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Is it time for early 90s Omegas to be considered vintage?

JwRosenthal
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M mountainunder
I for one am curious about the outcome of this thread.
Because when I create a thread for 90s Omega watchs, I will know whether I need to create the thread in "MODERN OMEGA WATCHES" or "VINTAGE OMEGA WATCHES HELP, DISCUSSION AND ADVICE".
Now I can get out of my labyrinth!😀😀
Just post it on the Longines sub-forum, they love that! :whipped:
 
Deafboy
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I serviced a cocktail watch that my 30 year-old niece inherited from her great grand-mother (tiny things!). She said it wasn't working when she got it back in the mail. It turns out she didn't realized it needed to be wound.

upload_2021-3-2_11-51-17.png
 
Dan S
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The arguments are logical, but 1990s just doesn't feel vintage to me yet.
 
BlackTalon
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For me:

'90s Speedmasters and Seamasters -- almost brand new

'80s -- Eh, maybe in 10 years I'll be interested...

'70s -- These newish ones make good beaters

'60s -- Yeah, these are nice collectable vintage ones.

For most other things: If they came to be when I was in Junior High school or later they are still pretty new.

Me, personally: Likely considered vintage (or antique) by most of my employees...
 
DON
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For me it's pre 70's. 50 years from now. Pre 70's

It's about less production. Lower survival rate, so fewer watches of older models

Today (or a little earlier). People collected and didn't throw things out like they used to, so higher survival rate. Would a number 1 Worlds Finest Superman comic be worth what it is if every buyer kept it? Once things had collector value. People tossed them in drawers and not in the garbage.

Pre 70's

DON
 
nonuffinkbloke
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Well, I suppose you could ask the question, How would you chaps have regarded my Dad's Omega Speedmaster Professional 105.012-65 in 1997? It was 30 years old at that point in time.

Dad had a Seamaster first then got his Speedmaster in the late 1960's. Was his 105.012-65 vintage in the the last picture in the frames shown below? It was 30 years old when he was having a sing song down the pub, with that lady.
2fec7ac2-70e4-4fef-8395-1c915d55cf46.jpg


Here it is now. More than 50 years old and definitely vintage.
IMG_20190712_130613-1.jpg
Edited:
 
Cannonical
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I was also wondering about this recently. Eric Wind's HSNY lecture states 20 years is the auction industry standard for vintage. Some collectors still swear by the pre-1980 rule. I'm somewhere in the middle at the 25-30 year range.

Tritium, acrylic, and big balance wheels are things I associate with vintage, but I don't think we should rely on features for an age-based qualification.
 
JwRosenthal
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Cannonical Cannonical
I was also wondering about this recently. Eric Wind's HSNY lecture states 20 years is the auction industry standard for vintage. Some collectors still swear by the pre-1980 rule. I'm somewhere in the middle at the 25-30 year range.

Tritium, acrylic, and big balance wheels are things I associate with vintage, but I don't think we should rely on features for an age-based qualification.
Agreed. Our tastes, qualifications based on merit/design or resistance to acknowledge our own “vintage” doesn’t stop the passage of time and the shift from modern to vintage.
Although I would never call this a “classic”, it is indeed vintage
0853601F-B77C-4753-810F-B89D8214012E.jpeg
 
SkunkPrince
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AMC got a bad rap for some of their designs. Say what you will, they sold a lot of Pacers and Gremlins. Just not enough to compete with GM/Chrysler/Ford. Plus, the Javelin aside, they didn't have a whole lot of muscle cars.
 
Alpha
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O.m.g. so I am prehistoric 🙁🙁🙁🙁
 
JwRosenthal
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Here is a great example of modern classic, but is now vintage- last of the breed, one of the most coveted- 25 years old. Not just classic- vintage as well.

E3383BDF-6EF5-410C-9EC5-85F4B6F8B63F.jpeg
 
TimeODanaos
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Well, QED! Your not-that-ancient Porsche is classic + universally acclaimed over time = vintage. Your old Pacer is... er, old. 😉
 
BlackTalon
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JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
Here is a great example of modern classic, but is now vintage- last of the breed, one of the most coveted- 25 years old. Not just classic- vintage as well.

E3383BDF-6EF5-410C-9EC5-85F4B6F8B63F.jpeg
Seriously? That's a 993. Those things are pretty much brand new.
 
JwRosenthal
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The point I am making, which is the same point I think Ash is making by creating this thread, is regardless of how truncated our memories of the past are, the 90’s was 21+ years ago. The newest 993 you can get in the US is 23 years old!
Yes, I have socks that go back to the Bush years and probably have condiments in my fridge that expired when tritium was still available (I actually found a tube of Neosporin in my linen closet that expired in 2006 the other day), but every year that passes, another model watch/car/ whatever falls into the vintage category.
 
dsio
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This dude has listed a Seamaster Pro as an antique in the title: “Auth Omega Watch Seamaster Professional 300M Date Antique”

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTH-OMEGA...939861?hash=item1ab53ec695:g:pLEAAOSwAjlgPcjC

And its from the 2000s (Like the E46 M3) but yea I’m thinking we may start shuffling anything tritium or earlier into the vintage topic rather than modern from now on just in the interest of accuracy.
 
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SkunkPrince
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I've been thinking about this for a while, and I'm trying to understand what exactly we mean and why we care?

Clearly whatever is being currently sold by Omega is "modern".

What do you call something that is discontinued but still receiving factory support in terms of parts and accessories?

What do you call something that no longer has factory-supplied spare parts?

What do you call those watches that Omega will restore for $1500 and up and they will make the parts if they don't have them?

For the purposes of Omega Forums, how about just being explicit by date? 2000--current, 1980-1999, etc, we can discuss those numbers, but there is no guessing.
 
dsio
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SkunkPrince SkunkPrince
I've been thinking about this for a while, and I'm trying to understand what exactly we mean and why we care?

Clearly whatever is being currently sold by Omega is "modern".

What do you call something that is discontinued but still receiving factory support in terms of parts and accessories?

What do you call something that no longer has factory-supplied spare parts?

What do you call those watches that Omega will restore for $1500 and up and they will make the parts if they don't have them?

For the purposes of Omega Forums, how about just being explicit by date? 2000--current, 1980-1999, etc, we can discuss those numbers, but there is no guessing.
From my perspective just guiding threads to the right topic so the right people see it as there is a different group that view the modern topic from the group that view the vintage topic. Modern topic advice is typically send it to Omega, polish and replace the parts, vintage topic is send it to an independent watchmaker, don’t polish and retain the parts. Many of the modern watch section people probably aren’t as into 90s pieces anymore either.
 
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