Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why there are so many vintage chronographs in the hands of Italian collectors and dealers? Did the fashion for chronographs hit there before anywhere else?

 

@LouS said it well: "Italian is the root language of watch collecting. Compared to our Italian colleagues, we are all beginners."

 

I heard years ago that Italians bought watches as a store of wealth in the 1970s when the inflation rate in Italy was high. It may have been because they couldn’t convert Lira to hard currencies such as the Deutschmark and watches were easy to get hold of. Don’t know how accurate this is, and it doesn’t explain chronographs in particular. Good question though, also interested to know why. I’m sure some of our older European members know more.

 

I think one of the reasons is that in the 1950/1960s in Italy there was a period of strong economic growth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_economic_miracle) which brought about an increased wealth. I believe that this, coupled with a traditional taste for style and design items might be at the root of the diffused presence of high quality watches in Italy and of the earlier rise of watch collecting. It would be very interesting to hear from the experienced italian collectors that witnessed those days.

 

Maybe they simply bought the most spare parts available for years

 

Still happening……Except now, it’s called ‘Money Laundering’…and the practice has moved further East

 

Italy is the cradle of watch collecting. I remember reading that it was only recently that the US overtook Italy as the main market for Swiss watches.

EDIT: Seems like I have misread or read something that was obviously wrong! Oh well.

 

Curioser and curioser. I´ve been told that chronographs became particularly fashionable in Italy in the 80s so maybe the dealers stockpiled and the collectors collected on the basis of the hype. Be very curious to hear the opinion of any long term Italian dealers out there...

 

@ConElPueblo Not quite right....

http://www.fhs.swiss/scripts/getstat.php?file=histo_pays_180606_a.pdf

 

Huh, not qite right indeed! I'll amend my post

 

Calling @mr.kaplan !

 

Omega recognises the importance of the Italian market (LE Albino, 3593.20)...



... plus the Italy Black & Gold, DA145.0022

 

Didn't the first mass published watch magazine begin life in Italy in the mid 80s?

 

I lived in Milan for 11 years, though I wasn't interested in watches at the time. It often seemed like every second person was wearing a Rolex in the fashion world, though I'm convinced many had them as status symbols for the sake of "bella figura" as they would say, which means to make a good impression.

 

Look no further than this Marvin advertisement: admittedly not a chronograph, but Italy is the first country mentioned as a watch market:



Universal Geneve were prominent too: