Restoration of a Breitling Sprint Ref 2016 composite case
14 January 2019
Vintage watch collectors: knowing them is loving them
11 March 2019
On Tuesday, January 15, my friend Eduardo tells me that he wants to introduce me to someone. A few days later we were in a coffee shop in the area, Eduardo, Silvia, myself and that such “someone”, named Luis Gonzalez. We talk long time about watches and life. About life and watches. The conversation runs so fluent that minutes turn into hours. Like every day, Silvia and me are in a hurry. We must be on time to deliver the day’s shipments to our courier. When we say goodbye Luis suggests the possibility of writing an article for our Blog. “It would be great” I think, because it only takes 10 seconds to realize that few people know more about Vintage than Luis. But I interpret his idea as an outburst of the good feeling of the moment, giving him the same credit as my willingness to stop smoking every January 1. A week later I receive a whatsapp that says: “Hello Sigfrid, I’m Luis, we met the other day introduced by Eduardo … (…) I already have the article that I promised you”. Word of Luis. Amen.
WRITTEN BY
LUÍS GONZÁLEZ
This is, friends of vintage watches, one of the questions that keep many fans awake at night, ruin collections or cause people potentially able to appreciate these small wonders of design and micro-engineering turning back on the purchase of antique watches .
As usual, the answer is neither white nor black. There are reasons and watches for all tastes and we are going to value a few here.
Many of us sure have heard often, from mouth of horology general fans, that they do not like vintage watches because… “I have the watches to use them”. And? Where is it written that vintage watches can not be used, even on a daily basis?
Throughout my experience collecting and watching watches I found almost everything: from the “carefree” guy who sweats in the gym and then takes a shower without removing his 1969 Rolex Red Submariner (what I believe is an attitude that should be legally punished) up to that fan of popular vintage watches that puts in an shrine, cleans and oils compulsively and protects with motion detectors, infrared rays and silent alarms his Certina Certidate of 35 euros because it is in almost NOS condition. No, neither one nor the other, neither so much nor so little; in between there are many more reasonable comfort zones and we are going to give some clues so that everyone can exercise their responsibility to find them and move within those that best suit their personality, budget or willingness to dedicate.
Let’s start below. Understanding “below” as the lower economic market budget or value. The vintage watches in the range that is currently known as ‘affordable watches’ are a field to be rediscovered and can provide enormous pleasure. It is a range of reduced prices and ease of acquisition, since normally production was high in its day, and great watches can be found, with mechanical movements of a sufficient technical and innovative height to be part of the history of watchmaking evolution . In this segment we would find well-known pieces, automatic or manual, like the different models of Cyma Cymaflex, the Certina Certidates, many Longines or the quasi-infinite Genève iterations by Omega, but also lots of watches from minor brands but with a classic and elegant aesthetic looks that, in good condition, give prestige too any collection.
Certina Certidate
Omega Genève Cal 601 Ref. 162.009
Do not forget that during the glorious era of popular mechanical watchmaking (from 1945 to 1978, approximately), countless watchmaking companies in various countries acquired complete movements or ebauches from Swiss manufacturers and assembled them under various brands, marking the dial, often existing a very little difference in quality – if any – with watches of better known brands. For that reason, any fan of classic watches – those known back then as “dress watches” – can, with a non-excessive dedication and a very tight budget, build a magnificent collection based on, to name a few brands, Radar, Cauny, Pierce, Royce, Dogma, Lorenz, Duward, Helvetia, Rodania, Helsa, Festina and many others.
CAUNY CARAVELA Prima La Chaux-de-Fonds
Dogma Oversize
Even (and I will not give clues here since part of the pleasure of collecting watches is given by the discovery) with a little investigative effort you can find a few brands that having been large, prestigious and innovative at the time, they are very little known today among fans, so their pieces can still be found at very affordable prices, which I fear will not last too many years.
At this point in the text I can imagine more than one reader thinking: “Well, ok, I don’t know, is not that classic watches are for old guys and golden ones for Asian fans??”
Well, let’s leave aside for a moment that in our contemporary fashionista and influencer social world, the golden watch and retro looks are trendy and we take for good the hypothesis that this biased view is true. Well, nothing happens either: many of those brands and others specialized also in watches that are more sporty and equally affordable. Thermidor, Seiko, Dugena, Yema … the world and the Internet (which are different things) are full of sports vintage watches of amazing appearance, sufficient technical-mechanical quality and very contained price. There is no valid aesthetic excuse for not using vintage watches.
Thermidor New Old Stock
Dugena Valjoux 7734
Yema Club Sous Marine
And best of all … all those watches are suitable for daily use. Every single one of them.
Of course, they will need to be complete and in good condition and much better if the case is made of stainless steel, but from there, with a not very expensive service by a trained watchmaker the watch can work for many years. And also without fear of being hit or scratched, since substitution crystals are usually quite cheap too.
I can understand that from here, ascending in the scale of economic value, historical prestige of the brand or rarity of the piece, it may become a bit more difficult to take them out for a walk. I’m not going to recommend that anyone go canyoning with a 1958 watch, of course, but at the same time we should not forget that unlike today, at that time watches were designed and built more as work tools or practical information instruments that as aesthetic complements. And, for that reason, they were prepared, within the limitations of the technical and material capacities of that time, to withstand much harder tests than those to which we can confront them in the everyday life of our wealthy western society of the 21st century. Does anyone believe that an Omega Speedmaster Mark III, with that ostentatious waste of steel that is its case, will suffer a lot in office mornings? Or that a Roamer Stingray will accuse going to pick up children at school every day? Well, no, of course. So go ahead, get out of the house and show off those vintage watches.
