How to Buy a Vintage Watch

 

Take a look at the two vintage watches above. Does your mouth immediately begin to water? You want them, don’t you? That is the affect that vintage watches are having on the faithful watch enthusiasts. As the nation’s preferred way to sell a luxury watch, we are entrenched in luxury watches everyday and have purchased our fair share of vintage watches, making us self-proclaimed experts on the subject. Buying vintage watches takes time, knowledge, and lots and lots of research.

There is no doubt that the vintage watch market is growing. With the constant release of so many new watch models, more and more watches are being pushed to the vintage category. Many watch enthusiasts are slowly directing their attention away from the brand new models and are focusing on the vintage market.

Warning: purchasing vintage watches is not for the faint of heart. This hobby requires time and energy that not many people are willing to commit. If you believe that you are one of the people that can handle the vintage watch market, here are a few helpful steps.

1)   Identify your watch.
– Once you have decided that you want to purchase a vintage watch, rather than a brand new watch, you will need to figure out exactly which vintage watch you want. Forums and watch blogs are great tools to use when researching a watch because you can oftentimes find reviews of some of these vintage watches.

2)   Research the buyer.
– After you have found your dream vintage watch, you will have to find a reputable site, dealer, etc. that is selling this watch. It is important that you conduct thorough research to ensure that this dealer, site, etc. is reputable and provides its customers with good products.

3)   Research the actual watch.
– You have found a reputable dealer that has the vintage watch of your dreams. Now it is time to conduct thorough research on the specific watch listed. There are many things that will be extremely important to consider:

• Does the watch have all of its original parts? If a watch has any replacement parts, it’s not a deal-breaker, but that certainly affects the value of the watch.
• Research the serial number. The serial number can tell you everything you need to know about the watch, such as the date, the movement, etc. Also, make sure that the movement in the watch matches the movement that is associated with the serial number.

4)   Check the condition of the watch.
– Vintage watches will have signs of wear that are appropriate with its age and that is okay. In fact, the patina, or fading, of a dial usually adds to the vintage feel of the watch. But make sure that these are actually signs of aging, rather than poor quality. Another thing to consider are the small scratches that will appear on the crystal or case of the watch. These scratches are okay! You would rather the watch be in its original condition, rather than falling victim to over-polishing. Again, the scratches add to the character and story of the vintage watch.

5)   Ask for live pictures or look at the watch in person.
– Obviously, looking at the watch in person is preferable. If this is not possible, ask the seller to send you pictures of the watch, showing all parts of the watch and any signs of aging or blemishes. You do this to confirm that the actual watch is in line with the claims of the seller.

6)   Establish a price.
– Once you have compiled all of this information, establish a price that you are comfortable spending, based on the information and condition of the watch.

7)   Purchase your dream vintage watch.
– Once you have conducted all of this detailed research, you are ready to purchase and can rest assured that you are getting the best value for this watch.

 

There are many misconceptions associated with buying vintage. Here, we set a few straight:

A vintage watch should not be purchased as an investment piece.
If this is the reason why you are purchasing a vintage watch, stop what you are doing. It cannot be assumed that a vintage luxury watch will increase in value over time. Vintage Rolex and Patek Philipe watches are the two most collected brands and they each have several models that do in fact increase in value. But these are the exceptions and one cannot expect that their vintage luxury watch will do the same. One should purchase a vintage watch for the story behind the watch, not as a plan for retirement.

There is a difference between appropriate aging and bad quality.
Vintage watches are old and should reflect signs of wear, which add to the watch’s character. There will be spots of discoloration and patina. However, do not mistake bad quality with appropriate aging. If you are purchasing a vintage watch from a high-end brand, then it will most likely be of the highest quality. However, if you are not purchasing from one of these top brands, then this is something you will certainly want to keep in mind.

 

Why Purchase Vintage?
Vintage watches offer something that brand new watches cannot: they come with a story. They can represent an important time in the watch brand’s life or commemorate a special occasion in someone’s life. Tons of people could be running around with the exact same brand new watch on their wrist. However, if you own a vintage watch, there is a really good chance that you may never meet anyone else who has the same watch.