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Merrick, NY—For all the talk about how cell phones are making watches obsolete, you wouldn’t know it among affluent consumers. According to the Centurion 2012 Holiday Sales Success Index, luxury watches were tops on many people’s holiday gift lists. 48% of survey respondents said luxury watches were one of their top-selling products for the holiday season. The only category that outperformed luxury watches among prestige jewelers—and it wasn’t by a huge percentage—was designer jewelry. 51% of respondents named at least one designer line, if not several, among their top sellers for holiday 2012.

The top-selling product across the board was, of course, diamonds. Taking all sectors of diamond sales together, 94% of respondents named diamonds among their best sellers. But when breaking out diamond sales by type—engagement rings, diamond basics, diamond fashion, branded diamonds, and so forth—watches and designer jewelry still outperformed each individual type. (Note: designer jewelry, even if it contained diamonds, was counted as “designer” in the survey.)

Among watches, not surprisingly, the best-selling brand was Rolex. But Tag-Heuer also was a popular choice, and also some more affordable brands like Michele and G-Shock were popular among jewelers’ clientele.

Among designers, the most frequently cited names for best sellers were Alwand Vahan, Roberto Coin, Simon G., Gabriel, and David Yurman. Other best-selling designers and brands cited by respondents were Charles Krypell, Penny Preville, Mattioli, Roberto DeMeglio, Gurhan, Todd Reed, Pamela Froman, Alex Sepkus, Belle Etoile, and Honora.

Following designer jewelry and watches, the best-selling category for prestige jewelers in 2012 was diamond jewelry, including both basics and fashion. Branded diamonds came next (including finished goods but counted separately from designer or branded jewelry). The runaway top-selling diamond brand, again not surprisingly, was Hearts On Fire. Only 2% of respondents cited Forevermark or any other diamond brand.

Pandora bounced back just a bit from last year. In 2011, only 11% of respondents cited the popular bead brand as a best seller for holiday, while 14% of respondents said it was a top seller this year. But silver jewelry in general was less popular this season among prestige jewelers: last year, 35.2% of respondents cited the category among their top sellers; this year, only 14% did, perhaps reflecting that affluent consumers are again feeling confident of their finances and the economy.

Colored stone jewelry (non-designer) edged up slightly: 8% of respondents cited it among best sellers this year, vs. 5% in 2011. Custom and estate jewelry were named as top sellers by 6% of respondents.