The Zesty Watch Trend Is Here, And More Men Need To Get On It

Dress watches are back in charge. If Elordi and Chalamet are anything to go by, the wrist flex of 2026 isn’t a chunky steel sports watch. It’s something far more refined, far more intentional, and a whole lot zestier.

There’s a word that keeps coming up when you look at what’s actually selling in the watch world right now: elegance.

Not in a boring, your-grandfather’s-dress-watch way. In a “I chose this because it says something about me” way. The soft boy wrist. The performative male energy. The guy who wears a cream knit to dinner and orders natural wine without flinching. That guy doesn’t need a Submariner. He needs something with a champagne dial and a moon phase.

Chrono24‘s 2025 market data backs this up with hard numbers. Rectangular cases, the kind Cartier has been quietly perfecting for over a century, jumped 9.3 per cent year-on-year.

Moon phase complications surged more than 15 per cent. Green, champagne and gold dials all climbed while blue and black flatlined. The message is clear: personality is outperforming safe choices.

Cartier is the obvious poster child here, up 8.3 per cent on sustained Santos and Tank demand. The Tank, in particular, is the ultimate zesty watch. It’s slim, it’s art deco, it drapes on the wrist like jewellery, and it looks equally at home with a linen suit or a white tee.

Chalamet wore one to damn near every press event last year and single-handedly reminded an entire generation that watches don’t have to be round.

But this goes deeper than one brand. Vacheron Constantin quietly outpaced its so-called Holy Trinity rivals. Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, with 13.4 per cent growth. The Overseas collection surged 17.3 per cent, proving you can have versatility and elegance in the same case. Meanwhile, Audemars Piguet’s new directions are leaning into thinner, dressier territory, reading the room on where taste is heading.

Jaeger-LeCoultre deserves a mention here, too. The Reverso is arguably the original zesty watch. rectangular, flippable, endlessly sophisticated. It’s the kind of piece that makes people lean in and ask questions, which is exactly the point. A. Lange & Söhne occupies similar territory at the top end: the Saxonia Thin, Lange 1 or a 1815 in rose gold is about as refined as mechanical watchmaking gets, and wearing one signals taste that goes beyond budget.

Then there’s Grand Seiko, which might be the sleeper pick of this whole movement. Their smaller dress pieces. think the SBGW Series or anything from the Elegance collection offers finishing that rivals watches at three times the price. A 37mm Grand Seiko with a snowflake dial is peak zest for the man who doesn’t need a logo to make a statement.

Even IWC got the memo, recording a 14.4 per cent jump driven partly by the Ingenieur’s return. a watch that blends engineering credibility with a slimmer, more refined case profile.

Rolex is still king by volume, but its market share slipped 3.3 per cent, suggesting the flip-first hype crowd has finally cooled off. The collectors, the guys who actually care about what sits on their wrist, are back in charge.

The takeaway is simple. If your watch collection is all steel bezels and dive timing, it might be time to add something with a bit more flavour. Something that says you’ve got taste beyond the obvious. The zest trend isn’t about being delicate. It’s about being deliberate and right now, deliberate is winning.