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

SkunkPrince
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dsio dsio
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.
I get you, and that's a good idea. Some people, howeverr, don't even want a 5-year old Speedmaster sent to Omega because of the refinish.

I don't think new people are necessarily going to get the nuance. A 20-year old is going to see a 70s watch as an antique, perhaps, whereas for me, anything made in the 1960s is too "new" to be "vintage" (born in 1965).

I don't have a good answer, either, though I struggled to find one. Other than explicit date ranges, I have little to offer.
 
TimeODanaos
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Now I'm starting to feel bad for the 1990s. The moderns have long moved on, and the ancients will never acknowledge them. It's gonna be like that gap between Dickens and Joyce that Henry James fell down, or something.
(OK, probably time for my nap now.)
 
JwRosenthal
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TimeODanaos TimeODanaos
Now I'm starting to feel bad for the 1990s. The moderns have long moved on, and the ancients will never acknowledge them. It's gonna be like that gap between Dickens and Joyce that Henry James fell down, or something.
(OK, probably time for my nap now.)
I’m fine with that- I have tons of 90’s watch shopping to do before all the vintage freaks screw it all up. 10 years ago we were saying the same thing about the 80’s... and the beat goes on.
 
JwRosenthal
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TimeODanaos TimeODanaos
Sshh - the first rule of 90s Watch Club is...
Step dialed Speedy’s- go chase the step-dialed Speedy’s, nothing to see here. 👎
 
dsio
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JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
Step dialed Speedy’s- go chase the step-dialed Speedy’s, nothing to see here. 👎
But the 2021 Speedys are stepped dial again now lol
 
Shabbaz
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In the 90's I did'nt had a deskjob. I was a young, happy, independent student who roamed the streets of Barcelona and Amsterdam with a beautiful girl on my arm. No responsibilities, no mortgage and I could sleep till 12 o'clock in the morning without people calling me.

Of course the 90's is vintage...
 
kkt
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Observer Observer
Maybe it’s like people. Over 35 years is vintage. Over 45 is antique.

Hey!
 
vienna
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Do we really need to draw a sharp line for the definition of vintage? Or shouldn’t we just enjoy the fantastic watches we love on our wrists?

kind regards Max
 
dsio
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vienna vienna
Do we really need to draw a sharp line for the definition of vintage? Or shouldn’t we just enjoy the fantastic watches we love on our wrists?

kind regards Max
If you read up above its just about getting them in the right forum topic its a life or death question just something I was curious for people’s opinions on.
 
lillatroll
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TimeODanaos TimeODanaos
Different strokes - in California, a 150 year old house is historical; in Europe it's not even unusual.

My old house in the centre of Bergen, Norway, was built in the 1600s. Additional parts were added upto the 1800s. Its been a house, a Goldsmiths, A doctors office and housed upto 8 families. I looked up the history of the street. It's called skivebakken. Skive means disk. Bakken means hill.

At the bottom of the hill used to be the Danish Kings Archery Club. In the description it says they used to shoot papagoyer. That is the Norwegian word for Parrot. I wondered why they were shooting Parrots and where they got an endless supply of Parrots from. Turns out they were referring to the paper targets, known as Parrot targets because of the coloured rings.
 
vienna
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dsio dsio
If you read up above its just about getting them in the right forum topic its a life or death question just something I was curious for people’s opinions on.

Maybe I‘m just an out of the box type of guy

kind regards Max
 
Engee
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It’s not simply a question of age. The item needs to have some intrinsic historical interest or value. It’s widely accepted that to be considered an antique an item needs to be over 100 years old, but that doesn’t mean if I chopped out a beam from the loft area of my 115 year old house it would be regarded as an antique. It’s an old beam of wood.

“Vintage” is also an arbitrary term. It’s marketing speak for “not old enough to call it antique” and there’s less consensus, if any, as to what age it needs to be. I’m not even sure there’s been a debate. The concern in the antiques business has always been people describing something 50 years old as an “antique”, not people describing something 20 years old as “vintage”.

And I would certainly never describe a plastic kids LCD watch picked up as a free gift with a few gallons of petrol back in the 80s as “vintage”, even if it still worked and I could find it. Like antiques, the piece should still be of historical interest.
 
izydor
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Modern philosophy 😁

Be aware that if you post anything in "modern" forums now, someone will have to move it to vintage section in 20-30 years. If in doubt, post it here and you'll save mods some work in the future. 😜

There was similar thread not so long ago. I like this part:
hoipolloi hoipolloi
lots of watches just get old and become garbage, not vintage

I was born in 80s. 70s-80s pieces are quite "vintage" for me. Everything from 90s doesn't feel vintage at all. And please stop calling Bond's Seamasters vintage (at least before I eventually get one). Some sellers think "vintage" is a keyword that makes item more valuable.

For cars - I've always thought old car can be either classic or crap. The fact that something is just old, doesn't make it classic or "vintage". 😀
 
eternalover
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Ask Omega.

I saw somewhere anything they haven’t sold for 20 years is “ancient”!! Their “Vintage” database goes to 2008!
 
D
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Hard to believe but yeah, vintage now. Bring a Trailer makes me feel really old. Seeing 90s Integra Type R (which are great, but was just an exceptional car for a track or autocross rat to beat on for soooo long) selling for more and more and more each year. Even e46 M3 are appreciating rapidly. I bought a 2002 996 911, a car that was the bain of Porsche, 5+ years ago and put 55K extra miles on it. Sold it this fall for exactly what I paid. TLDR, the 90s stuff is already vintage. The world is now eyeing early 2000s as vintage. Sorry if I've made everyone feel old on a Saturday night (but we are)
 
E
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TimeODanaos TimeODanaos
Different strokes - in California, a 150 year old house is historical; in Europe it's not even unusual. So, I can understand why some of you guys think e.g.1998 is a lifetime ago and therefore deserves a label. But - mediocre + old = mediocre, however much time passes. Surely, vintage = potential classic + passage of time + user acclaim.
Something else that disrupts the cars / watches comparison is the quartz crisis. That for me is the Great Divide, between watches as the essential companion of everyone's daily life, and the self-conscious piece of art and technology we see today. No passage of time can change that, imho, more relevant classification.
(Actually, petrol vehicles may one day be in a similar position, I guess.)
Having said all that, I would be very interested in what folks think makes a modern classic / future vintage, it would be nice to collect some newer pieces with an eye on the future collectors in the family. Thoughts?

I agree with using the quartz crisis as the line of demarcation (and at 26, I don't consider myself 'vintage'!).
 
pdxleaf
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dsio dsio
If you read up above its just about getting them in the right forum topic its a life or death question just something I was curious for people’s opinions on.

Where'd you end up on this? 3590.50 in Vintage or Modern folder?

(861 caliber, tritium, obviously vintage 😁)
 
sheepdoll
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So at what age does a resurrected thread become vintage?

I personally like to use 35 years for vintage. I am not sure I have any watches that are not really vintage in one way or other. I think the newest watch I have is an Apple watch, which is a series 1. If that can even be considered a watch. What are these 6 years old or so? That is like an antique in the computer world.
 
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