Why everyone is searching for wristwatches again in 2026

Why everyone is searching for wristwatches again in 2026

Google Trends says US searches for wristwatches are at a record in 2026, up +90% on 2025. Here is what that does and does not tell us, with each list from Google’s newsletter set beside what the makers’ own pages say.

According to Google Trends, in the United States “wristwatches” are more searched than at any time in Google Trends history, with a +90% increase in 2026 compared with 2025. Google also says Rolex is searched more than all smartwatches combined, and one Swatch collaboration drove all of the top 30 trending queries. Searches are not sales, and cannot say why.

Source: Google Trends Daily Trending Newsletter, “Wristwatch Trends”, 29 October 2026. Data is for the United States unless we say worldwide. As Google asks in its page on how to use and cite Trends data, the attribution is: Data source: Google Trends (https://www.google.com/trends), 29 October 2026.

Disclosure: we are Vannin Watches, and our Vannin Field Watch collection is coming soon. We are not in any of Google’s lists. Facts here come from Google or from the makers’ own pages, and anything that is our opinion is labelled “Our view”.

• Google Trends
• use and cite Trends data
• Vannin Field Watch collection

What Google Trends shows, and what it does not

Google Trends shows relative interest in searches, not counts and not sales. Google’s FAQ about Trends data says Trends uses a sample of searches and normalises each point to its time and place, so that the busiest places do not always rank first, then scales the result from 0 to 100. A Trends figure is a comparison, not a headcount.

The same FAQ says Trends is not a poll. A spike in a topic does not mean the topic is “popular” or “winning”, only that for some unspecified reason many people searched for it, and the data should be one data point among others. Trends is also not a perfect mirror of search activity: it filters out some searches, such as repeats and rarely searched terms, and adds statistical noise.

The newsletter we use is Google’s Daily Trending Newsletter, which Google’s help page on getting started describes as for the United States only. It says its data is for the United States unless stated, and accurate at the time of publication. Where a list is worldwide, we say so. Our copy is a transcription of the email, and it is the only place the figures below come from.

Google defines three terms in the newsletter’s notes, and we use them the same way. Breakout means search terms with a tremendous increase, in some cases because the term is new and had few or no earlier searches. Top or Most Searched means the terms that rank highest by search volume for a timeframe and place. Trending means the terms with the highest spike in traffic compared with the previous equivalent period. So a top list is about the biggest totals, a trending list is about the biggest jumps, and neither says anything about quality.

A search rank is not a quality rank or a sales rank. Where we show names in Google’s order, that is Google’s order, not ours, and we do not rank, recommend or score any watch or seller.

Table 1 gives the three headline facts as the newsletter states them. Google gives no search volumes in the newsletter, so we give none.

• FAQ about Trends data
• help page on getting started

The +90% in context

The newsletter says “Wristwatches” are more searched now than at any time in Google Trends history, and that 2026 shows a +90% increase compared with 2025. That is all it says. It does not give a search volume, name the months behind the rise, say whether the figure covers one search term or a wider topic, or split watches by type. We have not tried to fill those gaps.

We looked for a named, sourced explanation of the +90% itself and did not find one. Google offers none, and none of the sources below mention the Google figure. What we did find are explanations of the Royal Pop collaboration, which is one watch, and figures for Swiss exports, which are one country’s exports. Each is a named source describing its own business or data:

Swatch Group’s half-year report, dated 21 July 2026, says demand for Royal Pop far exceeded supply from the first day, that the campaign generated more than 25 billion views on social media, and that Swatch has seen a flow of new consumers, some very young, taking an interest in a mechanical watch for the first time. That is a company describing its own product. Chrono24, a watch marketplace, wrote on 21 May 2026 that Royal Pop was the biggest demand event it had recorded for a Swatch collaboration, and that most Royal Pop buyers on its site were new to it. That is one platform’s data about its own site. Audemars Piguet’s chief executive told CNBC, in a report published on 26 September 2026, that the brand had had a record month every month since the launch. That is her statement, and CNBC notes that the company is privately owned and does not report revenue. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry reported that Swiss watch exports rose in September 2026 for a fourth consecutive month. It says its figures are exports, not sales to consumers, and cannot be used to judge one company.

