About 10 years ago I was in a jewelry store with my wife. She was getting some repairs done. I saw in the display case what they advertised as a 1936 Tudor Prince day date. I liked the mother of pearl dial. This was during the recession and the price seemed right at $750. Now that I know more about watches (because of videos like yours) I can see it has been re-dialed. After researching Tudor the model wasn't made until the 50s. It's a nice looking Swiss automatic watch. But it was an impulse buy and I definitely should have done my research.
Illinois Springfield, Elgin or Lord Elgin, and Bulova are three American vintage watch brands that are out there from the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's for not a lot of money. Hamilton bought Illinois in 1927 but sold them under Illinois for several years. Great Art-Deco styles and some of the other style of watches that were credited to other manufacturers as first were done by Illinois.
I always buy my watches in person, One of my best finds was with a retired watchmaking who had hundreds of watches for parts, the man didn’t knew he had a 1910’s Rolex W&D silver trench watch awful around €700 got it for 200
Hi Jory. Coincidentally, this past year I acquired a 1954 Omega Constellation (cal. 501); a 1972 King Seiko (hi-beat with a blue dial); and a 1955 Longines Original! Enjoying them all!
Rob K Yes however from reputable sellers: Holbensfinewatches and Omega_Addict (Tim Mackrain). Tim probably has the largest inventory of Omega OEM parts and he services vintage Omegas extremely affordably..
Got a dozen vintage Hamiltons, including a couple solid gold pieces, plus a pair of Omegas. A 1958 Seamaster, and a 1956 model. (no model designation on it)
another watch to look out for is a vintage jlc wrist alarm! i managed to bag one for around $800 and it’s an absolute beauty! there’s some on ebay from $500 and up which is a steal
The huge choice and quality available in the vintage market makes them hard to resist. In the last 12 months I've been lucky to find mint 1966 Seikomatic P, 1975 Longines Admiral Chronometer and a 1956 Hamilton Thinomatic. Currently looking for a good Bulova Accutron Skyview.
I take an entirely different approach. I buy vintage pieces from local flea markets, usually from unknown makers. I therefore get the vintage vibe for peanuts, usually less than 10 Euros. If they do stop working I bin them, but generally they run just fine.
Chris Searle I’ve been picking up some great Soviet watches in the 35-40yo age range. eBay and Etsy have some good sellers and there’s heaps of choice sub US$80. Solid movements.
Thanks for the information. I've been buying new watches for quite some time, with about 40 in my collection. In the last couple of years, I've been drawn to vintage watches, after inheriting a 1939 Longines from my grandfather. Here are a few that I've recently acquired. A couple need work, so I've included the purchase price versus the repair/adjustment cost. The cost to repair may be a little more than the watch is worth, but I didn't buy these to resell. Many classic cars cost more to restore than their actual values. 1962 Omega manual wind from my local watch repair guy (bought $525), a 1958 Hamilton Harrow (only year produced, bought $60) , a 1963 Bulova Ensign "CW" with factory bracelet (bought $75), a 1959 Lord Elgin automatic with factory bracelet (bought $25) missing the stem and crown being restored (est. repair $140), circa 1960 Croton automatic ($54) the stem is missing but the original crown was there (est. repair $150). My watch guy has a 1964 Bulova Accutron Spaceview, which he's optioned to me for $550. I'm still mulling this over.
I have a Swiss Elgin Caliber 327 green semi-square dial (recently serviced) and a Longines-Wittnauer (under service, with bezel restoration requested). I have my eye on a 1950's Girard-Perregaux sitting in a local antique shop for a very fair price.
I recently bought a Lanco Incablock, cool square piece from the early seventies. It was new in the box from 1972, my birth year and I was the first one to wear the watch. I am happy with the strange thing!
So many options here. Universal Geneve is a great brand, but that boat may already have sailed in terms of value for money. King Seikos are very good, but the high beat movement needs a good service record for the long term. There are many great deals to be had in 'electronic' watches such as Accutrons and LIP movement watches from the 60s-70s. Again, servicing is the one caution, these watches require watchmakers with particular experience in this type of movement. There are some great US watches: Hamilton is certainly one of those, but I would also add Elgin and Lord Elgin for much the same reasons.
