The dichotomy of Subdial’s 2024 survey results suggests we may be wrong about watch size trends
Russell SheldrakeThe second-hand watch trading platform, Subdial, recently published the results of its wide-ranging ‘Big Watch Survey’ that canvassed collectors on their impressions on how 2024 went in watches on several different topics. After the results came out, I had the chance to dig into them, and while there were a few things that stood out, the one feature of these results that interests me most is that there appears to be a level of juxtaposing views. So, let’s dig into this contrast that I think I’ve found.
Two of the main questions that Subdial asked its respondents were which brands they thought had a good 2024, and which brands they gained or lost interest in over the year. The clear winners to the first question were Tudor and Omega, and it’s hard to argue with the results when you look at their releases. In fact, the survey even showed that the people’s watch of the year was the Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional white dial. This seems to suggest that we have been loving sports watches above all else in 2024.
However, the response to the second question caught me by surprise when you consider the results of that previous question. The top three brands that proportionally gained the most interest from people in 2024 were Cartier, Vacheron Constantin, and A. Lange & Söhne. These three rather traditional brands mostly trade in dress watches, which completely goes against the prevailing sentiment of that first question. In fact, you don’t even see a sports watch specialist on that list of top brands until you get down to Tudor in eighth.
Now, a simple answer to this contradiction could be that the sports watch brands have neared saturation in the level of interest and followers they can get, so it would be harder for collectors to gain more interest in brands they are already highly passionate about. But what this suggests to me instead, is that while sports watches remain the dominating category, it is the smaller, more refined dress watch that is seeing the most growth right now – however, dress watches still have a way to go before they catch up with the behemoth that is sports watches in the wider watch collecting public.
View this post on Instagram
Another conclusion I pull from Subdial’s survey is that size is still a hot topic in the watch industry. We have all heard the media announce that small watches are back, and here to stay – and I’m not afraid to admit I’ve been one of those voices on occasion. But in a recent conversation I had with a brand owner, he revealed to me that the most common reason they have for returns (of which they have very few, he added) was that the watch was too small. This, along with the fact that Omega and Tudor were deemed to have the best 2024, suggests that bigger watches are still in vogue. Take some of these brands’ most significant releases – the white Speedy is 42mm, the Pelagos FXD GMT Zulu Time is 42mm – all sitting well above what many journalists will call the ‘Goldilocks’ zone of 38mm.
It’s always interesting to see first-hand datasets where no brand is backing the numbers and no estimates are being made – rather quantifiable opinions that take the temperature of the market on many different topics that matter to us all. There is plenty of other good stuff to get into on this survey, and I would recommend you go and read the full results, if you are so inclined, as this was just one small takeaway from the many that you can gain from this large amount of data.