Is vintage watch fandom a well kept secret?

dougiedude

That's pretty much my experience, too.

A few weeks ago, I was surprised to see a young guy in a deli in my hometown (ATL) wearing a vintage Girard Perregaux, however...

chipsotoole

the senior VP of a massive energy company ..his watch of choice ? A big oversized shiny Fossil

be.norm

Also - anyone else constantly feel like they are getting caught staring at some random guy's wrist, trying to figure out what he's wearing? And since the wrist is often around waist level... can lead to an awkward interaction if misread... time to keep my eyes to myself!

be.norm

Also - anyone else constantly feel like they are getting caught staring at some random guy's wrist, trying to figure out what he's wearing? And since the wrist is often around waist level... can lead to an awkward interaction if misread...

GuiltyBoomerang

+1 here - I find this can get disappointing fast though as I see the tick tick of fashion quartz watches or the blank screen of a smart watch...

dougiedude

LOL!

+2, So true!

To save face, I usually just go ahead and tell them their 'watch looks nice/interesting; what is it you're wearing?', and then 9 times out of 10 it's not a true vintage 🙄...

...but that hopeful 10% keeps me asking!

propervinyl

I used to work for the U.S. Senate, and in addition to the neverending stream of recent subs and PO's, I once ran in to a guy wearing a UG "Evil Nina" in an elevator at work. This was probably 2013, before they exploded in value. I nodded at the owner. He looked at my 145.007 and nodded back. Never saw another interesting vintage watch in my 8 years of living in DC.

watchknut

Funny, I made a lot of friends based on watches in DC. One of my closest friends I met in the Smith Point courtyard...asked about his 1016. There weren't a ton of watch people though for a city of its size...also really poor fashion.

propervinyl

I mean, it is Hollywood for ugly people [emoji6]

chipsotoole

Hi Omegoids,

I'm a freelance teacher/trainer in Germany and work on a weekly basis all over my area with groups of professionals from different fields, quality of lives, income brackets, and social backgrounds. They are undoubtedly car crazy here and spent loads of money on those, but where are the decent watches?
For the last 2 years; since I got bitten by the vintage watch bug, I've been on a general alert: checking out wrists for interesting timepieces that might say something about the owner (which they all invariably do), both in my classes and outside on public transport, trains etc. In 2 years I've yet to see a SINGLE 1st division or premiership watch on anyones wrist. I recently spent a lot of time training the senior VP of a massive energy company ..his watch of choice ? A big oversized shiny Fossil Chronograph.
OK so I haven't gone to any specific watch meets, and the HQ of the German Timepiece society and library (along with halls filled with display cases of amazing watches) is in the night school building where i work in Nürnberg, ( The moon watch taunting me almost every day in the case by at the top of the main entrance staircase probably pushed the recent purchase of a Mark II...you have to walk past 2 Atmos clocks and a case of Reversos (neither working) before you even see it!
But where are the everyday wearers of nice, exquisite, cool, quirky, fancy, even standard vintage mechanical timepieces? Are we in this forum living in a bit of a fan frenzy bubble? I've been in board rooms with groups of bankers and I've sat with high hegions in plastics production, worked in various university departments....they all uniformly wear POS's I wouldn't pay 10 Euros for on the Bay.
Maybe it's just me...