Story Highlight
– Jacob & Co. leads in Instagram followers versus watches sold.
– Hublot sold 32,000 watches, ranking fourth in followers.
– Hublot’s engagement score is 2.0%, significantly high.
– Blancpain boasts 1.4% engagement with 404,000 followers.
– Christopher Ward shows strong social media presence, 0.9% engagement.
Full Story
An analysis of Instagram performance among 33 Swiss watch brands reveals surprising trends in follower count and engagement relative to sales figures for 2025. Using the Instagram analytics tool, Social Blade, the assessment considered the total followers for each brand, their engagement metrics, and estimated watch sales data from Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult.
Leading the pack is Jacob & Co., which, despite selling under 4,000 watches, boasts an impressive 7.1 million Instagram followers. This places it third among watch brands on the platform, trailing only Rolex and Cartier. The significant following raises questions about authenticity, yet Jacob & Co.’s engagement rate stands at 0.2%, indicating a solid level of interaction, as evidenced by a video featuring founder Jacob Arabo that garnered 880,000 views.
Following Jacob & Co. in notable follower-to-sales ratios are MB&F, Richard Mille, and F.P. Journe. These brands, producing fewer timepieces, achieve high ratios of followers per watch sold, creating a desirable dynamic of demand exceeding supply.
Interestingly, Hublot ranks fourth despite reporting the highest sales volume—32,000 watches—among the top five brands. With 6.21 million followers, Hublot’s following could be attributed to its polarizing public image, which often drives engagement on social media. Contrary to initial assumptions, comments on their posts are largely positive, perhaps influenced by high-profile brand ambassadors like Jung Kook from BTS. His announcement videos, which amassed 17 million views, suggest that celebrity endorsement plays a crucial role in brand visibility.
Notably, Hublot’s stablemate Zenith also appears in the top 10, reflecting LVMH’s adeptness at navigating social media metrics, with an impressive ratio of 101 followers per watch sold, far surpassing Patek Philippe’s ratio of 35 to one and Rolex’s 15 to one.
Data also highlights engagement, a critical factor in digital marketing. Hublot leads with a remarkable engagement score of 2.0%, significantly exceeding the average of 0.4% across the surveyed brands. This engagement level may hint at the influence of South Korean pop culture, positioning Hublot advantageously in the tenth-largest global market for Swiss watch exports.
Blancpain, under the Swatch Group, recorded an engagement rate of 1.4%, with an estimated sale of around 18,500 watches in 2025, despite a relatively modest following of 404,000. Their content, which often showcases the craftsmanship in watchmaking, resonates well with its audience, as illustrated by a video on the Villeret Quantième Complet that received over one million views.
British brand Christopher Ward also excels with a 0.9% engagement, exemplifying how smaller, digitally-native companies can succeed through social media. Similarly, Studio Underd0g has achieved a 1.24% engagement rate with a following of 90,400, highlighting the platform’s transformative power for emerging brands.
Conversely, watch media platforms such as Hodinkee and aBlogtoWatch struggle with low engagement rates despite significant followings, demonstrating the challenging landscape for building an interactive audience.
Overall, these insights not only reveal the dynamics of Instagram but also underscore the pivotal role of celebrity influence and engagement strategies in the competitive watch industry.
