Cartier, Rolex, etc.

Frankly, I wouldn't complete the survey simply because I wouldn't spend an excessive amount for an everyday timepiece.  I wear my Garmin Swim as an everyday timepiece.

strange that they didn't include these other fine watch companies:

Garmin

Suunto

Polar

but, I can see what they're doing.  they're trying to sell advertising/sponsorship opportunities to these companies that have substantial advertising budgets.  If they can say that the TAG Heuer brand was selected by 64.3% of IM participants as a watch that they said they would buy... it's a powerful motivating force as marketing and sales people don't generally have a clue about how twisted survey data can be.  The IM folks would be able to answer- 'yes, our participants selected your brand from a list and it came out on top'.  

Incidentally, TAG Heuer is a sponsor of the NYC Marathon.  So, clearly this works.

WTC has apparently hired some shrewd marketeers.

I am not sure that it ever changes from being a 10%-er sport. I was just reading October's issue of Triathlete and it had some stats done by a research group - 96% of triathlete have completed college or university and the average age is 44. We're talking about a well off average here.

But i don't know when this supposed 'golden age' of it being a cheap sport ever was. The bike has always been a huge expense and there was a time there were only a few full-distance Iron races which would always be difficult to get into and expensive to travel for. 

Do what you do. You don't have to buy stuff. I am sure the Timex Ironman watch will still be there. If people don't buy 'em, they won't stock them.

I'll admit i bought my husband the Ironman cufflinks. They weren't cheap but they were a nice token that he can wear to more formal events.