The new Gen Z fetish is a dupe of the Cartier Tank

The Cartier Tank is a watch that needs no introduction. With its rectangular case and art-deco design that has remained virtually unchanged for over a century, it has established itself not only as one of the most iconic watches, but also as one of the most elegant. From Clark Gable in Red Dust in 1932 to Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair in the Cintrée variation, as well as Andy Warhol, Michelle Obama, Cary Grant, Truman Capote, Fred Astaire, Duke Ellington, John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie, Princess Diana and Muhammad Ali, the Carteir Tank has wrapped around the wrists of some of history's most illustrious and powerful figures. But as with all luxury items, what makes the watch even more desirable is its inaccessibility, with prices ranging from $5,000 for the brand's new releases to $272,000 for the rarest models. Obviously, not everyone can or is willing to spend that kind of money on a wristwatch and this is where dupes and one particular Casio model with 2.3 million views on TikTok come in.

With 1.7 billion views, the #dupe hashtag on TikTok can safely be taken as a sign of a new buying habit among Gen Z. Well, not really new actually, as advice on imitations or alternatives to designer clothes and luxury perfumes has existed practically forever, and TikTok is just a trendier channel through which advice and suggestions previously transmitted by word of mouth or online forums. The only real novelty compared to the past is that today's dupe seekers have the vastness of the internet as well as physical retail locations at their disposal where they can unearth imitations, and this was also the case for the Cartier Tank, which found the perfect surrogate in a vintage Casio model, now discontinued (code LTP-1234PGL-7AEF) but still available from various retailers such as Stock X at a price ranging between 49 and 100 euros. With a brass dial and a genuine leather strap, the Casio model reproduces the characteristics of the world's most famous watch, condensing all the allure of a timeless design and evoking, for a few tens of dollars, that Old Money charm that Gen Z chases.

As Mame points out, the Haute Horlogerie sector ended 2021 with a balance sheet that exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. The Federation de l'Industrie horlogère suisse said it closed 2021 with +2.7 per cent compared to 2019 and exports of CHF 22.3 billion. Exports of Swiss watches had a record year thanks mainly to the growth in demand in the United States, which overtook China to become the sector's leading market, while at LVMH, the Watches Jewelry segment stood out with +167% compared to 2020 with a total turnover of almost 9 billion euros out of a total of 64.2 billion euros. At the same time, Richemont, which counts Piaget, Cartier and Jaeger-LeCoultre in its portfolio, recorded 20% growth for its Watches division in its last quarter compared to 2019. A new vitality in the sector that lives not only from Rolex Submariner and the Patek Philippe Nautilus being auctioned off, but also from a new cohort of very young enthusiasts who dream of Cartier while wearing a Casio.