There was Panerai’s eLAB-ID concept watch that claimed to be 98.6 per cent recycled by weight, Hublot’s Big Bang made of recycled Nespresso capsules and coffee grounds, and Ulysse Nardin’s Diver watch made from recycled fishing nets. But even then, the anticipated rush of watches promising impressive ESG (environmental, social and governance) credentials has never quite materialised. Now, if anything, it appears to be slowing down.

Why? One of the reasons may be because of consumer uncertainty around the validity of some of the recycled claims made by brands, particularly around recycled gold.

In January, a proposal to formalise a definition of recycled gold drafted by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) was rejected by an international committee. It had been hoped that the draft, which recommended the introduction of the terms “pre-consumer”, “post-consumer”, “waste” and “a mix of the three”, would help clarify the origins of recycled gold. While discussions at the ISO will continue, if an agreement cannot be reached by next summer, the draft will be discarded, according to ISO rules, leaving issues around the transparency and traceability of gold unresolved.

To the outside world, disagreements over the definition of recycled gold might come as a surprise. But inside the industry, a growing body of voices has been calling out brands and refiners for allowing consumers to believe that a recycled gold product has had a previous use, and worse even, for turning a blind eye to accusations that current definitions willingly open the door into the supply chain to illegally sourced gold.

For now, gold can be labelled recycled even when it’s made of re-smelted virgin production scraps. What that means is that the “recycled gold” in a watch – or piece of jewellery – may have been mined only days before it was recycled, and without ever being used in a consumer product of any kind. Some, including the Precious Metals Impact Forum (PMIF), have gone further, suggesting that because gold is so valuable, it’s rarely discarded, unlike paper or plastic. Jewellery melted down is not waste, it argues, and therefore gold taken from luxury accessories should not qualify as recycled either.

While these tolerances in the definition remain in place, campaigners say consumers are being hoodwinked into buying luxury goods that have neither the environmental nor ethical value advertised.

What to do about it? In 2022, the PMIF published a definition that proposed gold should only be classified as recycled if it was recovered from a product destined for disposal that contained less than 2 per cent gold by weight: gold recovered from a smartphone, for example. All other gold would be labelled “reprocessed”.

Initially, its proposal was met positively. The Swiss branch of the WWF offered its backing, as did the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC). However, under pressure from member brands and refiners who would have been affected by an enforcement of the definition, the RJC backtracked. Then in December last year, it adopted the ISO’s draft proposal before it had been voted in and become a standard. January’s vote leaves it with a headache.

Some of those pushing for tighter definitions have been left frustrated. “The ISO process could have been a fantastic opportunity to finally have a standard handled by a body with a solid governance,” says Sabrina Karib, PMIF founder.

Karib, who was once on the ISO working group tasked with coming up with the definition but says she was marginalised and so left, believes the decision was driven by those who stand to lose the most from more stringent definitions. “I hope it serves as a wake-up call that a standard made by the industry for the industry is something we already have,” she says, noting that the RJC was joined on the committee by the World Gold Council, the World Jewellery Confederation and the London Bullion Market Association. “We should be striving for far more at this stage, and to be truly inclusive and mindful of the most impacted stakeholders.”

Even while the luxury industry continues its search for a universal definition of recycled gold, all is not lost. The pressure to find environmental and ethical solutions is unlikely to go away any time soon. International and European laws and directives signed over the past decade and intended to drive all manner of ESG initiatives are now coming into effect, while research continues to point to the need for brands and their suppliers to set their sights on more responsible practices. Deloitte’s annual watch study, for example, shows growing appetite for sustainable luxury, particularly among a younger generation. 

Raphaël Broye owns Panatere, a company pioneering techniques to process recycled and recyclable raw materials, including a 100 per cent recycled steel that’s smelted using energy from solar furnaces. He believes the circular economy, whereby raw materials are reused for as long as possible, is only just taking shape.

“This is just the beginning,” he says. “The new low-carbon, high-matter world is going to be the talk of the town. The younger generations are very sensitive, and their purchasing behaviour is becoming increasingly responsible.”

One of Panatere’s clients is the watch company ID Genève, a start-up that has quickly become recognised for its circular approach to watchmaking, even attracting investment from Leonardo DiCaprio. As well as cases made from 100 per cent recycled steel, it makes straps from leaf mulch and compostable packaging from seaweed.

“Mined diamonds and gold will be the next fossil fuel,” says Nicolas Freudiger, one of ID Genève’s co-founders. “We need to mine less, because Mining 2.0 doesn’t exist. It will always be extractive. We’re here to make sure that in 250 years, watchmaking is not known as the ministry of inequalities.”

Behind the scenes, says Freudiger, many watch companies are moving towards a circular model, but many remain concerned at consumer perceptions of high-value products produced using recycled materials.

One of the few high-end brands looking to change those perceptions is Chopard. Initially, the family-owned watchmaker and jeweller described its Lucent Steel, introduced in the Alpine Eagle collection in 2019 and produced by the Austrian company Voestalpine, as being 70 per cent recycled, but it has now increased that to 80 per cent and intends to increase it to 90 per cent by 2028.

Other big brands may yet follow suit, but in the mean time the charge is being led by smaller, disruptive independents. Last year, British microbrand Detrash introduced its first watch, a low-cost automatic with an 80 per cent recycled steel case, straps made of recycled ocean plastic made by the Swiss company #Tide, and packaging that includes velvet offcuts collected from fashion industry waste.

Detrash’s founder Guy Blaskey said he was motivated to start the company because he couldn’t find a reasonably priced mechanical watch with a recycled story behind it. “Every single product in a supermarket has an ethical alternative that is outgrowing the standard big brands that have been there for years,” he says. “And yet when it came to finding a watch alternative, I found it didn’t exist.”

Blaskey launched his company with the tongue-in-cheek strapline: “You never actually own the planet. You merely look after it for the next generation.”

“Recyclability is done the wrong way around,” Blaskey continues. “Lots of people are encouraged to recycle, but we should be valuing products made from recycled materials. A watch carries a disproportionate amount of capacity to change the way people think.”

For the watch industry, huge challenges remain. It will require buy-in from large actors in the space to shore up not just definitions, but practices, and to convince buyers to value recycled and circular luxury as highly as what went before.

There are signs. In the jewellery sector, often a forerunner for watchmaking, Prada and Pandora are now offering 100 per cent recycled gold in their products (although consumers can be forgiven for continuing to question what that means). Last July, Signet Jewelers, the world's largest retailer of diamond jewelry, announced it would be moving away from the term “recycled” and replacing it with “repurposed”. In the UK, the Royal Mint, which makes the country’s coins, said it would be using the term “recovered” to account for the ambiguity in the current definitions of recycled.

Panatere’s Broye is bullish about the future. “Brands are very interested in the circular economy and recycling,” he says. “Demand far exceeds our current production capacity. The major brands are well aware of the geopolitical stakes involved in sourcing raw materials. And the needs of the dual transition to energy and digital technology will lead to an explosion in demand for materials such as copper, lithium and nickel. New regulations on the use of critical materials will change industrial processes.”

Karib says it’s on the brands to take the lead “Groups and brands will have to pay a premium for responsible gold,” she says. “But they’re scared because they don’t want to have to reinvent the narrative. But the margins are so crazy in this industry they should be able to pay a premium for the material.”

She urges perspective. “The point is luxury is useless,” she says. “So is it acceptable that something useless is targeting increased sales without properly addressing the social impact and environmental challenges?”

It’s a question the watch industry will have to answer soon enough.