Why the Middle East Is Becoming One of the Most Important Watch Markets in the World

While Geneva dominates the headlines every April and New York commands attention every June, there is a quieter but increasingly significant shift happening in the global watch market. The Middle East, and Saudi Arabia in particular, is emerging as one of the most consequential growth stories in luxury watchmaking, and the auction houses have noticed.

This week, Sotheby's is in Riyadh and Jeddah simultaneously for jewellery and watch events running May 18 to 20, before moving to Cairo and Beirut from May 20 to 22. It is not a one-off. Since opening a permanent office in Riyadh's Al Faisaliah Tower in 2025, the first international auction house to establish a physical presence in Saudi Arabia, Sotheby's has run a near-continuous schedule of events across the Gulf. Muscat and Kuwait in early May. Abu Dhabi before that. Dubai throughout. The pace reflects something the numbers have been signalling for some time.

The Middle East watch market was valued at $2.28 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 4% through to 2035. Saudi Arabia specifically is forecast to reach $1.93 billion by 2033, growing at 10.41% annually, a rate that significantly outpaces the global average. UAE imports of Swiss watches hit $1.61 billion in 2024 alone, projected to reach $2.21 billion by 2030. These are not numbers on the periphery of the industry. They represent a structural shift in where serious watch money is moving.

Several factors converge to make the region distinct from other growth markets. The Gulf states combine extremely high disposable incomes with a deeply embedded cultural tradition of gifting. Watches, particularly prestigious Swiss pieces, sit at the intersection of both, they carry status, they travel well as gifts, and they hold value in a way that other luxury categories do not. The gifting culture is not incidental. It is a genuine driver of volume, particularly around religious holidays, weddings, and business relationships where a watch from the right brand communicates something specific and enduring.

Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 programme has added another dimension. The kingdom's accelerating investment in tourism infrastructure, new hotels, retail developments, entertainment districts, is drawing international visitors and creating a domestic luxury retail environment that did not exist at scale a decade ago. Brands including Vacheron Constantin, Rolex, and Patek Philippe have expanded their boutique presence in Riyadh and Jeddah accordingly. Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, the Gulf's most significant authorised dealer network, has steadily grown its footprint across the region, while Damas expanded certified pre-owned Rolex programmes with CPO sales up 14% in 2025.

The auction market reflects the same momentum. Sotheby's inaugural Origins sale in Riyadh in February 2025 achieved $17.3 million across 117 lots. More notably, it demonstrated something about the collector base in the kingdom that the industry is now taking seriously, these are not passive buyers seeking brand names. The buyers at Origins, and at the watch events that have followed, understand provenance, rarity, and craft. They are, in the language the auction world uses, proper collectors.

For the watch industry more broadly, the Middle East's trajectory matters beyond the numbers. China, which dominated growth narratives for a decade, has been in sustained decline, Swiss watch exports to China were down 3.2% in the first two months of 2026, continuing a multi-year slide. Hong Kong remains under pressure. The Gulf is absorbing some of that displaced demand while also generating its own. In the first half of 2025, GCC countries imported 1.07 billion Swiss francs worth of watches. Rolex captured 24.9% of that share.

What the Sotheby's schedule this week represents, in practical terms, is the auction world building client relationships in cities that are becoming permanent fixtures on the luxury watch calendar rather than occasional stops. The Geneva auction week in May generates the headlines. But the quiet work of establishing trust, identifying collectors, and building regional expertise, happening right now in Riyadh and Jeddah, is what determines where the market moves over the next decade.

For collectors in the region, the implications are straightforward. A growing local market means better access, more competitive pricing, and a rising secondary market for pieces bought today. Watches acquired now in the Gulf's primary market are increasingly likely to find strong local buyers when the time comes to sell. The infrastructure to support serious collecting, authorised dealers, auction houses, pre-owned specialists, is no longer something Gulf collectors need to access abroad. It is arriving on their doorstep.