Girard Perregaux

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Neo-Vintage GP

Why is Neo-Vintage (late 1980s to 2000), about 15 years or so, considered the golden age for watchmakers? Why are some pieces from this era considered so desirable by collectors?

Here are 10 reason I came up with:
1. The quartz crisis was over. Like in during WW2, cuisine was not said to flourish. All focus was on food rations. The golden age for America for example was the 1950s and 1960s. Think beautiful cars, furniture made with solid wood, with exquisite styling, fashion, haute cuisine (for the French). The same for the watch industry, they focussed on quality and pushed the boundaries of design refinement.

2. There was no internet, so mostly magazines. Manufacturers had to work HARD to get the dollars of collectors. There were no Omega "Limited Editions' ' of 7,000 pieces and such, like we have today. The designs that came out of this period were groundbreaking.
A much larger percentage of cost went towards product development vs sales, marketing, sponsorships and such you see today.

3. They made watches in much smaller quantities. Think Limited Editions of 10 pieces. Not 7,000. And because of that, many of the pieces we see on the market today would not have been available to mere mortals today. They were so expensive back then and made for the elite. Today some (if you know which ones)are available at pennies on the dollar. Not because they are not precious, but because the brands want you to buy NEW PRODUCTION pieces. They can not make money from you buying these pre-owned pieces. So some brands inundate the average collector with marketing which confuses the market. Why do so many people buy Rolex? One common term I hear is because it is “safe”. Good for Rolex marketing. They are masters at it and I salute them for their marketing. Their watches are OK, but compared to what you can get with the same money for a neo-vintage Daniel Roth … they are like a Honda next to a BMW 850.

4. They started to use computers for CAD ... not for mass manufacturing, but for design precision and coupled with artisan hand work. So they are reliable. Nothing to worry about, they can be serviced easily. Original parts are available. This is not the case for vintage watches (1940, 50, 60s). Here you have to be uber careful on what you buy.

5. The giants of today such Richemont had not bought all the brands up. So the individual brands like VC had to fight hard with AP, GP, PP to gain traction. No begging ADs for watches. A rolex back then was a tool watch. Exactly what they were made for. USD 2,000 or so. Brands such as Minerva, Lemania were not yet bought up. Heuer was still Heuer ... not Tag.

6. Sizes were smaller. 36 and 38 mm all were about the sizes to expect. And today, we know that the focus is back to those sizes. Clocks on the wrist are now passé.

7. And even though they didn't make many of each watch, it was still modern and robust. They used crystal sapphire glass, they standardized parts, they kept inventory, they tested watches with very high levels of QC.

8. Watch icons such as Daniel Roth, Franck Muller, Michael Parmagiani were breaking away from the giants they started with such as Patek Phlippe. They started their own brands. They had access to amazing movements that today are no longer available to all.
What we have today is like fast food or ikea. Mass productions by some brands. GP is not one of them and this is the allure of the brand. FJ Journe and such which are trying to remain focussed and keep production numbers small are doing well.
That is why a Daniel Roth Sympathie made in 2020 can cost about 10 K on the secondary market and one made in 1998 can cost 100 K. 10 x the price.
Many watch collectors today are only collectors in name. Don't know much about the brand nor the model they wear, and just want to hoard and show off. They think of watches as ways to make money, begging ADs for pieces that they turn around and flip as soon as they walk out of the shop. Never mind about them, let them do what they do. The opportunity is to not be like them. This is where the Neo-Vintage pieces come into play. And yes, in the future, they will become even more expensive. A Ming period vase today is compared to an Ikea vase. Which would you rather pass on to the kids as your legacy?

9. The watches from the 1990's often had prevenance to them. Special significance for the issue of the model. 1997 AP's for example that commemorated the return of Hong Kong to China for example are worth a ton of money today. 88 pieces made.

10. They are special and unique. The chances of you walking into a room and seeing the same watch on another person is going to be very very slim. They hope that you are not a mass production sort of guy. You know your stuff. Classy. Got money but don't need to buy a show off brand to prove it to everyone. It's a form of Quiet Luxury. And also a means to express your individuality.

Summary:
This is a very good article to read by a very well respected group called A Collected Man from the UK: www.acollectedman.com s

Many are still very affordable compared to modern day watches. I know many dealers and they have told me that even in this current “down watch market” the prices of neo-vintage pieces are the ones that are RISING in value.

But if you try to buy some neo-vintage APs, Pateks, you will see that they are not that cheap any more. This is because they are very well documented. The archives are published. Collectors in the know seek them. Even Rolex, some of the models from the 1970’s are worth way more than modern day pieces. And they trade at 50 x the prices they were originally sold for by the AD.
But what about GP? This is where there are opportunities. GP did not document or archive that well during the 1990’s. So there are treasures out there. One has to know which ones to get.

GP is currently in the midst of a massive project to revamp its archives and documentation. They are stocking their Museum. In the next 2 years, you will see a lot more information and nods (re-issues) to the past treasures from GP. The originals that they nod to will become highly sought after and better known. See what has happened to the IWC Ingenieur neo-vintage pieces with the re-issue last month? All prices have climbed for the neo-vintage pieces.

Why are we seeing neo-vintage pieces coming to the market for sale? Because the world has an aging population problem for first world countries. These are the countries with people that had the wealth to purchase these now neo-vintage pieces. But the children and grandchildren that these pieces are passed to do know know nor want to know about them. They want the money to sell grandpa's old GP or Patek. And sometimes, they don’t know how much it is really worth. Even many dealers don’t know. They are more used to selling modern Rolexes than neo-vintage pieces. Often these pieces come with no box or papers, so a dealer would have to do archive searches and such to recognize the watch they have on hand. On c24, unless one knows what to search for, one does not see the rare pieces. So it is not that there is no demand, it is just that people don’t know how and what to search for. There are too many pieces listed on the websites for a person to browse through. So the sellers lower their prices etc. But there are very few pieces.
Remember, neo-vintage watches are not like cars. They don’t “spoil” , they will work just as well (if not better) as any modern watch today.


This is the opportunity. I hope you find this post useful.


























































This message has been edited by India Whiskey Charlie on 2023-04-30 11:10:56

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