Is “Anything Goes” The Latest Trend In The Watch World?

Wristwatches seem as culturally relevant as ever, even if the market is declining. Like any expression of personality, taste, and style, the wristwatch is under the influence of trends. For the longest time, it was pretty clear what the prevailing trend of the moment was. Today, however, I would like to argue that anything goes. And that’s a great thing!

Can we declare the end of the trend era in watches? Maybe not, but let me try nonetheless.

When the trend was clear

Looking back at the past couple of decades, watch trends are pretty easy to spot. We have seen the sports-watch hype and the following trend for watches with integrated bracelets. There was also a clear vintage-inspired era, when every new watch triggered sentiments of bygone times.

The 2000s, of course, were the era of big watches. The trend was for watches to get larger and larger, which inevitably led to a counter-trend of small watches. It felt like a war sometimes, with the big-watch gang pitted against the small-watch battalion. Augmented by the rise of social media in the watch world, it became almost a tribal issue.

Image: Huntington Company

More recently, the trend for smaller watches turned into the jewelry-watch craze. This was perhaps another logical counter-development to big sports watches that came before. The style became known as “geezer watches.” While that term isn’t universally loved, the hype was real, especially on TikTok and Instagram. You could even think of people buying “investment watches” as a trend that has come and gone.

Microtrends

While the above are some of the bigger movements we’ve spotted, you can also look at microtrends. These are particularly noticeable when you look at dials. I, for one, am delighted to see that vignette dials have come and gone. More recently, stone dials made a bit of a comeback. Looking at this year’s Watches and Wonders, you might point at pale blue and brown dials as currently on-trend.

Vintage-style straps, with those two characteristic big stitches, came as part of the larger vintage trend. They were followed by cleaner, flat straps with contrast stitching and, later, matching stitching. Not too long before, all higher-end watches came on alligator straps.

So, what is the trend at the moment?

Frankly, I feel as if most of the trends described above are behind us. Sure, the pale blue and brown dials are still prominent, and the jewelry watches are still alive. However, those things feel like remnants of greater developments that seem to have come and gone.

Now, I know many of you are probably rolling your eyes at this point. “Why would you care so much about trends? Why not just get whatever you like?” You are right, of course. And, frankly, I don’t care about trends all that much. What I do care about, however, is what they left behind, and I quite like that. Allow me to explain myself.

Is “anything goes” the new trend?

Interestingly, it seems that all of these trends have come and gone without leaving scorched earth in their wake. The large sports watch did not disappear when the small dress watch came back, for instance. In the end, we are simply left with more to choose from.

Watch sizes are the perfect example. Recently, we have seen many more brands offer watches in multiple size options. As a result, the tiresome debate about it seems to have died down. Not too long ago, we heard some watch brands refer to certain circles online as “the diameter police.” We haven’t heard that for a while now. Today, it seems you can just pick whatever size you want, and nobody judges you for it or tries to start a keyboard war with you.

It seems to me that there isn’t much of a bandwagon to jump on at the moment. We no longer see every brand release its version of an integrated-bracelet sports watch. We finally no longer see reissued stuff from every brand’s back catalog. We see all of these things mixed and matched. Lately, it seems as if anything goes. And I like it!

A less tribalized environment

If we just took the opportunity to declare this the post-trend era, we could leave tribalism in the past. You don’t have to be a dress-watch guy or a sports-watch gal. You can just be a watch enthusiast. We even see it in our comments section. Unfortunately, the tone gets a little sharper, but there is less tribalism in the discussions. I think this is largely due to a lack of clear and omnipresent trends to champion or criticize.

If anything goes, there will be something for everyone to enjoy. More importantly, nobody will feel neglected because their taste happens to be unhip at the moment. It feels as if brands are simply releasing all sorts of eclectic stuff, with a little something for all of us. I like the post-trend era!

I would love to hear from you, dear Fratelli. Do you see any clear watch trends at the moment? And are you as happy as I am to see them go? Let us know in the comments below!