How often do you find larger sized vintage watches in your area?

Last year I found an Omega Seamaster 60 and a Rivita chrono. That's the best I've found in about four years.

Over the last 29 years I used to be able to find at least one nice larger sized vintage watch--either a diver, or chrono--locally, but lately nothing.

Today I picked up a nice dress Wittnauer automatic with a 11AO movement, which I haven't seen before and I like it, but otherwise larger steel cased watches just don't seem to crop up around here anymore.

Really, in any type of situation. I found the Rivita in an antique mall and I found the Seamaster 60 in a glorified pawn shop presenting itself as a jewelry store.

I used to be able to go to antique malls or shops, use Kijiji and just word of mouth that I bought watches, and find nice larger sports models. Now all I seem to find are smaller dress watches.

Piles of hand wind Gruens, Bulovas and Elgins from the 40s and 50s but rarely a nice heavy dive watch from the 60s or 70s.

You veterans had all the fun. It’s an expensive slog for us newcomers....

Agreed.

The internet has been a boon for collectors because before I had to use outdated books and catalogues to research watches and now I can go online and find info about even the most obscure watches.

It's also a PITA because people who don't know anything about watches go onto ebay, see absurd BIN asking prices and believe those prices are market value.


I miss the days of walking around garage and yard sales and finding interesting watches. Antique markets were a good place to find watches as well. Now there's so much competition, and sadly around here a lot of the competition are people who know nothing about watches. Combine ignorance with a willingness to overspend and watch hunting isn't as fun as it used to be.

I was at an estate sale a few weeks back and saw two people bidding on a 1980s gold plated Omega and the winning bid was $610 CAD.

The last time I saw this was with pipes; I started collecting pipes in 1989 and by 1996 people were paying hundreds for pipes that were not worth hundreds. Today those same pipes sit unsold at $25 and $50.

Then there's fountain pens. Somehow they became popular with non-pen collectors and the prices went through the roof. Prices have come back down to normal now but there are fewer good pens out there. And far too many are having their gold nibs pulled out and sold for scrap.