The return of small watches: brands proclaim it, orders do not yet

New releases are shrinking in plain sight. But look at what people buy second-hand and the 40 or 41 mm watch still rules, while the segment below 36 mm even slipped. There are data that explain why both things are true.

5 Nov 2026

Machine translation pending human review. Figures and sources match the original.

Few watch stories have been repeated as much in 2026. Monochrome estimates that the men's standard has shifted to 36-39 mm from 40-43 mm; the official Watches and Wonders wrap-up lists more compact dimensions among the keys of the edition; Bloomberg wrote about the tiny "grandma watches" Gen Z pulls from family jewellery boxes. Most of what has been published, however, is impressions. We looked for an average of diameters sold in 2025-2026 and did not find one in any reliable source; several sites giving firm percentages cite no origin at all, and we discarded them.

What brands are doing: this is a fact

The shop windows really have changed, and it can be measured model by model.

How far they have shrunk: before and after for eight watches

Diameter in mm. Big Pilot Perpetual: "over 46 mm" to 42 mm (Monochrome). Cubitus: 45 to 40 mm (Worldtempus); the larger model was presented in late 2024. Streamliner: the collection measured 39 and 40 mm and adds a 34 mm version, plus a 28 mm one. The rest come from Luxury Bazaar, a retailer; they have not been checked one by one with the brands. In several cases the large model remains on sale.

Before
After

View data as table

Series	X axis	Value
Before	IWC Big Pilot Perpetual	46
Before	Patek Cubitus	45
Before	Santos Crono	43.3
Before	Freak X	43
Before	Tudor Black Bay Chrono	41
Before	Octo Finissimo	40
Before	Saxonia Annual Calendar	38.5
Before	Moser Streamliner	40
After	IWC Big Pilot Perpetual	42
After	Patek Cubitus	40
After	Santos Crono	39.8
After	Freak X	41
After	Tudor Black Bay Chrono	39
After	Octo Finissimo	37
After	Saxonia Annual Calendar	36
After	Moser Streamliner	34

Source: luxurybazaar.com

There is an important nuance: almost none of these watches goes below 36 mm. What is happening looks more like the "invisible ceiling" of 40 mm Worldtempus describes than a return to 33 mm. Going from 46 to 42 is also shrinking, but it is not a small watch.

What people are doing: this changes the story

The best public measure by size we have found is Bezel's report for the first half of 2025. It records what customers follow and what they buy.

Which sizes are wanted and bought on Bezel, first half of 2025

Share of followed watches (Wants) and of orders by diameter, in %. Bezel data about its own platform. The report does not break out 37-39 mm: the listed sizes add up to 89% of Wants and 87% of orders. The latest public percentage breakdown we found; the full-2025 and first-half-2026 reports describe it only in words.

Followed (Wants)
Orders

View data as table

Series	X axis	Value
Followed (Wants)	Under 36 mm	8
Followed (Wants)	36 mm	10
Followed (Wants)	40 mm	24
Followed (Wants)	41 mm	21
Followed (Wants)	42 mm	15
Followed (Wants)	Over 42 mm	11
Orders	Under 36 mm	7
Orders	36 mm	9
Orders	40 mm	18
Orders	41 mm	21
Orders	42 mm	18
Orders	Over 42 mm	14

Source: getbezel.com

Three things stand out. Watches of 40 mm or more took seven in ten orders. Large sizes convert better: over 42 mm adds up to 11% of wants and 14% of purchases. And under 36 mm lost 2 points in Wants and 3 in orders compared with the 2024 report, in the middle of the story of its return.

After that, Bezel's words are consistent. In full-year 2025, under 36 mm stayed "modest but steady". In the first half of 2026, 40 and 41 mm remained the core of interest and orders and larger sizes converted somewhat above their share of interest. Maxim, citing the same report, puts small watches at a high single-digit percentage of sales, without giving the exact number or defining small. With 7% in 2025 for under 36 mm, that does not sound like a revolution.

Why both things are true

First, the used market lags. On Bezel, 42% of orders are watches from the 2020s and 35% from the 2010s. People buy what has already been made, and what was made ten years ago was large. If the trend is real, it will take time to show here. This explanation is ours.

Second, the shift has an age and a gender. Chrono24 reports that dress watches make up 12% of what Gen Z buys, the highest share of any age group. And at Rolex, the Datejust is 42.8% of women's spending against 23.1% of men's, which the platform partly attributes to its smaller cases. Not every customer is moving.

Third, size is more than diameter. The Oyster Perpetual 41 measures 41 mm on the label, but about 46.5 mm lug to lug and 11.7 mm thick. Two cases with the same number can wear very differently, and no public data we have seen captures that.

The balance

The return of the compact watch is a catalogue fact and, for now, a sales hypothesis. Editorial opinion: what we are seeing is the end of the huge watch more than the return of the tiny one. The new centre sits between 37 and 40 mm, a band that, ironically, is exactly the one Bezel does not break out.