Omega Speedmaster Mark III
Logically, we must not lose sight of other questions. In collections of high-level pieces, whether economic or rare, you have to foresee the possibility of loss due to misfortune, forgetfulness or, unfortunately nowadays, also robbery. That is another thing, more linked to common sense than to the inconvenience of the watch to be used, but it must be taken into account. I do not have, nor will I have, a vintage Patek Philippe Nautilus, not even a Calatrava. But if I had them, of course I would not wear them for the Christmas dinner of the company or for the day that you meet back again with those party-animal friends you have not seen for a long time. What was said: use common sense.
Now that we have seen that yes, against what some people think, old watches can be used safely and daily, we have to approach the other point of view, that of the fan that want to be also a real collector.
Personally, I only have a contemporary watch and because I was presented with it for a special occasion. So I use vintage watches almost daily. Anyway, I will not deny either that my little vintager heart understands and shares equally that most possessive-contemplative prism of many collectors: several of my pieces I enjoy them much more watching them and knowing that they are there, often comfortably asleep in their own original box, that using them. No need to be ashamed; I am aware that some of the ones I like the most I will not get them back in my life if something happens to them and I control with that filter of prudence my conviction that vintage watches can and should be used.
The collecting gene is present in many people, not only in the horology field. It provides pride and satisfaction the work of tracking, pursuing, acquiring (when possible) and documenting watches included within specific and determined criteria, which can be very broad. There are those who collect by brands, who collect for complications or functions (chronos, alarms, divers …), who collects by movements (I know several collectors of chronographs with Valjoux 72, for example), who collects by its mere aesthetic taste and even there are those who collect with will or perspective of future investment (which certainly can lead to enormous and painful frustrations, as we will analyze another day if Watches83 let me continue writing here after this).
The collection of watches, in short, in the sense of looking at them and not touching them is a perfectly legitimate and enjoyable option, but it is a personal choice. That is to say, it is not that they have to be collected in this way because they can not be used, but because this is consciously preferred.
I do not think it worthwhile to analyse here any aspects of vintage haute horlogerie collecting. It is another world, very far from the pocket of the average fan and with its own rules. In addition, whoever is reading this blog will normally be interested in old watchmaking and therefore will already be aware of the most common criteria of watch collecting in the medium and high ranges. But I would like to draw attention to a segment that is sometimes forgotten or taken into modest consideration: the collection of what we have called affordable watches before.
As we have seen at the beginning, the very nature and characteristics of these watches make them suitable for daily use by aficionados who, without further demands, want to enjoy the pleasure of their retro aesthetics. But … does that turn them into minor pieces, only in cheap watches destined to satisfy a retro aesthetic need, call attention in a social event or be the most modern in a meeting of hipsters?
No. They are also a huge, wide and very grateful potential collecting field.
As non-exhaustive examples, and without leaving this affordable range, you can build excellent and extensive vintage collections, many of them with the added enjoyment of allowing some historical research, of:
- American watchmaking (Hamilton, Elgin, Bulova, Waltham, Illinois, Gruen, Buren …) or Japanese (Seiko, Orient, Citizen, Ricoh …)
- Seiko sport watches, for example from the range 5 Sports
- French watches of diver looks, an endless sector, very economical and aesthetically dazzling. Of course, better not to wet them in a puddle.
- Monobrand or monomodel collections in not expensive local brands
- Special dials (textured, guilloché …)
- Electronic watches
- First digital quartz (LED, LCD)
- Different and / or bizarre watches (jumping hours or with unusual functions)
- Although chronographs are shooting, for a little more you can already develop a good collection of watches with Valjoux movements 7733 or 7734 or Landeron.
Super-Watch Valjoux 7733
So, in summary, it should be clear that vintage watches serve both to use them and to look proud at them, and in both cases they provide satisfaction. The only essential trick is to adapt them to your own opinions, to be satisfied with the feedback that you are given.
I consider – if I am allowed a piece of advice derived from personal experience – that the choice made on the individual approach to vintage watch buying or collecting must be deeply and long meditated, with the aim of modifying it as little as possible in the future and avoiding the recurrent and frustrating “by readjustment of my collection …” that start so many advertisements selling watches. Although well thought out, it is frustrating only for the seller: if nobody readjusted collections there would be fewer watches in circulation … Well, I do not know, at this point it would be better that each one concludes depending on their own opinion.
But I do insist that as a user or collector it is very important to have everything clear. Because if you opt for example for an affordable collection and one day suddenly you get surprised thinking something like “with what I have paid for my thirty-nine Orients I could have a stunning Omega Constellation Pie Pan 18 carat-gold in mint condition” do not resist, That collection is dead. Seriously. You will not get out of that hole. That woodworm has no treatment. Readjust.
That’s why I reiterate, at the risk of being tiresome, that before deciding to collect -with whatever criteria- or buying vintage watches just to use them, we must be very clear about what we want to possess, what we can afford and for what do we want them.
It is the only way to avoid disappointments and fully enjoy watches that, in case you have not noticed, are much more beautiful and evocative than any of those plastic craps with battery-operated Chinese modules. And yes, they may have a variation in accuracy of one or two minutes a day, but, nowadays … who needs a watch to know time? They are something else, a symbol of distinction and class. Enjoy them.
