I have just bought my first NOS watch which was a 1971 Seiko 6139 still in its blue plastic case with tag and papers but whilst it is a cracking watch it has failed to excite me. I can only put this down to the fact it has no history other than it has sat in a garage for 40 plus years. I collect vintage watches and whilst I spend hours looking for unpolished cases,original hands ,dials etc is that really what I want ? That's what the investment market wants but it feels a little cold and calculated when I have it in my hands It has got me thinking about what matters most to me about a watch. Condition versus history In 20/30 years time would I want to buy a watch someone bought new today and purely parked it in a drawer untouched or buy the same watch but it had seen a life . Now the ideal would be a watch with a documented history so perhaps the way to go is to keep a watch diary My wife already thinks I am weird but this would really freak her out
I think you may not be cut out for this obsession. I'll PM you my address and we'll work out the shipping details. Thanks.
I stopped reading at NOS 6139... I don't need to hear how awesome it is and that it's such a great piecebragging about being so happy with such a special piece.
I suppose it depends how you view your purchases. I buy primarily on design and happen to prefer a lot of vintage designs. If I decide to purchase a specific item I would want to buy the best example I could find/afford but some sympathetic aging such as lume colour can be attractive also and wouldn't deter me. I'm not a fan of buying a heavily worn example but each to their own.
NOS watches are only good for one thing... Rip 'em open and wear 'em. Ok, that's two things, but still.
You can always throw it in a jar with your keys and some coins and shake it vigorously. Then make up a really cool story for it. Like.... it was eaten by a shark while still attached to a surfer's arm. And then they went and hunted the shark down and strapped explosives to it. And when the shark exploded the watch flew out into the air and landed on the boat. However I would not recommend that and I think the watch gods would curse you for doing so. They may have cursed me for even coming up with it
I have a few watches which still had the gunk still on them, I just took the crap off them and then thought no more about it. I don t think they are really much more valuable that a nice clean example of a particular model. Once you pull the gunk off and wear it a few times you will enjoy it more. If you cant bring yourself to do that and you don t enjoy it, probably best to sell it ..........to me
I did a slight variation on this in that I gave the watch to my 19 year old son when we visited him this weekend at University and it is his daily wearer from now on in. I only wish I had got the watch earlier as in September he climbed Mt Kilimanjaro which would have been a good start to this watches belated history
