CHRONICLE - To buy vintage, or not to buy vintage…

Buying and wearing vintage wrist watches became trendy. Is it really worthy?

8th July 2009

Robert-Jan Broer - www.fratellowatches.com

You can’t deny that vintage wrist watches are hot. Not only amongst collectors, but also among the guys who want to have a nice show-off on their wrist when going out for some drinks with friends or colleagues. The vintage watch hype has caused prices going sky high for popular models, like the Rolex Submariner with red printed wording on the dial or vintage Panerai watches with the Rolex – Cortebert movements.

The definition of vintage has become quite relative, even watches barely 12 years old are sometimes being referred to as vintage. What happened to the good old ’25 years’ when talking about vintage watches? Let’s use the ’25 years and older’ definition for this article.

Personally, I am not very much into vintage watches and will clarify in this chronicle why I am more into modern wristwatches. First of all, I am born in 1977 and this makes me a child of the 1980s, where digital watches and Swatch ruled the wrists of the kids in those years. Not only kids, also grown-ups had these stainless steel or plastic Casio watches with calculators and other useful functionalities.

The famous G-Shock from Casio © Robert-Jan Broer/Worldtempus.com

This means that I don’t have any nostalgic feelings when I am looking at a Bulova Accutron Spaceview watch from the 1960s or an IWC caliber 89 from the 1950s. I had both (and more) vintage watches, but I found myself selling them as soon as I noticed I didn’t wear them at all. I really like a lot of vintage watches for their historic value, movement, design or looks, but just not for me. Although I regret selling my Rolex GMT-Master from 1971 too early, but only because of the fact that they are selling for a lot more money these days than they did 5-6 years ago. I simply like the modern versions with gloss dial, sapphire crystal and modern movements better.

A few reasons come to mind why I don’t buy vintage watches, like the fact that these watches are often a bit too small for my taste, or that they are a bit too fragile to wear, or just too expensive in comparison to a similar new model, or that the design just a bit too classic for a young guy like myself.

However, one of the most important reasons why I don’t buy vintage anymore is that the running costs of a vintage watch is becoming unaffordable. Of course, you can always find a nice vintage piece of a well-established brand for a decent price, but the fun of a vintage timepiece (to me) is to have it in pristine condition, preferably with the original box, papers and booklets. To get a watch complete or in pristine condition, it will cost you serious money, if possible at all that is. Even brands like Rolex and Omega (kings of restoration work – as long as it is done at the factory in Switzerland) are unable to cough up all the original spareparts that are needed to keep your vintage wristwatch running.

Another aspect that is very important when buying vintage watches, is the authenticity of a watch. For example, I wouldn’t dare buying a vintage Rolex Double Red Sea-Dweller without getting the proper documentation with it. Even when I know my share of vintage Rolex watches. Scammers do not fear to build an expensive ‘marriage’ Rolex (for example) of genuine parts – so authenticating becomes difficult – and sell it to you as an all original and authenticated vintage Rolex sports watch. So, make always sure you know what you are talking about, get proper documentation and bring an expert along, even if you are an expert yourself as well. Luckily, I fancy modern Rolexes, as written above.

The only vintage watches I really have a weak spot for, are the Omega Speedmaster (pre-)Professional models. I was lucky enough to buy a nice 1967 piece in 1999, for a decent price. However, to have it all original and in 100% running order again, it has cost me some serious money and parts weren’t always available at once. The later models, from the 1970s are still interesting to buy money-wise, since they are half the price of a new one and have more similarities with the actual moonwatch than any of the models later than 1997 (and don’t get me started on the limited editions).

My single vintage watch is a family piece © Robert-Jan Broer/Worldtempus.com

Besides the Omega Speedmaster, the only other reason for me owning a vintage watch is that it is a family piece. But that way, I don’t buy it, I would inherit (or get) it from relatives.

In any other case, I’ll continue buying new (or at least modern) wrist watches that I can relate to from my own ‘era’.