Reply With QuoteWelcome!!
You should collect watches that you like.
This can be a fun place to be and you will learn lots.
Hi Everyone,
I'm new to the forum, I think I've found myself an expensive habbit! And I would like everyone's advise pretty please!
I love watches, especially automatic/mechanical vintage watches, could anyone give me some insight on what to collect and what not too?
Oh and price rage is between 200 - 500 pounds!
Kind Regards
Saagar
Welcome!!
You should collect watches that you like.
This can be a fun place to be and you will learn lots.
Spend plenty of time looking at watches and decide what you really like before rushing into buying.
Don`t try to buy bargains unless you really know what you're doing; be prepared to pay a strong price for a good example, leave the scruffy stuff alone. The cost of service/repair is very significant thesedays; you could buy a watch at £200 and easily spend another £200 getting it sorted out.
Paul
Originally Posted by StuS
What the two gents above said is 100% accurate. That being said, you could always learn to service a watch movement yourself if you are so inclined.. plenty of tutorials and videos, and on a cheap movement/watch, no big loss if all goes wrong.
Answering your original question, I'd look at Omega Seamasters from the 60s and 70s some will be in your budget. Only issue I have with them is that they are a bit small for my wrist.
If you want new watches that look vintage, there are plenty of excellent micro-brands that have retro watches such as Timefactors (sponsor/owner of this forum) and plenty of others.
Good luck, and post photos :)
Yup, as said above.
What do you actually like?
Anything is achievable, just tell the forum and they will assist.
For example if you absolutely would love a Rolex Milsub: you can buy brand new homages or settle for a different issued diver, maybe a CWC
Welcome. A nice issued CWC as said would be a good start.
Have fun and don't spend too much.
Paul
Thanks everyone for the wisdom! This is the thing, with vintage watches they tend to be around 37mm I need something atleast 40mm - which I think is the sweet spot - for me anyway!
Looking at some of the Valjoux movements, but I think I might consider something significantly cheaper to crack open and see what's really going on behind the steel walls!
Thank you so much everyone, I look to learn a lot on here and hopefully I'll see one of your watches and prehaps fall in love with it!
I'd love to see peoples examples, please share if you have any!
Thank you again!
Vintage watches 40mm and greater in the 70s were still super rare, and probably mostly limited to diver and pilot watches. Those that I can think of are all highly collectible.. Throw in a chrono movement and a Valjoux one nontheless.. Well, let us know how you get along, you have to search super, super hard and be extremely lucky if you are to come anywhere close to even the upper end of your budget in a working condition.
That is a difficult question. First of i agree with GTuned, you are going to have a hard time finding those large sizes 37-40 in the vintage department at the price level you mentioned.
I think Omega has some very nice pieces in the vintage category, that would be a solid place to start, although not sure how far you get with that price level. But before you go purchase i would recommend that try to define what you like, dress watches? Military watches? Divers? Chronographs? etc. try to find some limits, otherwise it is very difficult to give out advice. If you do not know the answer to the this question, then my suggestion would be - do not pay any serious money before you have the answer, otherwise it is going to be way more expensive than it has to :-)
How about a Seiko 6139 'Pogue'.
It's a 40mm chronograph and was famously worn on one of the Skylab missions.
It's difficult to suggest where to start a collection. It depends so much on what particularly interests you. But its hard to ignore Seiko. The divers and chrono's of the 60's and 70's are very collectable and fit into your price range very nicely.
Just buy what you like the look of because it will all be discarded later on for more and more expensive stuff!
I would warn you against vintage Seiko divers as there are so many with replacement/wrong parts and if you don't know what you are looking at could be harsh learning experience.
Buy a new Seiko 007K to get you started on decent sized mech watches, or one of Eddies IMO.
Cheers,
Neil.
Welcome!
Just buy what you like, whats in your budget and a good aspect is for it to mean something to you. I've loved watches for years and ifnally purchased my first rolex this year as a present to myself for my 21st birthday.
As everyone else has said, buy what you like, but with that kind of budget, there are plenty of '60s-'70s candidates to choose from, as long as you're not expecting any of the 'classics' (Speedmaster, Daytona, Sub, El Primero, etc).
If you're not brand obsessed, you can pick up some great watches (with top notch movements) for peanuts.
M.
If you want a 'collection', why not aim for a collection of three or four 'types', which you can upgrade as budget permits:
A dressy watch on a strap;
A diver ... SKX007 would be a good start;
A beater ... Casio G-SHOCK (or could be a field watch or your diver);
And then maybe a chronograph ... if three watches isn't enough.
I'd start with the SKX007 :)
If you are new to the hobby I'd suggest starting with vintage styled new watches rather than actual vintage given your budget.
Last edited by vortgern; 1st September 2015 at 15:56.
Read lots on here (and elsewhere) and then, with your eyes wide open, buy what you like and not what you think you should buy. You will probably be drawn one way or another and may find that your "collection" shapes itself. I did that and ended up with a number of 70s Omegas (amongst other things) without really going out to have a 70s Omega collection. Above all, enjoy yourself and be prepared for your tastes and, therefore, your collection to change over time.
Its fun to have a theme, divers? Chronographs? Space watches ( there are more than you think, affordable too ) Russian watches? or just what you like the look of..
As Neil put it so well above, it doesn't matter at this stage as in a short while you will have changed your mind...
absolutely agree! There are no other "rules"
I totally agree with Neil's comments.Just buy what you like the look of because it will all be discarded later on for more and more expensive stuff!
I would warn you against vintage Seiko divers as there are so many with replacement/wrong parts and if you don't know what you are looking at could be harsh learning experience.
Buy a new Seiko 007K to get you started on decent sized mech watches, or one of Eddies IMO.
Vintage Seiko divers are very collectable and good ones are highly sought after. Ebay is full of modified Seiko's (= little or no value to collectors) many with 'new' (fake) dials. Buyer beware.
Research your hobby and know what you are collecting.... is the best advice!
Welcome! At least 1 or 2 Rolex watches...
1. buy a watch ( buy a watch you like )
2. buy another watch ( again, a watch you like)
3. congratulations. you have a collection.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Have to agree with the SKX007 suggestions, get one from creation and order a strapcode super oyster with it and you cant go wrong, great looking watch and ultra comfortable as well as having some great wrist presence, it took me a long time to go for one and i regret not taking the plunge sooner
Never buy new.
Other than that just save up and buy what you - never just settle.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
My first dabble into vintage stuff was with a Seiko Chronograph, a 6138-0011, it was a lovely thing but I just never wore it because it was pretty large!
There a a number of 70s Rados in the 37-40mm range.
This NCC 101 is 42mm wide.
Thanks for posting.
Buy a watch you like, keep it, then buy another one, keep that one too, repeat.
What I would do is just get one you like the look of to start off that is in good working order, and go from there.
I don't want to drag this thread off topic, but I quite like fixing things myself, and am tempted to try this. I have a 50 year old Seiko that I paid very little for which gains around 10 mins a day and only tried adjusting the regulator so far but even on full adjustment it's still running to fast.
What would the next step be? I feel a little out of my depth and I have a feeling that if I was to start taking it apart I'd never be able to put it back together.
Sound advice.
I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I first arrived here, buying all sorts n haste.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
I know some guys who thrive on buying and selling, have something for a week, two at the most, then flip it and buy something new.
Myself, I browse and browse and browse, spend month or two looking at something and ultimately decide in the end it is not for me
Did you notice also how when you get fired up at something, it is never available at decent price
Slowly, deliberately, painstakingly.
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