Its impact on design may be a subtle topic, but no one doubts that popularity on social media platforms means sales.

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In 2017, shortly after Georges Kern became the CEO of Breitling, his personal Instagram account began to attract support for his plan to reposition the Swiss watch manufacturer as a supplier of “leisure luxury goods”. Comments from people with strong opinions.

Although he met quite a few critics on the platform, Mr. Kern also quickly noticed "who is adding value to the discussion," he said in a recent phone call.

Mr. Kern’s next move may surprise his more conservative colleagues in the Swiss watch industry: He invited some Instagram commentators to join a new advisory board. The group consists of 25 to 30 people, including journalists, clients and collectors, and meets once a year in Switzerland; the most recent meeting was held in Geneva at the end of August.

"We show them new products, concepts or ideas one to two years in advance," Mr. Kern said. "And here and there, we changed our thinking or our design methods, and tested designs in other directions."

"We launched the Chronomat in April last year with the famous bullet steel bracelet-during these advisory committee meetings, someone posted a comment on my Instagram, confirming this design," he added. "This is the power of social media."

Since its launch in 2010, Instagram has become the backbone of the luxury watch industry as a discovery, connection, and growing business platform.

However, the extent to which photo-sharing applications shape the design is a delicate subject. Bound by hundreds of years of tradition, most watchmakers insist that what happens or does not happen on the app has nothing to do with the look and feel of their products.

"Although Instagram has changed the way we create content and communicate, it has not affected our timepiece design specifications, which are the same as the principles and values ​​that have guided our brand for the past 266 years," Vacheron Constantin's Laurent Perves The chief commercial officer wrote in an email.

However, it is clear that there is a correlation between the types of watches that interact-like, comment, and share-and those that are on fire in the market. (Take Vacheron Constantin as an example. When mountaineer and photographer Cory Richards wore it in 2019, his overseas Mount Everest prototype received a lot of positive reviews. Mr. Perves said it was "comfort" Brand and led to its launch of two limited editions last month.)

"Everyone has seen that, partly driven by Instagram, 39 to 42 mm stainless steel sports watches are now sold with integrated bracelets and blue or gray dials," Stephen Pulveren, former editor of watch publication Hodinkee Te said that he recently founded Rime & Reason, his own creative agency in Santa Monica, California.

"This is what everyone wants, whether they are $5,000 or $50,000," Mr. Pulvirent added. "And the watchmaker said,'Fair, we will do it.'"

Ten years ago, when Instagram was still in its infancy, few in the Swiss watch industry would have thought that social media platforms would have such an impact.

Anish Bhatt-known as @watchanish and one of the first influencers in the industry-said that when he took part in the 2011 Basel Watch Fair with a new controller, he found Instagram difficult to sell.

"At the time, no one believed that social media was a platform for talking about luxury goods," Bart said recently in a phone call from his home in Cyprus. "This is a place to share lunch photos."

This idea lasted for many years. In November 2015, Rolex, the most popular luxury watch brand in the world, posted the first picture on Instagram (a blurry photo of the Rolex clock at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany).

But as smartphone cameras improved, allowing better macro photography, watch lovers began to appear. In the past few years, the industry has undergone a 180-degree transformation, especially when the pandemic blockade allowed people to spend enough time on social media. Although the influence of the platform on watch design may be indirect, it has become the core of the way timepieces are launched, promoted and sold. The question may be: if a new watch design does not appear on Instagram, does it even exist?

For IWC Big Pilot "Tribute to 5002", the answer is no. In June 2017, IWC CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr (Christoph Grainger-Herr) posted a picture of a watch nicknamed Safari on his personal channel. This watch Originally built as a prototype, it is limited to 100 pieces.

"I happened to be attending a safari park in Kruger National Park in South Africa at the time," Mr. Grainger-Herr recalled in an interview at a recent IWC event in Los Angeles. “I’m kind of stupid to say that if I get 50 confirmations in reviews that people say they will buy, I’ll be successful. We received more than 250 reviews in 15 minutes.

“We sent all the booking forms through DM,” Mr. Grainger-Herr added. "This is our first accidental involvement in social commerce."