None of this explains Google’s figure. Swatch’s own pages call Royal Pop a pocket watch, and the newsletter does not say whether its “Wristwatches” figure includes it. Our view: searches for watches rose in 2026, one collaboration drew a great deal of attention, and nobody we found has shown how the two are related.

Questions the data cannot answer include how many people searched, whether more people are buying watches, which types of watch drove the rise, and whether it will last.

• pocket watch

Rolex and smartwatches

The newsletter says Rolex is searched more than all smartwatches combined in the United States. That is the whole claim. It gives no figures for either side, does not name which smartwatch brands are included, and does not say how long the gap has held, so we do not explain it.

It compares one maker’s name with a category of products from many makers, and does not say how “smartwatches combined” was measured. It does not say Rolex watches are bought more than smartwatches, only that the name is searched more.

The Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop

Google’s newsletter says the Swatch x Audemars Piguet “Royal Pop” collaboration is a breakout search, driving all of the top 30 trending queries in 2026 so far. It says Royal Pop was the top searched Swatch collaboration watch in 2026, followed by the MoonSwatch 1969. It was top searched in the Miami metro area in the United States, and, worldwide, top in Switzerland and Côte d’Ivoire. Breakout searches for the lanyard watch include “bracelet for royal pop swatch”, and the top searched colours were “Ocho Negro” (black and white), then “Lan Ba” (blue) and “Huit Blanc” (white).

Swatch and Audemars Piguet’s own pages add the product facts. Swatch’s Royal Pop page and its press release on the Swatch Group site describe eight Bioceramic pocket watches that draw on Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak and Swatch’s 1980s POP watches, powered by a new hand-wound version of Swatch’s SISTEM51 movement. Swatch says each comes with a lanyard and can be worn in several ways, including on the wrist, and that it is sold only at selected Swatch stores, one watch per person, per day and per store. Audemars Piguet’s page, dated 13 May 2026, says it will use all of its proceeds from the collaboration to fund an initiative supporting watchmaking skills and the next generation.

Prices in Table 2 are as Swatch’s regional pages showed them on 30 October 2026, in each page’s own currency, with no conversion: the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland pages. Some models showed no price on some pages, so check the page before you rely on a figure.

The newsletter’s colour descriptions are Google’s; the Swatch pages we opened give model names but no colour words, so we have not checked them. Swatch sells lanyards and other accessories for Royal Pop online. The newsletter does not say why people searched for a bracelet, so we offer no reason.

• Royal Pop page
• press release on the Swatch Group site
• Audemars Piguet’s page
• Price as listed by Swatch
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Switzerland

The new releases people searched for

Google lists six new releases in Search for the United States in 2026, ranked, with two sharing sixth place. Table 3 names each as Google lists it and adds only what the maker’s own page says. A search for a release shows interest in a release. It does not show that the watch is good, available or bought.

Three points follow from the makers’ pages. First, Google’s “Omega Mission to the Moon 1969” is, on Swatch’s own pages, a Swatch MoonSwatch created with Omega and sold through Swatch’s application process (see Swatch’s press release), so if you go looking for it, start with Swatch. Second, the list mixes a pocket watch, a quartz chronograph, divers, a regatta chronograph and a video-game tie-in, which tells you what people searched for, not what they bought. Third, Swatch Group’s brand pages list Swatch, Omega and Longines among its brands.

• Omega Mission to the Moon 1969
• Longines HydroConquest
• Tudor Black Bay 58
• Rolex Yacht-Master II
• Omega Speedmaster 38
• Omega 007 “First Light”
• press release

The brands people search for

Google’s newsletter gives two brand lists for the United States in 2026: the ten most searched watch brands, and the five brands most searched together with “watches under $1,000”. Table 4 puts them side by side in Google’s order. A brand’s place says how often people searched for it, not how good, accurate or well made its watches are.

