First of all, we want to thank the more than 3’000 readers that took the time to answer our anniversary survey. It comes perhaps as no surprise that a majority part of the WorldTempus audience is male. What might however come as a surprise is that it is extremely marginal. 51% of our readers identify as male, and 49% as women, and their main whereabouts are France, United States, Switzerland, India, and the United Kingdom.
When it comes to the age, it correlates with an age where you can afford to buy watches: 95% of our readers are above thirty years old. We also note that a 17.7% of our readers have indeed got time to read, as they are in the retirement age.
What brands do our readers prefer? The top five results from the survey gave us four of the usual suspects in watch popularity: Omega, Breitling, Rolex, and Tissot. Among these pillars of the Swiss watch industry, we also found that Alpina is really popular among our readers. Each of these brands was the favorite brand of 9.9%-11.9% of the readers answering our survey.
Watch Buyers
33.6% of our readers are considering buying a watch in the coming 12 months, and anecdotal evidence that design and aesthetics are extremely important was proven in this survey: 49.2% lists exactly that as the most important criteria when it comes to choosing a watch. This is followed by brand (25.7%), the right relationship between quality and price (17.3%), and technicity (10.6%)
But what kind of styles and complications are sought after? The preference goes to sport-chic (44%), followed by vintage (35%), chronograph (34%), jewelry (30%), GMT/travel (29%), diving (24%), and tourbillon (16%). This overall ranking, however, masks a marked gap between men and women: Men stand out clearly on chronograph (46% versus 20%) and diving (31% versus 17%). Women stand out just as clearly on jewelry (45% versus 16%) and, to a lesser extent, vintage (38% versus 32%) and sport-chic (46% versus 42%).
When I speak to larger brands they often state having around 10-15% of their sales online, and the rest in boutiques. It turns out WorldTempus readers are more internet-savvy than that: around 25.2% lists online as their main source of watch purchases. Having said that, the fact that 65% lists boutique as their main supplier shows that brick and mortar is still a stronghold in the watch universe.
Before moving on, a little reminder that life is not only about watches. Or, should I say, a reminder that watches are often the best when combined with other aspects of life. From the survey it turns out that our readers have similar interests beside watches as most of my colleagues here in the GMT publishing office: Travel, good food, jewelry, and yachting.
Last but not least, what kind of articles are the most popular on WorldTempus, according to our readers? New products (58%), Reviews (51%), watch culture and history (38%), and Haute Horlogerie (22%).
This 25-year-survey has also given us a unique opportunity to listen to our dear readers. Since you ask for it, we will increase the frequency of our historical and behind-the-scenes articles, we will amplify the voices of more artisans and designers, starting with a long and deep video interview with Zenith’s Creative Director and lead designer Sebastien Gobert in October: Be ready to travel down a rabbit hole of design. We also started making it standard to include prices in our articles, we will increase our coverage of female watches and independent watchmakers, and we will have more competitions and lucky draws. Having said that, congrats to the winner of this Doxa Watch in a lucky draw from the more than 3’000 people who answered the WorldTempus 25th Anniversary survey.