Recently, Instagram helped confirm interest in the unexpected revival of Girard-Perregaux. “We released an image of a watch called Casquette, which was produced by Girard-Perregaux in the 70s and has a very 70s design. People are crazy,” the brand’s chief executive officer Patrick Prunu (Patrick) Pruniaux) said. "One of the watches is being produced with partners for charity auctions."

Redesigned for the Only Watch auction held in Geneva on November 6, this one-off timepiece was produced in collaboration with the London-based watch customizer Bamford Watch Department. It was made for Girard-Perregaux’s debut in 1976 A stylish, spaceship-like model was remade.

Although Mr. Pruniaux refused to confirm whether the commercial version of Casquette's restart was in production ("Maybe," he said. "How mysterious is this?"), he admitted that the reaction received by the model on Instagram "gave us a remake Chance."

"The watch company is headquartered in Switzerland-in our case, in a small Swiss city," Mr. Pruno added, referring to La Chaux-de-Fonds. "We don't always keep in touch with the end consumer. I won't say that we are changing our strategy, but what is certain is that we are listening."

Today, the enthusiasm for a few brands in the watch market-including Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe-is clearly visible on Instagram. However, a controversial question is whether the obsession with these manufacturers and their most coveted steel sports models is a direct result of their popularity on the platform, or is it merely a reflection of it.

"I don't know what comes first, the chicken or the egg," said Arthur Tuchter, head of digital strategy for the Phillips Watch division in Geneva.

Yoni Ben-Yehuda, director of watches at Material Good, a luxury retailer in New York, firmly believes that Instagram's algorithm ensures that “all we see are these crazy Royal Oaks and Rolexes, and this is how they become what we want,” he said.

"It's like a'Brian's life' scene," Mr. Ben Yehuda added. "'You have to think about it yourself. You are all individuals! Yes, we are all individuals!'"

However, for all the complaints about how Instagram has spawned integration, there is plenty of evidence that the platform has also promoted smaller experimental manufacturers.

Maximilian Büsser, owner and creative director of the boutique brand MB&F, said: “Every brand, every product, every weird thing has become the focus of public attention.”

Asher Rapkin, co-founder of Collective Horology, a California-based watch brand co-developing watch group, said that the app has replaced word of mouth and has become the main vehicle for collectors to learn about small handmade brands. "Without Instagram, it is difficult to imagine that independent watchmakers like Grönefeld or Habring would succeed," he said. "It allows people to see manufacturers, references, and sponsors that would not exist without it."

This is the key to understanding the modern watch market: although certain popular timepieces have been sold exclusively due to their high prices and minimal production, information about them—not to mention a steady stream of gorgeous photos—is anyone willing Anyone who follows the hashtag in the clock rabbit hole can use it (try #watch, #wristshot and #watchfam, for beginners).

"40 or 50 years ago, products and information were exclusive," said Austen Chu, founder of WristCheck, a Hong Kong used watch retailer. "Only if your family has taught you, or you have seen an advertisement for the rich in a magazine, you will know about a brand like Audemars Piguet." (He cooperated with the brand to develop the first royal made entirely of titanium Oak perpetual calendar, released in January 2020.)

The vast amount of information available on Instagram now leads to demand for certain watches far exceeding supply, and how to take advantage of this awareness is still the crux of most watch manufacturers, said Ted Schachter, Associate Professor and Chairman of Advertising and Assistant. Department of Marketing Communications, New York Institute of Fashion Technology.

Professor Schachter said that Instagram is the most influential when it comes to showing people how to use products. "How do people wear your watch? How do they decorate it? Show your products through activities that people can recognize and encourage them to share with you."

Benjamin Arabov, CEO of luxury watch maker Jacob & Company, said that although TikTok is full of such real-world views, user-generated content portrays the watch as “in a box, on hand, Something like rolling on the wrist". , Instagram continues to display professionally produced, well-planned images and videos-all of which may be detrimental to watchmakers.

"I look at Rolex, Cartier, Patek Philippe-basically just their magazine ads on Instagram," said Brynn Wallner, also known as @dimepiece, an account that highlights the intersection of pop culture, women and watches. "Very shiny and super crafted. The big chunks of the grid, like six images, are an activity. No shots on the iPhone.

"But the most engaged pages are the opposite, especially for Gen Z audiences," Ms. Wallner added. "When I saw the glossy photo of the watch, it did nothing for me. I need some humanity to start thinking about these items that are out of my price range."