Swatch Group’s own brand pages list Swatch, Omega, Tissot, Longines and Hamilton as group brands, all of which appear in Google’s lists. Its half-year report says Longines, Tissot and Hamilton had double-digit growth in turnover, which it puts down to entry-level and mid-range brands winning market share. That is the group’s account of its own sales, not of searches, and we do not connect it to Google’s figures.

For the five brands Google lists with “watches under $1,000”, here is one factual line each from the maker’s own pages:

Seiko: Seiko Group’s history page dates the business to 1881, when Kintaro Hattori set up a watch and clock retail and repair business, and Seiko Watch Corporation gives its head office as Ginza, Tokyo. Tissot: says it has made watches since 1853, in Le Locle in the Swiss mountains. Hamilton: says it was founded in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and its own publication says its headquarters has been in Biel, Switzerland, since 2003. Citizen: its corporate profile gives 1918 as its year of establishment and its headquarters as Nishi-Tokyo, Tokyo. Longines: says it was founded in 1832 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, where it has been based since.

Some of these brands appear in our own roundups, which show each maker’s listed price in its own currency and do not rank. Seiko and Citizen appear in both our guide to automatic watches under £500 / $500 and our guide to field watches by budget, and Hamilton appears in the field watch guide. Tissot and Longines are in neither, so we make no comparison for them. Read those guides for prices, which we do not repeat here.

• Swatch
• Omega
• Tissot
• Longines
• Hamilton
• half-year report
• automatic watches under £500 / $500
• field watches by budget

Where people search to buy watches

Google lists five watch purchase platforms among the most searched in the United States in 2026, in Google’s order: Jomashop, Chrono24, eBay watches, The 1916 Company and Bob’s Watches. We recommend none of them, and the order is Google’s. One neutral line each, from the company’s own pages:

Jomashop: says it was established in 1999 and ships from a fulfilment centre in New York City. Chrono24: describes itself as a marketplace for luxury watches, and dates its growth from 2003. eBay: eBay Inc. says it was founded in 1995 in San Jose, California, and a 2020 release calls watches one of its top-selling categories. The 1916 Company: says it was established in 2023 by bringing together WatchBox, Govberg, Radcliffe and Hyde Park Jewelers, and describes itself as an authorised retailer of several brands that also sells pre-owned watches. Bob’s Watches: says it was founded in 1999 and is located in Newport Beach, California and Naples, Florida, and says it is not an authorised retailer for the brands it carries.

Condition, authenticity and warranty matter most when a watch is pre-owned, and each seller says something different. Chrono24’s Buyer Protection page says it holds your payment in escrow until you have the watch, for 14 days after delivery from a professional dealer and up to 7 days from a private seller, and that purchases from private sellers have no 14-day right of return. At its 2020 launch, eBay said that eligible watches sold in the United States are routed to a third-party authenticator before they reach the buyer, with eligibility set by the listing’s category and price, so look for the badge on the listing. Bob’s Watches’ warranty page says it gives its own warranty and that Rolex is under no obligation to service watches it sells, and The 1916 Company’s authentication page says it backs each pre-owned watch with its own two-year global warranty.

Our view: a seller’s warranty is not the maker’s, so before you pay, ask who will service the watch, read the terms in writing, and ask for the reference and serial numbers and photographs of the watch you will actually receive.

• Chrono24’s Buyer Protection page
• eBay said
• Bob’s Watches’ warranty page
• The 1916 Company’s authentication page

Influencers and independent brands

Two more lists in the newsletter are worldwide, not for the United States: the most searched watch influencers and the independent brands, both for 2026 and both in Google’s order. Table 5 gives names only, because Google does not say how it defines an independent brand and we do not add a description of our own. The newsletter also lists the most searched microbrands for the United States, and we cover that list, with each brand’s own details, in a separate guide.

