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What are the top few brands to look out for?

Mr.Bliss
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New to vintage watch collecting, probably like most i started with the Omega brand.
At first i found Omega to be the easiest to collect being so abundant online (Ebay mostly) but as time went buy i learned (thanx to OF forum members) that it's quality and originality i should be looking for, seldom found on Ebay.
To make a long story short, i ended up selling all my watches and started over picking up a very few beauties
(Zodiac, Bulova, Omega and a King Seiko) instead of what you would probably call "rubbish".
Adding to some of my frustration- i haven't been very lucky with the shipping, loosing one beauty on the way (Omega 30 i purchased on OF from Daniel aka Donkii) and another KS seems to be missing as well.

Anyway back to the point, what brands should be looked out for and why?
What about Brands like Olma for example?

Thanks
 
STANDY
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Longines, Zenith, Lemania, IWC, UG and Omega have enough variety to keep you going and enough information and experienced members on this forum to sort the chaff from the hay.

But aside there is about another 20 brands that are in the mix.
Girard Perregaux
Mido
Eterna
Alpina
Nevada
Movado
Bulova
+++++ plenty more.


Not hung up on any one brand myself
https://omegaforums.net/threads/found-it-fun-without-a-date-or-a-brand.38423/
 
Lurk41
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Or this...
Renault_21_2.0_GTX_Manager_Nevada_1993.jpg

Coming back to some brand suggestions:
Doxa, Clebar (french slang for "dog"), Yema, Lip, Eberhard, Jenny/Philip Watch, Benrus, Hamilton, Jaeger, Angelus, Enicar...

So much brands that produced very cool watches, it is difficult to list them all. It also depends on what type of watch you are looking for and the budget.
 
Mr.Bliss
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Why are Omegas so popular? I assume in the 50-60's there were better brands or at least as popular.
 
Dan S
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Mr.Bliss Mr.Bliss
Why are Omegas so popular? I assume in the 50-60's there were better brands or at least as popular.

This forum focuses on Omega, so it is obviously popular here. If you go to forums that focus on other brands, those brands will be popular there.
 
Mr.Bliss
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Of course I don't mean popular on site but popular all over.
 
Dan S
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Mr.Bliss Mr.Bliss
Of course I don't mean popular on site but popular all over.

Except for this site, Omega doesn't seem particularly dominant to me. Spend some time looking at the IG feeds of vintage collectors (and on other watch forums) and you will get a more balanced view. Of course, I'm not sure this is an appropriate topic for the VINTAGE OMEGA sub-forum.
Edited:
 
gatorcpa
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Here is a portion of a Consumer’s Report article in watches from 1949.

upload_2020-8-22_11-14-34.jpeg


On the right is a relative ranking of brands at that time based on their expert’s opinion. Note that LeCoultre is conspicuously absent from this list, as it was just starting to be sold in the US market.

Evan

Hope this helps,
gatorcpa
 
JwRosenthal
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I also think the question is what are the most desirable within a certain price point. Some think Lange, JLC and PP are easy & fun to collect, but they are playing in a different league. Rolex used to be a fun brand to collect for the masses until they became silly money.
As I am but a civil servant and have a salaried wage, I like to challenge myself to find unusual or exemplary examples in the sub $1k range which brings us back to Omega (for most but the professional series), Bulova, Elgin, Zodiac, Certina etc.

As for why Omega was so abundant, they had a large presence in the US post war and were often gifted by corporations for accolades (Bulova, Gruen and Elgin held those roles prior to the 60’s for the most part), so were seen as prized watches- despite being very much consumer pieces. I don’t think Rolex really assumed middle class the aspirational role until the late 60’s early 70’s in the US...but I may be off on my time periods a bit.
 
Evitzee
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I'm amazed that you could have bought a Patek Philippe from the Montgomery Ward catalogue in 1949.
 
JwRosenthal
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Evitzee Evitzee
I'm amazed that you could have bought a Patek Philippe from the Montgomery Ward catalogue in 1949.
And you could buy a Rolex from a military PX for about half your monthly salary as an enlisted. My former boss was Navy in 1961 and bought his GMT from a PX at that time.
 
STANDY
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Evitzee Evitzee
I'm amazed that you could have bought a Patek Philippe from the Montgomery Ward catalogue in 1949.

Post war all luxury items were catalogue as there was usually one or two companies in either the US or Australia that distributed European goods.


JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
And you could buy a Rolex from a military PX for about half your monthly salary as an enlisted. My former boss was Navy in 1961 and bought his GMT from a PX at that time.

In the 80s you could buy a Rolex from a waterski magazine add. From Rolex..
 
Mr.Bliss
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What about spair parts, isn't that also something to consider. I assume that different companies have different quantitys of parts selling or is that not something to consider as parts are always in abundance.
 
STANDY
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Mr.Bliss Mr.Bliss
What about spair parts, isn't that also something to consider. I assume that different companies have different quantitys of parts selling or is that not something to consider as parts are always in abundance.

Parts are different for all brands. Not a easy question to answer.

You really need to spend your time reading a lot. We can’t answer all the questions for you.


Golden rule buy what you like.
Research a lot before you buy anything.
 
JwRosenthal
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Mr.Bliss Mr.Bliss
What about spair parts, isn't that also something to consider. I assume that different companies have different quantitys of parts selling or is that not something to consider as parts are always in abundance.
Differs by brand. As far as I’ve seen, Omega actually seems to be among the best for supplying parts for most watches they have produced over the last 70 years. Rolex is hit or miss for parts for vintage pieces. Any of the dead-by-Quartz-resurrected brands you’re on your own. Zodiac is particularly hard and prices are going up as supply dwindles.
Bulova as an example, sent massive caches of parts and specialty tools to their service providers and were very consistent in using the same movement across several lines, not to mention their watches were made in the millions and rough but running watches can be had for lunch money, so parts are abundant both NOS on eBay (from watchmakers estates), or from donors. For that reason alone I have no problem collecting Bulova’s- no fear of running into a parts issue.
 
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