diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/metrics/metrics.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/metrics/metrics.go
index d0b3cdc9048..6de0ad1eecf 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/metrics/metrics.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/metrics/metrics.go
@@ -146,6 +146,16 @@ var (
 		},
 		[]string{"resource"},
 	)
+
+	WatchCacheReadWait = compbasemetrics.NewHistogramVec(
+		&compbasemetrics.HistogramOpts{
+			Namespace:      namespace,
+			Subsystem:      subsystem,
+			Name:           "read_wait_seconds",
+			Help:           "Histogram of time spent waiting for a watch cache to become fresh.",
+			StabilityLevel: compbasemetrics.ALPHA,
+			Buckets:        []float64{0.005, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5, 2, 3},
+		}, []string{"resource"})
 )
 
 var registerMetrics sync.Once
@@ -165,6 +175,7 @@ func Register() {
 		legacyregistry.MustRegister(watchCacheCapacityDecreaseTotal)
 		legacyregistry.MustRegister(WatchCacheCapacity)
 		legacyregistry.MustRegister(WatchCacheInitializations)
+		legacyregistry.MustRegister(WatchCacheReadWait)
 	})
 }
 
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/watch_cache.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/watch_cache.go
index cc797621b7a..bb875fe692d 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/watch_cache.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/watch_cache.go
@@ -440,6 +440,11 @@ func (w *watchCache) List() []interface{} {
 // You HAVE TO explicitly call w.RUnlock() after this function.
 func (w *watchCache) waitUntilFreshAndBlock(ctx context.Context, resourceVersion uint64) error {
 	startTime := w.clock.Now()
+	defer func() {
+		if resourceVersion > 0 {
+			metrics.WatchCacheReadWait.WithContext(ctx).WithLabelValues(w.groupResource.String()).Observe(w.clock.Since(startTime).Seconds())
+		}
+	}()
 
 	// In case resourceVersion is 0, we accept arbitrarily stale result.
 	// As a result, the condition in the below for loop will never be
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/watch_cache_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/watch_cache_test.go
index 8e37e0cf83e..752c607a083 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/watch_cache_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/watch_cache_test.go
@@ -36,9 +36,12 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/watch"
 	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/features"
 	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage"
+	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/cacher/metrics"
 	utilfeature "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
 	featuregatetesting "k8s.io/component-base/featuregate/testing"
+	k8smetrics "k8s.io/component-base/metrics"
+	"k8s.io/component-base/metrics/testutil"
 	"k8s.io/utils/clock"
 	testingclock "k8s.io/utils/clock/testing"
 )
@@ -1123,3 +1126,72 @@ func BenchmarkWatchCache_updateCache(b *testing.B) {
 		store.updateCache(add)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestHistogramCacheReadWait(t *testing.T) {
+	registry := k8smetrics.NewKubeRegistry()
+	if err := registry.Register(metrics.WatchCacheReadWait); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	testedMetrics := "apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds"
+	store := newTestWatchCache(2, &cache.Indexers{})
+	defer store.Stop()
+
+	// In background, update the store.
+	go func() {
+		if err := store.Add(makeTestPod("foo", 2)); err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if err := store.Add(makeTestPod("bar", 5)); err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+	}()
+
+	testCases := []struct {
+		desc            string
+		resourceVersion uint64
+		want            string
+	}{
+		{
+			desc:            "resourceVersion is non-zero",
+			resourceVersion: 5,
+			want: `
+		# HELP apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds [ALPHA] Histogram of time spent waiting for a watch cache to become fresh.
+    # TYPE apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds histogram
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="0.005"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="0.025"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="0.05"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="0.1"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="0.2"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="0.4"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="0.6"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="0.8"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="1"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="1.25"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="1.5"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="2"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="3"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_bucket{resource="pods",le="+Inf"} 1
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_sum{resource="pods"} 0
+      apiserver_watch_cache_read_wait_seconds_count{resource="pods"} 1
+`,
+		},
+		{
+			desc:            "resourceVersion is 0",
+			resourceVersion: 0,
+			want:            ``,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range testCases {
+		t.Run(test.desc, func(t *testing.T) {
+			defer registry.Reset()
+			if _, _, _, err := store.WaitUntilFreshAndGet(ctx, test.resourceVersion, "prefix/ns/bar"); err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+			}
+			if err := testutil.GatherAndCompare(registry, strings.NewReader(test.want), testedMetrics); err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}