Hi Jori, do you have any advice on getting a vintage watch restored? I have two watches from my grandfather's and neither is in working condition. They are a bulova Accutron and a waltham. Is this something I should be looking at people who specializes in restoring specific brands? (I'm assuming the bulova probably is?)
I love my 1966 Marlin-Timex and my 1966 Mercury-Timex. Both were less than $30. Both very Bauhaus. The Marlin has a beautiful sunburst dial. Hand wind and simple.
That Lord Marvel is too beautiful. I feel like I purchase groceries in the same way you described how one should research and purchase a vintage watch! Good work by you again, T3.
Jory, you’re the man. Great shoutout for the DS-2s. The time only ones are great starter watches and can be had for $300-400. Solid and dependable. Are olympics really going for 5 grand? Wow. I would recommend the vintage market just for the joy in collecting watches that not everyone has and for getting interested in the history of a firm’s output. Connies used to be mega-bucks, but now seamasters are overtaking them. It’s a funny old world.
Nice choices, I have been looking for a Seamaster "TV" and also an Longines Admiral. What do you think about Ebel 1911? The old ones have an el primero movement and I'm wondering if those will skyrocket in value.
Awesome video. Just looking into vintage. Thank you for the advice. Would you be so kind as to do a video on storage and display options for different size collections?
Actually past year I got a 1969 Omega Seamaster 166.067 (cal 565) and a 1971 King Seiko 5625-7041 chrono. I got them on eBay from sellers in Japan. I especially love the King Seiko... they’re going for $300-$500 for the 5625 movements.. amazing highly underrated pieces !
Don't old King Seikos have the problem with no parts being available. No support for old Movements. My very old Seiko has zero parts availability and very little in the way of parts movements. The movement was only used in a few models none of which were super cheap meaning no parts watches.
Mark Wilko no doubt that is a concern with vintage KS or GS for that matter. However, the 56KS movements were mass produced using automation unlike older movements (guessing more were made). The 56KS is known to be reliable as long as you’re careful with changing the date. Lastly, I found my watch for $300 so I am less worried about repair costs. I am banking on parts from donor watches since this movement is not exceedingly rare.
@@jordanbuttkevitz6895 Mine is 1965 and the movement is not that common or cheap. It's a Manual movent. I am hopping it will be in better condition because it's a very low beat watch..
The only vintage on my must have list is the Seiko Bellmatic. I love Seiko, it's slightly larger than a typical vintage watch and is the first automatic with an alarm. I'm looking for a nice 27 jewel JDM.
So is it worth it to buy a vintage watch that needs to be repaired for very inexpensive and pay for the probably significant repairs or straight up buy the watch in the best condition you can find, using vintage omega as an example??
I bought 3 citizen promaster watches iv spent 400$ on all 3 of them i realy like them but i think i youst spent to much on a quartz watch that have wear on them And all 3 have scuffs and some issue that i can't fix that easy
thanks for another engaging episode! with regard to vintage hamiltons, the american-era and transitional (pre-swatch) mechanicals with valjoux movements are still a good buy and there's excellent support and service available directly from hamilton right here in the los angeles area. post-swatch hamiltons are still nice, affordable, and the eta movement ain't bad at all.
Trying to collect on a very tight budget, I just bought a Citizen Eagle 7 on Etsy. We will have to see how it looks when it arrives, but I can't wait to have something a little unique in a collection of quartz.
No lie y’all.. Timex Marlin’s especially the 60’s models and even more so if they’re made in Great Britain. You can get these things for CHEAP and they’re amazing little dress watches with rock solid movements. I picked up a 1966 on eBay for $25 bucks, had it serviced and it looks amazing. (All original and original Acrylic crystal in amazing shape.)
Been looking for a nice entry level luxury retro diver... have been looking at Tag Heuer, (I know) 1000,2000 especially the one with the moondust dial. Can’t really seem to find other classic divers like omega, tudor, Oris, etc for under $500
You can easily find some cool retro Tag Heuers on Ebay for a good price often with Box and papers, you just have to do a bit of digging and be patient till you find the right deal (which is difficult of you're as impatient as I am😂) There's a lot of sellers from the UK as Tag Heuer is quite big there.
