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smorrisonmd
路Everyone has moved over here!
Some of you may recall this post from TZ. If you do, feel free to move along. If not, please enjoy!
Why vintage?
I started collecting watches around 25 years ago. For a long time, it had to be new, shiny, and off the beaten path. Nearly impossible to read the time? Even better. Think Alain Silberstein Skeletonized Jump Hour.
Vintage pieces? I spit on them. They just looked old. I got to see that every morning when I looked in the mirror. Nothing pretty in that.
But with time, I found myself more and more over in the Vintage Forum. I found it remarkable that some of these pieces had simply been around for 50 plus years. I began to appreciate the beauty of dial patina, which can only be created by the aging process (Omega tried recently, but the new Seamaster 300 just looks to me like a bad redial). More importantly, I came to realize that if you want a new Patek Perpetual Calendar, simple: Mortgage the house, drop by your neighborhood Patek Supercenter, hand over a pile of cash, and walk out with the watch. Finding a 60 year old Omega Ranchero with the original sticker on the back?........ not so much. (But I have one 馃榾)
Like a lot of vintage Omega collectors, high on my wish list was a 30T2RG Chronometre with the "Scientific" dial. I had purchased 6 or 7, but all had a major wart; recased, redone dial, wrong crown, etc. Then one night while cruising the 'Bay, one caught my eye. Poor pictures, and none of the movement or inner case back. But the story was intriguing...."this was my fathers watch".....It just smelled right.
Several days later, I was thrilled to be the high bidder at substantially less than what it would likely brought with a better presentation. I emailed the seller, and asked her to include a brief note about the provenance of the watch. I stood salivating at the mailbox for the rest of the week, until a box arrived......
Somewhat concerned about the movement, I immediately sprinted up the stairs to my work desk and popped off the case back; it was ~ perfect:
The dial, not perfect, but much better that the pictures:
And in an envelope at the bottom of the box were these:
Why vintage? For me it is the thrill of the hunt.
Some of you may recall this post from TZ. If you do, feel free to move along. If not, please enjoy!
Why vintage?
I started collecting watches around 25 years ago. For a long time, it had to be new, shiny, and off the beaten path. Nearly impossible to read the time? Even better. Think Alain Silberstein Skeletonized Jump Hour.
Vintage pieces? I spit on them. They just looked old. I got to see that every morning when I looked in the mirror. Nothing pretty in that.
But with time, I found myself more and more over in the Vintage Forum. I found it remarkable that some of these pieces had simply been around for 50 plus years. I began to appreciate the beauty of dial patina, which can only be created by the aging process (Omega tried recently, but the new Seamaster 300 just looks to me like a bad redial). More importantly, I came to realize that if you want a new Patek Perpetual Calendar, simple: Mortgage the house, drop by your neighborhood Patek Supercenter, hand over a pile of cash, and walk out with the watch. Finding a 60 year old Omega Ranchero with the original sticker on the back?........ not so much. (But I have one 馃榾)
Like a lot of vintage Omega collectors, high on my wish list was a 30T2RG Chronometre with the "Scientific" dial. I had purchased 6 or 7, but all had a major wart; recased, redone dial, wrong crown, etc. Then one night while cruising the 'Bay, one caught my eye. Poor pictures, and none of the movement or inner case back. But the story was intriguing...."this was my fathers watch".....It just smelled right.
Several days later, I was thrilled to be the high bidder at substantially less than what it would likely brought with a better presentation. I emailed the seller, and asked her to include a brief note about the provenance of the watch. I stood salivating at the mailbox for the rest of the week, until a box arrived......
Somewhat concerned about the movement, I immediately sprinted up the stairs to my work desk and popped off the case back; it was ~ perfect:
The dial, not perfect, but much better that the pictures:
And in an envelope at the bottom of the box were these:
Why vintage? For me it is the thrill of the hunt.
