Wristwatches Tick Along on Social Media Marketing

Wristwatches are decidedly old-fashioned--yet their fashion appeal lives on into the 21st century, despite the many substitutes (like the mobile devices everyone totes around, or the smartwatches made by Apple and others).

Retro, antique, and high fashion watches are ticking along on social media marketing. Just days ago, a New York Times article reported on how upscale vintage wristwatches, posted on Instagram, are drawing the interest of collectors and beyond. In fact, expensive vintage watches are selling well despite the many digital substitutes. 

As shown at top, Gucci is using Instagram for an artistic approach to marketing its stylish watches. And it's not the only brand leveraging social media. Swatch has nearly 5 million Facebook fans, for instance, and 771k Instagram followers.

Swatch--which revolutionized the watch market decades ago--is actually doing very well with its fashion watches, even in this digital era. Swatch's CEO says: "In July, our factories are at maximum capacity because the demand coming from our own brands is so strong." Swatch maintains handsome stores in airports and through carefully-selected retail stores.