• a separate guide

If you are choosing a mechanical watch now

Our view: a name being searched tells you what is in the news, not whether a watch will suit your wrist, your budget or your week. The questions that decide that are ones a search list cannot answer, and our guides cover them.

Fit comes first. Case diameter alone does not decide it; lug-to-lug does, and our watch size guide and guide to watch lugs show how to measure. Then check the strap: our 20 mm strap guide explains widths, materials and NATO straps.

Movement and accuracy come next. Our quartz and automatic comparison sets out makers’ published accuracy figures for each type, and our Miyota 9039 guide explains what that movement’s spec sheet says and what hacking means.

After you buy, care and water resistance matter. Our guide to looking after an automatic watch covers storage, magnets and servicing intervals, and our 100 m water resistance guide explains why a rating is a test pressure rather than a diving depth.

A short checklist, of what a trending name does and does not tell you:

It tells you people searched for the name. It does not tell you how many bought the watch. It does not tell you the movement, case size, lug-to-lug or strap width. Read the maker’s published specification. It does not tell you how accurate the watch is or who will service it. Read the warranty and care pages. It does not tell you the price you will pay. Compare the maker’s listed price with the seller’s, and note the currency. It does not tell you how the watch is sold. Swatch says Royal Pop is sold only at selected stores, and that the Mission to the Moon 1969 was sold only through an application, so check before you search for a price.

• watch size guide
• guide to watch lugs
• 20 mm strap guide
• quartz and automatic comparison
• Miyota 9039 guide
• looking after an automatic watch
• 100 m water resistance guide

Where the Vannin Field Watch fits

Disclosure: this section is about us, and we are not neutral. The Vannin Field Watch is not in any of Google’s lists, and we do not claim it is searched, trending or popular. It is coming soon, so there is no sales history and there are no owner reviews.

Its published specification is a 38.0 mm case, 46.0 mm lug-to-lug, 11.2 mm thick including the crystal, a 20.0 mm lug width, a double-domed sapphire crystal and 100 metres (10 ATM) of water resistance. The movement is a Miyota 9039 automatic with hacking seconds and hand winding, and the price is £399. You can register your interest on the Field Watch page, and our journal entry on why we wanted our first watch to be a field watch explains our reasons. A trending name would tell you nothing about the Field Watch, and its absence from Google’s lists tells you nothing either: we are a new brand, and the watch is not on sale yet.

• Field Watch page
• journal entry on why we wanted our first watch to be a field watch

Wristwatch searches FAQ

Are wristwatches more popular in 2026? Google Trends says “wristwatches” are more searched in the United States than at any time in Google Trends history, with a +90% increase in 2026 compared with 2025. That is about searches. Google says a spike in searches does not show that something is popular, and the newsletter gives no sales figures, so we cannot say more.

Is Rolex searched more than smartwatches? In the United States, yes, according to Google’s newsletter of 29 October 2026, which says Rolex is searched more than all smartwatches combined. It gives no figures, does not say how the comparison was measured and covers searches only. It does not show that more Rolex watches than smartwatches are sold or worn.

What is the AP x Swatch Royal Pop? Swatch and Audemars Piguet describe it as eight Bioceramic pocket watches with a hand-wound SISTEM51 movement, available from 16 May 2026 at selected Swatch stores, one watch per person, per day and per store. Google’s newsletter says it is a breakout search that drove all of the top 30 trending queries in 2026 so far in the United States.

Which watch brands do people search for under $1,000? In Google’s newsletter, the five brands most searched with “watches under $1,000” in the United States in 2026 were Seiko, Tissot, Hamilton, Citizen and Longines, in that order. It is a list of searches, not a ranking of quality or value. Our guides to automatic and field watches show makers’ own prices and specifications for some of them.

