Has the social media bubble burst for watch brands?
2022 was the year when social media became quintessential for watch brands, with online consumer habits changing permanently during government Covid lockdowns.
But have user fatigue and market saturation combined to spell the beginning of the decline of the usefulness for social media, especially in terms of luxury?
Journalist Amy Wakeham took a deep dive into the issue for Watch Insider, and a snapshot of some of her main conclusions are illuminating.
Vogue published its Business Watch Index last year, which evaluated consumer sentiment, digital marketing and innovation to come up with its list of 20 leading watch brands. In other words, it’s not as simple as saying that the company with the most followers is number one (which predictably, would have been Rolex). Its ranking was as follows:
| Position | Brand | TikTok | YouTube | ||
| 1 | Cartier | 5.4m | 16.1m | 1m | 287k |
| 2 | Omega | 2.1m | 4.5m | 449k | 421k |
| 3 | Rolex | 8.1m | 17.5m | 207k | 2.52m |
| 4 | TAG Heuer | 3.5m | 3.5m | 1.6m | 72k |
| 5 | Longines | 2.5m | 1.7m | 56k | 43.6k |
What remains to be seen is whether the initial encouraging trend towards social media shopping can be maintained, especially the higher up the food chain you go, in luxury terms. “Will luxury watch brands actually want to sell their wares via Tiktok Shop?” asks Wakeham.
“Despite its reputation for selling cheaper goods (and, of course, many counterfeit products), the platform is starting to lean more into the luxury market, according to a recent Bloomberg report. You can already buy pre-owned Rolex and Cartier timepieces from authenticated sellers, plus watches from entry-level brands like Hamilton, Tissot and Seiko. Will the bigger names join in? According to the Deloitte Swiss Watch Industry Study 2025 study, 20% of watch industry respondents said that they expect social media and influencers to be the biggest sales channel in the next 12 months.
“Social media shopping also has the potential to transform the industry in 2026,” Wakeham writes. “The future success of the watch industry will also depend on its ability to tap into a new tranche of watch fans. The Deloitte Swiss Watch Industry Study 2025 identified that the future of the watch industry will be shaped by female buyers and Gen Z shoppers in particular.
“But while social media may be a useful marketing tool, what happens when your followers start logging off? The global average daily time spent on social media has fallen by nearly 10% from its high in 2022. The drop is most noticeable among users in their 20s – exactly the demographic that watch brands should hope to be targeting next.
