Vintage Watches: I Don't Get It

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AAAKK

·Sep 5, 2026

B Bonk

IMO unless it's more than about 30-40 years old it's not vintage and I don't look at older modern watches as being vintage. For example, I don't consider a 80's or 90's era watch as vintage.

You're contradicting yourself. Using your criterion for vintage of 30 years, that would qualify watches 1996 and older. Using your older criterion of 40 years would qualify all watches 1986 and older. Yet you don't consider 80s or 90s watches as vintage.

 

B

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Bonk

·Sep 5, 2026

Thanks for the mostly excellent responses so far. To the one or two that can't read and comprehend very well I never said anything negative about vintage watches. I said they don't appeal to me and I didn't criticize them or collectors that prefer them. I clearly said I have a very casual interest in them but not enough to buy one. I didn't start the thread with any negative intentions. I just wanted to know if anyone else wasn't particularly interested in vintage watches.

 

B

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Bonk

·Sep 5, 2026

AAAKK

You're contradicting yourself. Using your criterion for vintage of 30 years, that would qualify watches 1996 and older. Using your older criterion of 40 years would qualify all watches 1986 and older. Yet you don't consider 80s or 90s watches as vintage.

Split hairs much? I said "about 30-40 years old". Technically you got me. Feel better?

 

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Waltesefalcon

·Sep 5, 2026

My newest watch was made in 1972, so I guess I qualify as a vintage watch guy. I like quality, history, and a little style, three things vintage watches excel at. My 1960 Constellation keeps time to within COSC standards. Which, for me, raises the question, why would I spend ten times what my Connie cost on a new Omega when it's not going to be a better time keeper? That value that you get in a good vintage piece is something that modern watches can't touch. Don't even get me started on how good some of my 100 + year old American pocket watches are.

 

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Duracuir1

·Sep 5, 2026·Never Used A Kodak

I have a few vintage watches and a few modern.

The modern ones are great for worry free use. They are resistant to moisture, water, shock, have great lume and are easily serviceable.

Exhibit A: My Baltic.

A well serviced vintage is not bad either, but I am more cautious with it.

Exhibit B: My flightmaster

Glad to have both and it helps me understand why some prefer one or the other.

So Bonk, you have watches and are member of OF. You’re legit.

Edited: Sep 5, 2026

 

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Canuck

·Sep 5, 2026

B Bonk

Thanks for the mostly excellent responses so far. To the one or two that can't read and comprehend very well I never said anything negative about vintage watches. I said they don't appeal to me and I didn't criticize them or collectors that prefer them. I clearly said I have a very casual interest in them but not enough to buy one. I didn't start the thread with any negative intentions. I just wanted to know if anyone else wasn't particularly interested in vintage watches.

What I fail to comprehend is why @Bonk is disdainful about the watches most of us love, but he hasn’t told us what particular stuff that makes him hum, if it isn’t watches! And why he wastes his time posting on a collectible watch forum. And receiving no sympathy to his point of view!

 

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ghce

·Sep 5, 2026

As some one who has more than his fair share of vintage watches from 200 year old to the cusp of the 80's I can still understand why one might choose more modern offerings but my view is a bit more off beat in that I would be unlikely to choose from the more main stream luxury offerings which to me just seem a sad rehash of past glories at grossly inflated prices.

Of recent times my eyes have turned to some of the wonderfully different offerings from the Chinese manufacturers who have turned the style factor on its head with refreshingly different styles and at far more realistic pricing and still providing reliable quality or even some of the smaller Swiss brands who have branched out into there own caliber manufacture at prices that throw scorn on their more celebrated established rivals.

 

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noelekal

·Sep 5, 2026·Home For Wayward Watches

elephantcage

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the selection of the next thing some guy prefers to some other thing.

Well, don't fall off of your seat, but...

While I really dig both, I like the Beatles better than the Stones.

 

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AG77

·Sep 5, 2026

I prefer Guns & Roses to Pearl Jam. Both neo vintage?

 

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ghce

·Sep 5, 2026

Beethoven mostly though there are a few other old dead dudes music I like too.

 

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TIMElyBehaviour

·Sep 5, 2026

Vintage watches, I don’t get it.


You don’t need to get it. All you need to do is collect what you like.

 

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Fallout Boy

·Sep 6, 2026

something is wrong with me 😲

 

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noelekal

·Sep 6, 2026·Home For Wayward Watches

ghce

Beethoven mostly though there are a few other old dead dudes music I like too.

Mrs. noelekal and I have a decades long debate running. She is in the Beerhoven camp while I am firmly in the Mozart camp.

 

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Fallout Boy

·Sep 6, 2026

Same with Karajan vs. Bernstein 😉

 

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elephantcage

·Sep 6, 2026

This thread reminds me of the musings of the pot heads that used to hang with my older brother in the mid 70s. Red, watery eyes, giggling slowly at everything, eating all our snacks, talking slow, absolutely sure every thought they had was original and profound:

"Hey man. Have you ever really thought about Three's Company, man? There's like, a dude, and there's like two hot women, they're like....together...but not together. I mean...they're funny and all, but they aren't TOGETHER. Ever notice that, man? And that old guy and his wife are always dropping by, man. What is that all about? Barney Fife and his wife? Where is Andy? And Floyd? I bet Floyd got high all the time, man. Floyd and Otis. Am I the only one?"

 

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Felix_La_PuBelle

·Sep 6, 2026·Sometimes I’m wrong. Usually.

If “vintage” is only an age descriptor then it’s irrelevant to why I sometimes like an older watch. I don’t like them just because they’re old. There’s usually other attributes to the watch that coincide to the time period it was made.

I like racing dial watches and the genre came out of the 60s and 70s tied to Motorsports.

Some people like the look of aged lume, or certain movements, or other attributes not present on modern counterparts, and that’s obviously going to direct them to watches of a certain age with certain attributes.

The moon watch is tied to a certain historical period that fascinates a lot of people and finding watches from that period enhances the collecting experience if you’re into that.

So I don’t think of it as liking something vintage just be cause it vintage. For me there’s usually other associations that correspond to the particular time period of the watch. Trying to define how old something should be to be called vintage is just a task for building a search filter in a database.

I’d say the same thing about cars and pretty much anything else collectible.

 

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Canuck

·Sep 6, 2026

I recall a Mercedes Benz ad from many years ago. “Built up to a standard instead of down to a price.” I feel this may apply in some measure to antique and vintage watches, vs modern.

 

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Felix_La_PuBelle

·Sep 6, 2026·Sometimes I’m wrong. Usually.

Ron_W

So this is about what you dont like ?

This makes me think of the ABC speech from Glen Gary Glen Ross. This could be better.

 

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Larry S

·Sep 6, 2026·Color Commentator for the Hyperbole.

Vintage watches are cool. Their histories are interesting. The designs are classic and they exhibit the patina from a life of service which many of us appreciate. I have many. I also maintain a cadre of modern watches to support my aquatic adventures, cycling, hiking, gardening etc. For these purposes vintage don’t cut it.

 

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elephantcage

·Sep 6, 2026

“That’s what I love about these vintage watches, man. I get older, they stay the same age.”​

Well....sorta.