I like you, I like this idea, I like this video, but I did not feel too comfortable with one phrase near the end on the Constellation part, "...maybe its your first mechanical watch...". I just would not recommend a vintage watch as a first mechanical watch to anyone. You had said earlier in the video to do your research, but if someone has never owned a mechanical watch at all, ever, before, it seems too much to ask them to be able to make an informed decision about a vintage one.That would be my opinion at least
I've picked up a vintage jules jurgensen manuel wind solid 14kt white gold for 300$ get aton of compliments and not alot of people know about that brand lol
i would really appreciate if somebody gave me some answers about some vintage watches recently i saw in Austria some vintage pieces from Zenith : Zenith Vintage Cal.2541 from 1960 , Zenith Movado Sporto 28800 Cal.2562 and ZENITH Respirator for around 200-300 Euros would they be a good purchase or not ?
I love vintage Watches, but one thing that scares me is the use of Radium in a few vintage pieces, frankly I wouldn't want to bring anything radioactive with a half life of 1600 near me or anybody else for that matter, even if it's in the watch itself i'd always be scared of it leaking Radon or tiny particles getting out😂
I want a vintage Longines soooooo bad! I trust your knowledge and will be checking with you and asking your opinion when I think I have found the right one, and by right one, I mean one I can afford. Ha!
I love Bulova Sea Kings, timex dynabeats, benrus ,clebar,gruen precision swiss automatics unknowns brands have a 1948 Birks a nice bidyantor felsa 692, a royaume du cadeau, a aseikon columbo, two tuning fork accutrons... I even have a Zim. If you're going to start collecting start small and have a good vintage watch repair guy to pull your watch back to life. If you love thwm cough up the cash and get them serviced and assume you'll have to if you don't have a sercice history on your cheapo.
Hey there Jory. I love your videos and your passion for horology. I’ve actually gotten into Favre-Leuba. You can do some research on them, but they’re the 2nd oldest Swiss watch company making a comeback. I own a Twin Power and a Duomatic. Let me know what you think of you have a chance to check them out.
About 10 years ago I was in a jewelry store with my wife. She was getting some repairs done. I saw in the display case what they advertised as a 1936 Tudor Prince day date.
I liked the mother of pearl dial. This was during the recession and the price seemed right at $750. Now that I know more about watches (because of videos like yours) I can see it has been re-dialed. After researching Tudor the model wasn't made until the 50s. It's a nice looking Swiss automatic watch. But it was an impulse buy and I definitely should have done my research.
Illinois Springfield, Elgin or Lord Elgin, and Bulova are three American vintage watch brands that are out there from the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's for not a lot of money. Hamilton bought Illinois in 1927 but sold them under Illinois for several years. Great Art-Deco styles and some of the other style of watches that were credited to other manufacturers as first were done by Illinois.
I always buy my watches in person, One of my best finds was with a retired watchmaking who had hundreds of watches for parts, the man didn’t knew he had a 1910’s Rolex W&D silver trench watch awful around €700 got it for 200
I love when you talk affordable vintage watches....
Hi Jory. Coincidentally, this past year I acquired a 1954 Omega Constellation (cal. 501); a 1972 King Seiko (hi-beat with a blue dial); and a 1955 Longines Original! Enjoying them all!
Javier Vega did u buy them off ebay?
Rob K Yes however from reputable sellers: Holbensfinewatches and Omega_Addict (Tim Mackrain). Tim probably has the largest inventory of Omega OEM parts and he services vintage Omegas extremely affordably..
thanks my man
Some days ago I found in a small watch repair shop a very very nice and clean automatic Fortis from the mid 60s for 70 bucks
What are those worth?
Got a dozen vintage Hamiltons, including a couple solid gold pieces, plus a pair of Omegas. A 1958 Seamaster, and a 1956 model. (no model designation on it)
Just picked up an omega seamaster from 1962 through watch exchange on reddit, can not wait to add a constellation sometime soon. Love the channel man!
another watch to look out for is a vintage jlc wrist alarm! i managed to bag one for around $800 and it’s an absolute beauty! there’s some on ebay from $500 and up which is a steal
The huge choice and quality available in the vintage market makes them hard to resist. In the last 12 months I've been lucky to find mint 1966 Seikomatic P, 1975 Longines Admiral Chronometer and a 1956 Hamilton Thinomatic. Currently looking for a good Bulova Accutron Skyview.
I take an entirely different approach. I buy vintage pieces from local flea markets, usually from unknown makers. I therefore get the vintage vibe for peanuts, usually less than 10 Euros. If they do stop working I bin them, but generally they run just fine.
