Women’s relationships with mechanical watches have fascinated the Swiss watch industry for at least 20 years. During the lockdowns of the early pandemic, however, the conversation about what women want, and how they are evolving as collectors, went into high gear.
A big reason for that was the obsession with social media, which lured scores of newcomers to the watch world during that period. “People had so much more time to be on social and to engage,” Laetitia Hirschy, a co-founder of Watch Femme, a female-centric community founded in 2021 on the social audio app Clubhouse, wrote in a text. “It gave us an opportunity to have conversations around the subject because we finally had the time.”
Watchmakers certainly noticed the opportunity, though, by all accounts, many brands are still playing catch-up. In November, Watch Femme partnered with the consulting firm Deloitte on a Swiss watch industry report focused on the women’s watch market.
One of its conclusions: “Women are increasingly purchasing watches for themselves, marking a shift in market dynamics,” the report said. “However, women remain underrepresented and insufficiently targeted by the industry, meaning there is untapped potential for growth.”
To learn more about women’s watch-buying experiences, The Times asked six women around the world to share their highs and lows during a series of video calls in February.
All of the women emphasized the importance of trying pieces on in a brick-and-mortar environment. A few remarked on the wait list phenomenon, even though it has been declining in recent years, and how frustrating it can be to learn a watch is not available. Perhaps the most interesting thread, however, centered on the rise of collector groups, and their impact on how women shop for timepieces.
“This whole idea of community-based retailing really has legs,” said Tanya Somera, a member of the Horology Club in Hong Kong. “It immediately exposes me to all these watches that I have never seen before.”
Ms. Somera, who is based in Singapore, but was interviewed in Hong Kong while on a business trip, mentioned a pre-Valentine’s Day get-together she had attended the previous night when Horology Club members brought out a wide array of timepieces. “There was a Berneron, a Simon Brette, a G-Shock, a Rolex. And because you’re not there to buy a watch, you’re just exposing yourself to all of this education, and that’s the seed of the idea.”
Karishma Karer
Watch journalist, Mumbai, India
Ms. Karer, 43, a journalist who has written about the watch trade for more than 20 years, walked into a multibrand watch retailer in Mumbai last year wearing a swiveling Reverso timepiece by the Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre.
“The sales manager looks at me and goes: ‘Do you know what you’re wearing? You’re wearing a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso,’” Ms. Karer recalled. “I was with a bunch of friends who obviously know my background, and they just looked at me.”
While the encounter with the male sales representative was disappointing, Ms. Karer stressed that it was a one-off experience. “I am seeing a change in mind-set, even in India,” she said. “For women, it’s no longer about ‘pink it and shrink it.’ The irony today is they’re pinking it and shrinking it for men.”
As for the sales associate who patronized her? “Sometimes the men like to pretend they know more than you,” Ms. Karer said. “So I let him have his moment.”
Alena Diaz
Watchmaker, Seattle
To describe Ms. Diaz, 43, as mechanically inclined would be an understatement. “My mom has photos of me in my diapers grabbing handfuls of tools next to my dad in the garage,” she said. “That’s how the world makes sense to me.”
After lucking into a job at a watch repair shop in Mesa, Ariz., where she grew up, Ms. Diaz began researching watchmaking schools. She was accepted by a program in Seattle and has remained in the city since graduating in 2018.
To make money while she was a student, Ms. Diaz began to specialize in “Seiko mods”: She would buy Seiko wristwatches online, usually from eBay, and customize them. “I would take it apart and put a new dial on, or I could swap out the bezel,” she said.
Unlike most buyers, Ms. Diaz isn’t daunted by the prospect of buying a watch that doesn’t function well, or at all, because, as with the 1960s Tudor Prince Oysterdate she purchased on eBay in 2017, she could use her skills to get it up and running.
Most people, however, should use caution when buying vintage watches, whether online or in-store, Ms. Diaz said. “My dad actually bought a watch without showing it to me,” she said. “When I opened it, it had the wrong movement. I see it a lot at my job where people will swap parts out and sell it as authentic and it’s not.”
Sneh Diwan
Destination wedding planner, Jersey City, N.J.
Ms. Diwan, 39, almost always wears the same watch when she is working a wedding: a 1999 Rolex Submariner Date she received as a gift in 2016.
“It’s almost like it’s my uniform,” she said.
Her collection is heavy on sports models, but Ms. Diwan surprised herself recently by buying a tonneau-shape Élégante watch from the high-end Swiss brand F.P. Journe. She purchased the diamond-set piece at the brand’s boutique in Manhattan, after a collector friend introduced her to the sales staff and she had waited about a year for the watch to become available.
