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Vintage Eyeglasses

Nick D

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,166
Location
Upper Michigan
My toddler son snapped my antique pince nez in half. I put the lenses on another mounting I have, but it just isn't as comfortable as the old one, so I need to find another one. I need to get a new prescription anyway, but being a bit strapped for cash I'll probably get my monocle reglazed first (the glazing fee is the same but I only pay 50% of the lense price.)
 

bellaclaire

New in Town
My toddler son snapped my antique pince nez in half. I put the lenses on another mounting I have, but it just isn't as comfortable as the old one, so I need to find another one. I need to get a new prescription anyway, but being a bit strapped for cash I'll probably get my monocle reglazed first (the glazing fee is the same but I only pay 50% of the lense price.)

How spooky!! my one decent pair of glasses have just snapped in half and im lookin for some nice vintage lookin ones....im also in West Yorks.....:eek: just found this thread so gonna have a read through...already looked at the jeeperspeepers site....
 

MisterGrey

Practically Family
Messages
526
Location
Texas, USA
Has anyone here who switched from metal to plastic or a metal/plastic combo had any problem adjusting to the weight of the glasses? I picked up a pair of browlines a few weeks ago and had polycarbonate lenses installed, but I still can't get used to the... cumbersomeness... of them. I'm afraid that I've gotten them too large for my face. I like the aesthetics of them, but as far as functionality, I'm beginning to worry I've made a very hasty mistake.

372698_613185091_1168811625_n.jpg
 

univibe88

One Too Many
Messages
1,146
Location
Slidell4Life
I think the size looks great. I am sure it is just something you need to adjust to. Strangely I switch between browlines and super light, space age, german designed, next-to-nothing frames. I switch every 2 or 3 days depending on my mood. They couldn't be more different. Yet the change never bothers me.

Make sure to have your optometrist adjust the nose pads and temples. Having them properly adjusted will keep them from slipping and help them be more comfortable.
 

CircuitRider

One of the Regulars
Messages
208
Location
Southern Indiana
Has anyone here who switched from metal to plastic or a metal/plastic combo had any problem adjusting to the weight of the glasses? I picked up a pair of browlines a few weeks ago and had polycarbonate lenses installed, but I still can't get used to the... cumbersomeness... of them. I'm afraid that I've gotten them too large for my face. I like the aesthetics of them, but as far as functionality, I'm beginning to worry I've made a very hasty mistake.

372698_613185091_1168811625_n.jpg

I had plastic lineless transitions put into a pair of 52MM tortoise Ray-ban Clubmasters (Wearing in my profile picture)...fairly lighttweight. More a matter of being larger than the weight of my previous titanium featherlights.
 

normanf

One of the Regulars
Messages
156
Location
Salida
round head = square frames
square head = round frames

right?

or is that just another silly rule / guideline?

The rule is glass frame shapes should be flattering to your face. If you have an oval face, you can wear any style of glasses. People with inverted triangle or heart shaped faces are difficult to fit to so ovals and exaggerated ovals work best. The best advice is to try on in the store different types of glasses and see what works well with your face shape. You'll find one you're happy with.
 

normanf

One of the Regulars
Messages
156
Location
Salida
There are different kinds of coating applied to modern lenses. Anti-reflective and anti-scratch are the most preferred options. They reduce glare particular at night and they can keep the lenses clear. Photochromic, like Transitions, allow you to have sunglasses outdoors without sacrificing the benefit of clear eyeglasses indoors. The technology didn't exist back then to allow you to have particular kinds of lenses. There's no need to have just one pair of glass lenses anymore.
 

MisterGrey

Practically Family
Messages
526
Location
Texas, USA
Look like fairly typical 50s-60s horn-rimmed specs. Gonna guess 60s as the transparent thing was popular during that decade. Zylo perhaps?
 

MisterGrey

Practically Family
Messages
526
Location
Texas, USA
Maybe an earlier model; the pair here have diamond shaped rivets as opposed to the rectangular rivets of the Freeway.The Freeway is also somewhat "chunkier" than those pictured.

ETA:

FRWY_CLEAR_LG.jpg
 

3PcSuit

One of the Regulars
Messages
160
I hate that everything today is sexualized.
Have a beard? It's a rapist beard.
Have a mustache? You're obviously gay or a pedophile.
Have "different" eyeglasses? You're obviously a sex offender.

It's a very Generation X thing it seems, turning everything they don't like that their parents might've worn into something perversely sexual. See videos like "Rapist eyeglasses", "Pedophile beard", "Pedophile mustache", "Creepy mustache" (which is just a video of guys with pencil mustaches). Anything that doesn't fit the metrosexual, "new male", goateed mold is considered somehow perverse or creepy.

Come on, now. To give credit where it's due, I think the notion of certain ugly types of glasses being "contraceptive" in nature goes back to at least WWII.





To change the subject, I am interested if anyone here has experience with getting glass lenses in higher prescriptions (I'm over -7.00 D in both eyes). It's always bothered me that every time I've tried to get them, I get talked out of it by the optometrists. I don't' just want to wear them for vintage kicks, but rather, I'd like something of the best possible quality; I use my eyes every day for work. And, not that it is the same type, there is a reason why plastic lenses are used in camera phones and disposable cameras ;-)
 

SteveAS

Practically Family
Messages
841
Location
San Francisco
To change the subject, I am interested if anyone here has experience with getting glass lenses in higher prescriptions (I'm over -7.00 D in both eyes). It's always bothered me that every time I've tried to get them, I get talked out of it by the optometrists. I don't' just want to wear them for vintage kicks, but rather, I'd like something of the best possible quality; I use my eyes every day for work. And, not that it is the same type, there is a reason why plastic lenses are used in camera phones and disposable cameras ;-)

As it happens, I've just ordered a new pair of eyeglasses with glasses lenses (though my prescription is a modest -3.25 in both eyes).

I visited my ophthalmologist on Tuesday and discussed the merits of different materials with her. She said that glass still provides better optics than CR-39, Trivex, and polycarbonate, so if you want the best optics, find an optometrist who will do glass lenses. The downsides to glass are that it's heavier than other materials and it's more susceptible to breakage. Lots of optometrists don't like to work with glass because it's more labor intensive and sometimes breaks in the manufacturing process, but it's definitely still used.

I've had glass, Trivex, and CR-39 in eyeglasses over the years and I was glad to have my ophthalmologist confirm that it's not my imagination: I see best through glass lenses.
 

MisterGrey

Practically Family
Messages
526
Location
Texas, USA
Come on, now. To give credit where it's due, I think the notion of certain ugly types of glasses being "contraceptive" in nature goes back to at least WWII.

I'm curious for more elaboration on this. In WWII most military issue glasses were round wire rims not dissimilar to what most civilian men were wearing, with a few two-screw rimways thrown in here and there. Vintage WWII Military Glasses Not like today's BCGs which are awkwardly shaped horn rims far removed from what even the most hipsteriffic liberal arts major don for irony.
 

3PcSuit

One of the Regulars
Messages
160
I'm curious for more elaboration on this. In WWII most military issue glasses were round wire rims not dissimilar to what most civilian men were wearing, with a few two-screw rimways thrown in here and there. Vintage WWII Military Glasses Not like today's BCGs which are awkwardly shaped horn rims far removed from what even the most hipsteriffic liberal arts major don for irony.

Maybe it wasn't WWII, but "contraceptive glasses" is a term with a military origin. Maybe more along the line of goggles for atomic bomb testing than actual eyeglasses.

@SteveAS, unfortunately, my "scrip" is more than twice as bad as yours. Glass may be out of teh question for me. . .
 

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