The Small Watch Trend is Over

Tim Mosso and Watches Tonight reflect on trends in the luxury watch market. The big one is that the "smaller watch" trend of the last decade might be about to end. From the Rolex Submariner at 41mm to the new Patek Philippe Cubitus at 45mm, there is no shortage of new luxury watches being launched in larger sizes. While small watches have dominated the last few years of new model launches, Rolex and Patek Philippe are moving in the opposite direction. These brands are thought leaders that make rather than follow trends, and both are launching larger versions of old watches. Rolex raised the size of its Oyster Perpetual and the Submariner to 41mm back in 2020. For 2022, Rolex launched the insane 50mm titanium Deepsea Challenge dive watch; 2023 brought a 42mm Yacht Master in RLX titanium. If Rolex has given any clues about the 2025 Rolex watches, "more" and "bigger" might be as likely as any. Patek Philippe discontinued its 40mm Nautilus 5711 in 2021... only to replace it with the 41mm Nautilus 5811 a year later. That followed the 41mm 5172 chronograph, which, in turn, replaced the 39.4mm 5170. And the biggest Patek Philiipe sports watch of them all arrived in October of 2024. The 45mm Cubitus 5821 and 5822 are larger than any standard Nautilus or Aquanaut. If this were 2008, all of that would make sense, but this is 2025. With the eyes of the world on Patek Philippe and Rolex at Watches & Wonders 2025, any move towards larger watches will shake the industry. If the trend