“I had to fill out a wish list of models I liked, and wait to get that call,” Ms. Diwan said.
She reflected on another recent purchase, a Cartier Tank Louis that she bought from a multibrand retailer in Manhattan.
“After putting down a deposit, I thought I wasn’t going to get it because the delivery just kept getting pushed out,” Ms. Diwan said. “But not because I’m a female. Watches have blown up on social media and I think sometimes it becomes about who has more followers, maybe, or who can flex it a little bit more.”
Wynne Nowland
Chief executive of an insurance brokerage firm, Melville, N.Y.
Ms. Nowland, 63, was in her 20s, when she sold an insurance policy and earned a sizable commission. “I bought myself a Rolex,” she said.
“I’m actually wearing it,” Ms. Nowland added, as she showed off a two-tone Datejust model on her wrist. But now, she said, it is what the industry calls a “Frankenwatch,” a pre-owned watch with parts from different timepieces.
That is because Ms. Nowland, who is transgender and was assigned male at birth, transitioned in 2017 and realized the original watch “wasn’t fitting my vibe anymore,” she said. “I had the very manly black dial replaced with this pink dial and I put a diamond bezel on it. Now it’s much more girlie — I love it.”
Ms. Nowland was candid about how the brick-and-mortar experience had changed after her transition. “I find, in general, things were a little bit easier previously,” she said. “I often wonder whether that’s because it’s a man-woman thing or whether I’m clocked?
“Clocked in the transgender community means when they see you and figure out you’re trans,” she added. “If you get clocked, sometimes people treat you worse than they normally would. That usually makes me bear down even more. I won’t tolerate it.”
Tanya Somera
Regional territory manager for a diamond jewelry brand, Singapore
When Ms. Somera, 42, was growing up in the Philippines, her family’s business was making “jeepneys,” the colorful public transport vehicles with diesel engines that are ubiquitous on the country’s roads. She explained her love of mechanical watches as a product of that: “I like things that move.”
At age 12, Ms. Somera asked for — and received — her first Swiss watch, a TAG Heuer Aquaracer. Since then, her experiences buying watches have veered from insulting to inspirational. “In the ’90s and early 2000s, when I was living in the U.S., you had very limited options when it came to what was available for women,” Ms. Somera said. “It was basically diamonds, mother-of-pearl, pink.
“The retailing experience hasn’t really evolved much. At some point, it starts to get annoying.”
Ms. Somera pointed to the wristwatch she was wearing, a Quai des Bergues by the independent Swiss brand Czapek Genève. “If I walk into a retail store and a salesperson sees that I’m wearing a watch that’s a bit unusual, they don’t immediately say, ‘Oh, that’s a nice watch, tell me more,’” she said. “Unlike a fashion store, where they’re like, ‘Oh, I love your shoes.’ That connection is still not there.
“That said, I bought this Czapek from a multibrand watch retailer in Hong Kong, which I now have a good relationship with. The sales associate that’s there, she kind of knows my taste. But I specifically didn’t gravitate to a male salesperson in that store because I kind of felt dismissed.”
Charity Mhende
Brand and communications strategist, New York City
Ms. Mhende, 32, developed a passion for watches during the pandemic, but the real turning point came in October 2022, when the budding collector, who was born in Zimbabwe and raised near Birmingham, England, and now is based in New York City, attended the WatchTime fair in New York City. “Luckily, the one panel I was able to sit in on was a group of really diverse collectors talking about watches and community,” she said.
Not only did Ms. Mhende’s new hobby inspire her to create a content platform, @pulseonthewrist, now on Substack, Instagram and a website, it also sent her on a shopping spree. She purchased her first serious watch, a vintage Movado, from the RealReal, after trying it on at the company’s Manhattan showroom. Then, last year, on a visit to Japan, she had a revelation.
“I’d done all the research that you’re supposed to do; I’d gone on all the YouTubes and TikToks,” she said. “But no one was reporting about shopping for women’s watches.”
“I had more success in finding watches that I liked in women’s boutiques,” Ms. Mhende added. “Alongside the pre-owned Chanel bags, they would have pre-owned Omega de Villes or Cartier Tanks. That’s where I picked up my Must de Cartier.”
“You might be interested in bags,” she said, “but then you’re like, ‘The shoes match with the watch and the earrings and the da-da-da.’ That holistic shopping experience helps.”
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