Horological Meandering

Looking at this piece it made me ponder a lot of the future of vintage watch collecting. Vintage watches, especially Rolex, have transcended from being collectible watches into the rarefied world of antiques and objects d‘art. Is a Paul Newman or Patek 2499 now in the same realm of the Ming vase and Dali painting? Perhaps the better allegory is with the classic car world. Does the owner of the Ferrari 250 GT SWB actually go racing or display in a climate controlled garage? Truth is it’s a combination of both, although it’s probably in the garage mostly, driven only on special days. Maybe the owners of Paul Newman’s wear them on special occasion? 

Has the rarity and value factor affected wearability? I have a confession, I get nervous now. Maybe this is a failing on my side. But certainly the older and more valuable a watch is, the more I mollycoddle it. Am I foolish? 

 

I want to preserve the facets of the watch which make them special in the first place. The originality is very important to me, a typical example is my Speedmaster with CB case. The watch is completely original, and I am desperate to preserve that. Any silly knock  and bang, damage could affect the bezel, crystal, maybe even dial/hands. Overpolishing could wipe out those distinctive facets – if it suffers a hard knock to the case. This has happened to me already with another piece. I cannot get it repaired, as the manufacture insist on changing parts. I foolishly dropped it in on concrete. So to preserve my Speedmaster (a watch I am deeply in love with), I bought a Speedmaster with tritium dial from the 80’s. I love this watch too, but is less stressful to wear. Of course this maybe all my own paranoia, we regularly see Bill on boats and manner of places supporting nothing but vintage. 

I think Bill has bigger “balls” than me. Same with Nico. 

 

This brings me to vintage retro modern watches. Faux patina et al. I think manufactures are aware. They know someone with a vintage piece may want a modern for daily life, or perhaps the vintage is so inaccessible they want a way into ownership.  

Some of these vintage retro are perfect, the Omega Trilogy, the vintage Longines diver and JLC Polaris 68 to mention a few. Others are modern interpretations of the vintage, the JLC DeepSea and Tudor Black Bay 58 are prime examples. 

 

Getting back to vintage- there are many factors that are entwined that affect ownership. Value is definitely one, when the GMT was £3000, it hurt if it got damaged, but not as much if it’s worth £30,000. When it becomes this expensive, and dent in originality has a consequential and perhaps devastating effect. Most desirable vintage watches are now at least 50 years old, and are vulnerable to damage. We have already seen the upset on the Rolex forum, when the tritium came out of a GMT master hand. It also happened to a friend of mine, the hour hand still needs fixing. 

That brings me to servicing. Not every brand will service their vintage watches. Rolex is perhaps the biggest culprit. Even when they do, they will replace hands and dials with modern Luminova versions due to health and safety. Talking of health and safety the future of radium dials has oft been called into discussion. Baron did a superb post on radioactivity. All these factors beg a question, are vintage watches too precious to wear regularly and on a daily basis or reserved for those special occasions? Have they become safe box antiques? 

So has the profile of the vintage watch buyer changed – even if not yet significantly. Who pays £50,000 for a Daytona? What am I missing? Are the modern day dealers of antiquities now firmly in the driving seat of highly desirable vintage pieces. Have they superseded the vintage watch buyer?
Paranoia or real first world anxiety, how do you feel about the Vintage market?

Best  

Imran