The Coolest Watches Aren’t Pricey. They’re Personal.
These days, the yellow of a Kraft Mac & Cheese digital timepiece says far more than a yellow-gold Patek 5711. That’s because the watch world at large is finally coming around to the idea that personality, not prestige, is what really matters in a watch.
Tyler, The Creator wears a sixteen-dollar Casio with the same swagger as his elusive Cartier Crash. Daniel Craig, once synonymous with James Bond’s preferred $7,000 Omega Seamaster, is now more commonly seen wearing a $350 Moonswatch. J Balvin still pulls up in an iced-out G-Shock from time to time. Even on Wall Street, the money guys are swapping hulking green Rolexes for SpongeBob Swatches and Fanta-orange straps. “I bought it because it looked silly,” one financier told The Wall Street Journal. “Not for clout.” These watches aren’t cool because they’re cheap. They’re cool because they choose not to compete.
Watches, like sneakers, were once judged primarily on how expensive, rare, or collectible they were. That has changed for footwear, where down-to-earth is now seen as superior. The nonchalant watch isn’t a rejection of those standards, but rather a realignment toward a new kind of exclusivity. It just so happens to be the exclusivity of a sold-out Noah Timex, or another timepiece that’s rare because it’s weird, not because it’s costly. After a decade of being spoon-fed aspirational luxury by an algorithm, pricey watches have started to look like Dior Jordans: symbols of new-money overcompensation. The five-figure wrist shot framed against a Lamborghini wheel has never felt more performantive.
The rise in demand for approachable Casios, Timex collabs, and Swatches mirrors what’s happening in fashion. People with real taste are gravitating to design that feels more approachable than extravagant. A $20 digital watch and a pair of Havaianas share the same appeal: accessible but still particular. Good, affordable taste. Anyone can have it, but only truly stylish people know what to do with it.
Other watches people are reaching for, from ‘90s PlayStation mail-ins to the long-lost Stüssy camera watch, mix irony with intention. Cereal-box digitals compete for the same real-estate as a Breguet. You can see it everywhere, from Travis Scott’s Oakley Torpedo to the Nike Triax resurfacing on vintage dealers’ pages. Even the next mayor of New York is rocking a Casio. At $160, it really is a New York City you can afford.