Are mechanical watches making a comeback? The newsletter cannot say. It measures searches for watches in general, not sales, and it does not split mechanical from quartz or smart watches. Swatch Group says Royal Pop brought new consumers, some taking an interest in a mechanical watch for the first time, which is one company’s account, not a measure of the whole market.

Should you buy a watch because it is trending? Not on that basis alone. As Google defines it, trending means a spike in searches compared with an earlier period, not that a watch fits, keeps good time or suits your budget. Check the maker’s published specification, how the watch is sold, the warranty and who services it, and ask whether you would still want it if nobody else did.

Where do people search to buy watches? Google’s newsletter lists, for the United States in 2026 and in this order, Jomashop, Chrono24, eBay watches, The 1916 Company and Bob’s Watches. It is a list of searches, not a recommendation. Check each seller’s authenticity, return and warranty terms on its own pages, and note whether the watch is new or pre-owned.

Is Vannin one of the most searched watch brands? No. The Vannin Field Watch is not in any of Google’s lists, and we do not claim it is searched, trending or popular. We are a new brand, and the Field Watch is coming soon. You can register your interest and judge it on the specification we publish, not on a search ranking.

Google Trends: how to use and cite Trends data; Google Trends: FAQ about Trends data; Google Trends: get started; Swatch: Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop collection; Swatch Group: Audemars Piguet x Swatch press release; Audemars Piguet: the Audemars Piguet and Swatch collaboration; Swatch Group: half-year report 2026; Chrono24 Magazine: what Chrono24 data says about the Royal Pop; CNBC: Audemars Piguet and Royal Pop defy luxury watch slump and tariffs; Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry: watch industry statistics; Swatch: Mission to the Moon 1969; Longines: HydroConquest 2026 release; Tudor: new watches for 2026; Rolex: new Yacht-Master II; Omega: Speedmaster 38 collection; Omega: Seamaster Diver 300M 007 First Light; Seiko Group: history; Seiko Watch Corporation: corporate profile; Tissot: our history; Hamilton: history of Hamilton; Hamilton: Hamilton Stories; Citizen Watch: corporate profile; Longines: our universe; Jomashop: what is Jomashop.com; Chrono24: company; Chrono24: Buyer Protection; eBay: Authenticity Guarantee launch for watches; The 1916 Company: about us; The 1916 Company: authentication; Bob’s Watches: about us; Bob’s Watches: warranty information

Sources and published specifications last checked 30 October 2026. Tell us if something has changed.

• Google Trends: how to use and cite Trends data
• Google Trends: FAQ about Trends data
• Google Trends: get started
• Swatch: Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop collection
• Swatch Group: Audemars Piguet x Swatch press release
• Audemars Piguet: the Audemars Piguet and Swatch collaboration
• Swatch Group: half-year report 2026
• Chrono24 Magazine: what Chrono24 data says about the Royal Pop
• CNBC: Audemars Piguet and Royal Pop defy luxury watch slump and tariffs
• Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry: watch industry statistics
• Swatch: Mission to the Moon 1969
• Longines: HydroConquest 2026 release
• Tudor: new watches for 2026
• Rolex: new Yacht-Master II
• Omega: Speedmaster 38 collection
• Omega: Seamaster Diver 300M 007 First Light
• Seiko Group: history
• Seiko Watch Corporation: corporate profile
• Tissot: our history
• Hamilton: history of Hamilton
• Hamilton: Hamilton Stories
• Citizen Watch: corporate profile
• Longines: our universe
• Jomashop: what is Jomashop.com
• Chrono24: company
• Chrono24: Buyer Protection
• eBay: Authenticity Guarantee launch for watches
• The 1916 Company: about us
• The 1916 Company: authentication
• Bob’s Watches: about us
• Bob’s Watches: warranty information

Related reading

• The most searched microbrand watches of 2026 (Google Trends, US)
• What is a microbrand watch? Meaning, history and how to buy one
• Automatic watches under £500 / $500
• Field watches by budget
• Watch size guide: how to measure wrist size for a watch
• Why we chose a field watch as our first watch