Long considered a sideline to art sales, watches are quickly becoming a robust category unto themselves. Sotheby’s saw a 64% increase in watch sales for the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2025. The number of collectors seeking high-end and vintage timepieces is also steadily growing. Phillips welcomed 1,815 bidders from 74 countries during their Geneva event, and Sotheby’s saw 1,850 individuals from 60 countries place bids during the first half of the year.
The collectors driving this activity look different from those who dominated the category a decade ago. First-time buyers are more and more common. Millennials and Gen Z now account for one third of buyers, versus a quarter in 2025. Acquiring a full collection of rare or vintage watches still demands considerable resources, but there is a growing subset of buyers who are making first or second purchases under the half-a-million mark.
Auction houses have reported a shift away from traditional vintage collecting—which requires deep scholarship around condition and originality—and towards neo-vintage pieces and independent watchmakers. The gap between an exceptional example and merely a good one is much narrower, so newer collectors find it easier to navigate and less risky.
Part of the appeal lies in the scarcity engineered by the brands themselves. Watchmakers producing fewer than 1,000 pieces a year exercise tight control over supply and often limit allocations to buyers who have built relationships with the brand over years. Such controlled distribution helps sustain prices even as speculative buying, common during the pandemic years, has given way to collectors who treat their purchases as long-term assets rather than flips.
