He now makes his living as a dealer; his videos are not sponsored by watch brands or industry organizations, but he does benefit from TikTok’s Creator Fund, which pays makers based on criteria such as views and engagement. Mr. Nouveau said he was inspired to join TikTok after seeing the success of men’s fashion influencers. He stayed off camera for his first video, which, in 56 seconds, featured a man talking about his 1968 Rolex Day-Date. But by his third post, Mr. Nouveau decided to go on camera. “Quickly I realized that while the ‘Watch Spotting’ was cool, there was an audience who was curious about collectability.”The age of his followers, he said, also was an eye-opener: “Suddenly, all these kids aged 16 to 30 were asking me, ‘Where do I buy vintage watches?’, ‘How do I find a good dealer?’, ‘My grandfather left me these 12 Patek Philippes — what do I do with them?’ An entire generation of young people, the ones that make up like most of the TikTok audience, were being ignored by the vintage watch community.”(According to the market research firm GWI, TikTok is the fastest growing platform worldwide among Gen Zers — except in China, where the domestic version, called Douyin, takes the crown — even though the oldest Gen Zers top out at 25 years old, and the average age of TikTok’s users is 34.)

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Persons: Nouveau, “ Quickly, ‘, Zers —, Zers Locations: China