Let's See Your Watches! The Vintage Watch Thread.

[Talbot]

Tank...

I listed a gruen 'tank' on eBay a while back.

My auction was pulled and I got a terse letter about copyright protections.

It appears that Cartier own the word Tank as it applies to wristwatches.

 

[Warbaby]

My Hamilton "tank" -

Woooo...sweet!

 

[Levallois]

Rolex Oyster Precision - worn for 30 years by a mechanic and it shows it -

Longines my uncle wore -

Talbot - good to know about the "tank" designation.

Warbaby - I appreciate the kind words.

John

 

[Edward]

A poor photo taken with my phonecam, I'm afraid, but it gives some idea of my collection of watches at present, I'll try and get some better ones up soon:

L to R:

Timex manual winder, belonged to my Grandfather. Unsure of date, but a nice classic piece. Black leather strap is unoriginal.

IWC with a rose gold coloured body. Like many of my watches, this is a Chinese fake. Bought because I liked the style, nothing to do with the brand it purports to be - and it keeps excellent time. Nice one to wear when I'm doing presentations, with that big clear dial, easily read at a glance. I've looked at real IWCs before, though only seen much more military styled ones..... that I couldn't afford.

"Rolex" skeleton watch - again, a Chinese fake, and again I bought it purely for its looks and not because of the brand it purports to be. I don't think that I've ever seen a real Rolex that looks quite like this one.... same stall had an identical watch that nore the Omega brand. (Quite honestly, I didn't even notice the Rolex logo until I'd already bought it - I was just looking for a watch in this skeleton style).

"Omega" - again, Chinese, bought in the same Beijing market, and again bought for style not brand. Rose gold coloured body.

"Rolex" in stainless steel colour. I'm sure an expert could easily spot this for a fake, though it is again a really nice watch. The only real downside to this one is that the year dial on it only goes up to 2015 or thereabouts, but hey.... for all I paid, if it lasts til then I'll not be so worried. This is the only fake that I actually deliberately bought as a fake rather than just a nice watch that coincidentally happened to be a copy of a model I will never be able to afford. I guess at the time, on my first trip to China, buying a fake Rolex seemed like a rite of passage.... Keeps great time, lovely watch to wear. This would be a post 6pm 'daily driver.'

Pulsar by Seiko - gold plate on stainless steel. A lovely watch I just took delivery of - bought it for 25% retail price as an ex-demo model. Not a simgle mark on it, very pleased with that. I'd been looking for a watch of this style for some time, and this turned up on eBay just at the same time as my grandmother had sent me some money for a birthday. Only had it a couple of weeks and not had the chance yet to actually wear it as I need to have the strap altered for my tiny, girly wrist. Once that's sorted, this will be my daily day-time wear.

The next watch is another Chinese copy. No idea what brand it purports to be - don't recognise the logo at all. Face claims "made in Germany" though. I picked this one up for evenin wear, and have worn it a fair few times with black tie now. I love the art-deco styling to it.

Then we have an Alpha 93. I know nothing about this brand other than that it's an American thing, and I bought it from a US-based dealer on eBay. They had loads of watches by this brand at very reasonable prices, and they all had a bit of classic styling to them, but alas they seem to have disappeared! So no more of them for me. Nice watch - wore it daily for a bit, though now it's an evening thing really.

Lastly, we have a Russian Vostok. Vostok were to Russian military watches what Victoria Knox are to the Swiss Army's knives. Still made in the original factory, they sell new for around GBP30 today. This has been my daily driver for most of the past six years. Chrome plating is starting to wear off the body, down to the brass underneath, so as soon as the Pulsar's bracelet is resized, this will become a 'beater.' Grat watch, though, always loved using it. Particularly a fan of the stretchy metal bracelet I had put on it a while back - very comfy.

I do hope that noone is overly offended by my posting the fakes I have in my collection. I am a believer in intellectual property.... it just so happens that I've never seen a particular harm in me owning a couple of fake watches that I know are fake, paid very little for, and bought for the look and not the name anyhow, bearing in mind that in no way, shape or form will I ever be able to afford 'the real thing.' [huh]

EDIT: Sorry.... also misread thread title..... these are mostly a fairly vintage style, is that okay? If requirement is true vintage will remove posting!

 

[Lucky Strike]

Interesting bracelet - is it marked something like JB Champion? This type of adjustable bracelet was supposed to have been used by NASA, mounted on Speedmasters and other watches in the mid-to late sixties, IIRC.

Nice, I like the lugs.

Now, imagine this on a JB Champion bracelet...actually, I've always liked Omega's mesh bracelets, particularly the way they just thread the pins through the top loops of the mesh. Other mesh bracelets generally end in tubes.

