Here Are the Hottest Watch Trends at Las Vegas’s Jewelry Week


This story is from an installment of In the Loupe, our weekly insider newsletter about the best of the watch world. Sign up here.

For anyone with a stake in the fine-jewelry business, Las Vegas jewelry week, in late May and early June, is the equivalent of Watches and Wonders week in Geneva. There is the main event—in this case, the JCK Las Vegas show at the Venetian Expo—as well as a host of satellite events that have, over the years, become an essential part of the ecosystem. (Full disclosure: I’m the editor-in-chief of JCK magazine.)

The Las Vegas Antique Jewelry and Watch Show, which ran May 28-31 at the Wynn, is where you’ll find the vintage watch lovers. When Robb Report dropped by on opening day, we made a beeline to the Collectability booth to check out the 2026 Edition Oblique Collection, the second collaboration between the Patek Philippe resale platform and the brand Dennison, available for pre-order through June 2. Featuring two new asymmetric dial variations, each available in steel and gold-plated cases, the $790 quartz-powered wristwatches—which unite the aesthetic sensibilities of Collectability founder John Reardon and celebrated Swiss designer Emmanuel Gueit—were front and center.

“I am not a designer, but I know a beautiful watch when I see one,” Reardon said. He went on to explain the asymmetric vintage model that served as inspiration for the Oblique Collection’s vintage-meets-contemporary vibe: Patek Philippe ref. 3412, designed for the brand by Gilbert Albert and produced in the late 1950s and early ’60s.

Albert’s enduring influence on watch tastemakers extends well beyond the Oblique collection. His legacy of creating avant-garde timepieces lives on in the growing popularity of vintage Patek Philippe watches on gold mesh bracelets.

“There’s so much attention being placed on bracelet watches and ladies’ watches,” Reardon told Robb Report.

A secret watch from For Your Future Reference; a vintage Cartier owned by Amy Rothner.

As he spoke, a stylishly dressed woman in a houndstooth blazer and wide-brimmed hat tried on a chunky yellow-gold Patek Philippe Beta 21 model in the corner of the Collectability booth. “Look how perfect this is because you’re seeing it live,” Reardon said. “I mean, look at that huge watch. It’s one of the largest Patek Philippe watches made in the whole 20th century. And women are wearing them now.”

Don’t for a second, however, think that smaller watches are suddenly out of fashion (the trends, according to Reardon, “are living concurrently”). In fact, small, dainty secret watches, initially produced by Patek Philippe in the 1950s, are “coming back,” he said. He brought out a 1960s gem-set secret watch—referring to jewelry-like designs that conceal a functional watch dial—featuring a blue dial hidden beneath a cluster of blue sapphires and white diamonds in mixed cuts.

Among Collectability’s male clients, demand is also shifting. “There are fewer inquiries about modern Patek Philippe,” Reardon said. “And a lot of interest in pieces that are neo-vintage—really a focus from mid-late ’70s to, like, 2010.”

The crux of that demand comes down to size and the fact that neo-vintage watches are housed in smaller cases. “With men, I’m seeing more of them ask about smaller watches,” Reardon said. “For example, reference 2594. I’ve been buying a lot of these because for $12,000, you get a watch that has so much Patek Philippe DNA from the 1950s that a man or a woman could wear it.”

Collectability Patek Philippe

A Patek Philippe Ref. 3587/1J

Collectability

Elsewhere in Las Vegas, dealers echoed Reardon’s comments about the rising popularity of smaller timepieces, especially those with a distinctly jewelry-like essence. At the For Future Reference Vintage booth at the Couture jewelry show at the Wynn, Amy Rothner, director of sales at Excalibur Estate Jewelry, an exhibitor at the antique show, wore a gold Cartier bracelet watch with a blue lapis dial, manufactured by Piaget in the 1990s. “I bought it in the antique show yesterday, and I sold it to another dealer today,” she said.

Rothner brought out a couple slinky 1970s gold bracelet models by Cartier and Piaget as examples of trending styles. “It’s a bracelet that happens to tell time,” she said, pointing to the slender yellow-gold Cartier secret watch, which looked like a simple piece of jewelry. “I love the way that this Cartier has that peekaboo moment,” she said. “That beautiful bracelet—it’s so silky.

“We’re really seeing a trend,” Rothner added. “A bunch of our stores have been asking for covered watches. It’s going back to that very elegant, ladylike moment where you weren’t constantly checking your watch, but you have that secret time management we all need. And to be able to be in the workforce and not checking your cell phone at a work meeting is always really important. With watches like this, you can more gracefully check the time.”

Rothner reiterated the strength of the size trend. “Smaller watches, petite watches—even the small Rolex Orchids that are probably around 23 millimeters. I mean, we’re going real small.”

Edward Faber, founder and co-owner of the Aaron Faber Gallery, another antique show mainstay, affirmed that. “What’s trending is micro,” he said, adding that he defined a “micro watch” as a piece, most likely produced between the 1920s and ’50s, that’s “smaller than a dime.” To illustrate what he meant, he brought out a trio of teeny-tiny 18-karat-gold bracelet watches, two round Rolexes (for $8,800 and $6,500), and a square-faced Piaget (for $6,400).

“Not only are they great value, they fit into the whole stacking trend,” Faber said.





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