2025. Its share decline had begun in H1 2022 and slowed in recent periods. Within Rolex, the Datejust ranked first and the Daytona overtook the Submariner for second place in the report’s collection ranking.
That combination—continued leadership alongside a slower decline—does not show that Rolex prices or demand have returned to a particular “normal.” The report measures transaction share on Chrono24, not a price index, authorized-dealer waiting times, or the market value of every Rolex reference. It identifies the stainless-steel Daytona and GMT-Master II “Pepsi” as difficult to obtain through authorized dealers, but that observation should not be read as a quantified statement about all regions or dealers.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Are dress watches already losing momentum?
The report notes a slight H1 2025 dip in dress-watch demand in Asia and North America after a sharp rise from 2023. Cartier’s secondary-market sales also dipped slightly during the period. Chrono24 and Fratello do not establish whether these movements are temporary pauses or the start of a reversal, so the broader rise in dress-watch interest and the regional dip should be read together rather than as competing conclusions.
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For shoppers, the practical takeaway is not to buy solely because a category is trending. Choose a watch for fit, design, condition, and the price you are willing to pay. A platform-wide shift in transaction share cannot tell you whether an individual purchase will hold value.
How to use the findings when making a watch purchase
- Separate platform activity from investment performance. Chrono24’s figures show its own transaction mix; they are not a forecast of future prices or resale proceeds.
- Compare like with like. Reference, dimensions, condition, provenance, and service history can distinguish two watches from the same collection.
- Account for budget differences. Reported dress-watch demand clusters at €500–€2,000 and above €20,000, so a broad category trend may not describe the price bracket you are shopping in.
- Use the reporting period carefully. H1 2025 comparisons with H2 2024 and long-term comparisons with 2018 answer different questions; neither proves what will happen next.
For the full methodology and brand-by-brand discussion, see the Fratello co-author report and Chrono24’s primary report page.
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