Very nice - I'd put a new crystal in, though!

Here's a fifties Oris I've posted earlier; the dial has faded to a dark brown, so I put it on a brown croc strap:

 

[Warbaby]

Interesting bracelet - is it marked something like JB Champion? This type of adjustable bracelet was supposed to have been used by NASA, mounted on Speedmasters and other watches in the mid-to late sixties, IIRC.

Thanks for the info on the band.

The back of the clasp is marked:

STAINLESS STEEL
1/10 14k G.F. Trim
FORSTNER
KOMFIT
PATENTED U.S.A.​

 

[Dudleydoright]

My watch

I've had this GMT I since 1981. My parents bought me one for my 18th birthday. It's been all over the world with me and never let me down. Who cares if it's crap at being an accurate watch !

I'm on my third bracelet but still have the first one and the current steel one is a Submariner one .

DDR

 

[Edward]

Right now, I'm very taken with the Pulsar (a brand owned by Seiko) Automatic - stainless steel body and bracelet, gold plated. RRP is GBP80, but I managed to find one selling as an ex-display sample on eBay for GBP20, which is great. Nice and simple, and the date function sets a dream. Some of my watches you have to wind the timing hands round day after day to get it to the right date. This one, you pull out the pin two notches to set time, and one notch to set the date - turn one way for date, the other for the day. Easy peasy.

As to dream watches.... well, I do really like the looks of the Hamilton Ventura. Unfortunately, the automatic models are beyond what I can presently afford, and the only 'replicas' I've seen were all quartz. One day, maybe...

 

[Unlucky Berman]

My favorite during the last days is the Endicott, I've shown in the other Thread. But I also like my other Hamiltons.


My dream watch if I could find one in good condition would be this:
The Hamilton Randolph from 1936. Its one of the rarest and imo one of the most beautiful pieces of Hamilton.

 

[PADDY]

Oris; Omega; Panerai.

The Oris is my current 'beater.' The Omega Moon Watch is taking a nap for now. The Pannie 111 is getting serviced.

 

[Warbaby]

My favorite during the last days is the Endicott, I've shown in the other Thread. But I also like my other Hamiltons.


My dream watch if I could find one in good condition would be this:
The Hamilton Randolph from 1936. Its one of the rarest and imo one of the most beautiful pieces of Hamilton.

The Hamilton Randolph is on my dream watch list, as well - but the one I want most is this deco Elgin:

 

[Down2BDapper]

Mine is a Pierre Cardin and it was given to me by my mother last Christmas.

 

[crinel]

Vintage watches

Hi everyone!

I'm new here and also swedish so please have indulgence with my spelling and grammar...

My motto (if you can call it that) is that its better to have 10 cheaper watches than 1 expensive, because a gentleman should vary his watches just as he vary his clothes. And recently I found my passion for vintage watches and I'm now wondering if you know any good websites that sells not so expensive vintage watches?

So far I've managed to purchase two, one from EBAY and one from http://www.watchismo.com/index.php.

 

[bburtner@moran]

Vintgae Watches

Hello: I have been a watch collector most of my adult life some 40 odd yrs,you might try Cool vintage watch (nice watches,both high end vintage and also priced for the middle class,Finer Times,Father Time Antiques,Darlor Watch.Try these web sites you will indeed find something.PS I bought a Universal Geneve Polerouter(MINTY) from Jon at Cool Vintage Watches.BB

 

[bburtner@moran]

Watch

Some really nice photo`s folks,and some great time pieces,being a watch nut I would have to go with the Hamilton "Byrd" from their explorer series,next would be the platinum "Rutledge".Hamilton`s 19j 982 movements were some of the finest made,that comes from an old watchmaker that I used to use many years ago.Americas "Patek" the old guy would call Hamiltons(LancasterPa.of course!!

 

[crinel]

Thank you very much for the websites!

My latest purchase was a Fero Feldmann (NOS) - circa 1969

 

[Unlucky Berman]

Besides this ebay is also a good source. But you need to know a bit about the watches you seek and have feeling about their price. If there are good pictures of them, wich should include the grade (so you can determine the serial numbers), then it can be a good place to get the one or other nice piece.
Then there are forums where some collectors share their knowledge and sometimes sell watches. Then there is a german collector base, where collectors can trade watches: http://www.ranfft.de/uhr/index-e.html

 

[crinel]

Thank you Berman (the german) !

 

[Naphtali]

And now for a shameless plug:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=5120

 

[srivats]

which watch would you choose, and why?

Seiko released a bunch of mechanical watches earlier this year based on the 6R15 movement ... I am looking to get one for Christmas. I have narrowed down my model, but I have a hard time choosing the color ... silver or gold?

If it were upto you, which would you choose and why?