diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/metrics.go b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/metrics.go
index be187eba7b3..8747fa52a8a 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/metrics.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/metrics.go
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ package resource
 
 import (
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 
+	"github.com/grafana/dskit/instrument"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 )
 
@@ -12,20 +14,21 @@ var (
 )
 
 type StorageApiMetrics struct {
-	OptimisticLockFailed *prometheus.CounterVec
+	WatchEventLatency *prometheus.HistogramVec
 }
 
 func NewStorageMetrics() *StorageApiMetrics {
 	once.Do(func() {
 		StorageServerMetrics = &StorageApiMetrics{
-			OptimisticLockFailed: prometheus.NewCounterVec(
-				prometheus.CounterOpts{
-					Namespace: "resource_storage",
-					Name:      "optimistic_lock_failed",
-					Help:      "count of optimistic locks failed",
-				},
-				[]string{"action"},
-			),
+			WatchEventLatency: prometheus.NewHistogramVec(prometheus.HistogramOpts{
+				Namespace:                       "storage_server",
+				Name:                            "watch_latency_seconds",
+				Help:                            "Time (in seconds) spent waiting for watch events to be sent",
+				Buckets:                         instrument.DefBuckets,
+				NativeHistogramBucketFactor:     1.1, // enable native histograms
+				NativeHistogramMaxBucketNumber:  160,
+				NativeHistogramMinResetDuration: time.Hour,
+			}, []string{"resource"}),
 		}
 	})
 
@@ -33,9 +36,9 @@ func NewStorageMetrics() *StorageApiMetrics {
 }
 
 func (s *StorageApiMetrics) Collect(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
-	s.OptimisticLockFailed.Collect(ch)
+	s.WatchEventLatency.Collect(ch)
 }
 
 func (s *StorageApiMetrics) Describe(ch chan<- *prometheus.Desc) {
-	s.OptimisticLockFailed.Describe(ch)
+	s.WatchEventLatency.Describe(ch)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/server.go b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/server.go
index 801c3198a36..ae976f7640a 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/server.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/server.go
@@ -168,6 +168,12 @@ func NewResourceServer(opts ResourceServerOptions) (ResourceServer, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	logger := slog.Default().With("logger", "resource-server")
+	// register metrics
+	if err := prometheus.Register(NewStorageMetrics()); err != nil {
+		logger.Warn("failed to register storage metrics", "error", err)
+	}
+
 	// Make this cancelable
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(claims.WithClaims(context.Background(),
 		&identity.StaticRequester{
@@ -178,7 +184,7 @@ func NewResourceServer(opts ResourceServerOptions) (ResourceServer, error) {
 		}))
 	return &server{
 		tracer:      opts.Tracer,
-		log:         slog.Default().With("logger", "resource-server"),
+		log:         logger,
 		backend:     opts.Backend,
 		index:       opts.Index,
 		blob:        blobstore,
@@ -712,6 +718,12 @@ func (s *server) Watch(req *WatchRequest, srv ResourceStore_WatchServer) error {
 				if err := srv.Send(resp); err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
+
+				// record latency - resource version is a unix timestamp in microseconds so we convert to seconds
+				latencySeconds := float64(time.Now().UnixMicro()-event.ResourceVersion) / 1e6
+				if latencySeconds > 0 {
+					StorageServerMetrics.WatchEventLatency.WithLabelValues(event.Key.Resource).Observe(latencySeconds)
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	}