Chris Searle
I’ve been picking up some great Soviet watches in the 35-40yo age range. eBay and Etsy have some good sellers and there’s heaps of choice sub US$80. Solid movements.
Sven Lancaster Interesting! I will investigate!
Thanks for the information. I've been buying new watches for quite some time, with about 40 in my collection. In the last couple of years, I've been drawn to vintage watches, after inheriting a 1939 Longines from my grandfather. Here are a few that I've recently acquired. A couple need work, so I've included the purchase price versus the repair/adjustment cost. The cost to repair may be a little more than the watch is worth, but I didn't buy these to resell. Many classic cars cost more to restore than their actual values. 1962 Omega manual wind from my local watch repair guy (bought $525), a 1958 Hamilton Harrow (only year produced, bought $60) , a 1963 Bulova Ensign "CW" with factory bracelet (bought $75), a 1959 Lord Elgin automatic with factory bracelet (bought $25) missing the stem and crown being restored (est. repair $140), circa 1960 Croton automatic ($54) the stem is missing but the original crown was there (est. repair $150). My watch guy has a 1964 Bulova Accutron Spaceview, which he's optioned to me for $550. I'm still mulling this over.
I have a 1967 Seiko 6217-8001! It is one of the very first diver watch models Seiko made.
Great recs! I picked up a birthyear (early 80s) Longines last year. 29mm gold handwind. A new favorite
I have a Swiss Elgin Caliber 327 green semi-square dial (recently serviced) and a Longines-Wittnauer (under service, with bezel restoration requested). I have my eye on a 1950's Girard-Perregaux sitting in a local antique shop for a very fair price.
Just purchased a vintage Sandy 184a off of eBay, love the videos man keep them coming
I recently bought a Lanco Incablock, cool square piece from the early seventies. It was new in the box from 1972, my birth year and I was the first one to wear the watch. I am happy with the strange thing!
My vintage piece is my dad’s 1967 Zodiac Olympos Mystery Dial. Vintage is definitely worth the trouble!
So many options here. Universal Geneve is a great brand, but that boat may already have sailed in terms of value for money. King Seikos are very good, but the high beat movement needs a good service record for the long term. There are many great deals to be had in 'electronic' watches such as Accutrons and LIP movement watches from the 60s-70s. Again, servicing is the one caution, these watches require watchmakers with particular experience in this type of movement. There are some great US watches: Hamilton is certainly one of those, but I would also add Elgin and Lord Elgin for much the same reasons.
Hi Jori, do you have any advice on getting a vintage watch restored? I have two watches from my grandfather's and neither is in working condition. They are a bulova Accutron and a waltham. Is this something I should be looking at people who specializes in restoring specific brands? (I'm assuming the bulova probably is?)
I love my 1966 Marlin-Timex and my 1966 Mercury-Timex. Both were less than $30. Both very Bauhaus. The Marlin has a beautiful sunburst dial. Hand wind and simple.
Jory, you have a large piece of fluff stuck on your shirt again.
It's microphone
@@qanoon66688 no, it’s a joke... waaa waa waaa.....
That Lord Marvel is too beautiful. I feel like I purchase groceries in the same way you described how one should research and purchase a vintage watch! Good work by you again, T3.
The only vintage watch in my collection (for now) is a 1976 Bulova Computron and I friggin love it! 100% functional even 43 years later.
Any recommendations for around the £1500 / $1800 mark would appreciate any suggestions
Jory, you’re the man. Great shoutout for the DS-2s. The time only ones are great starter watches and can be had for $300-400. Solid and dependable. Are olympics really going for 5 grand? Wow.
I would recommend the vintage market just for the joy in collecting watches that not everyone has and for getting interested in the history of a firm’s output.
Connies used to be mega-bucks, but now seamasters are overtaking them. It’s a funny old world.
I like the Constellation too
Nice choices, I have been looking for a Seamaster "TV" and also an Longines Admiral. What do you think about Ebel 1911? The old ones have an el primero movement and I'm wondering if those will skyrocket in value.
question would you buy a vintage Willard Seiko or reissue
Awesome video. Just looking into vintage. Thank you for the advice.
Would you be so kind as to do a video on storage and display options for different size collections?
Quick question, how is buying international? I am worried about paying import taxes if I buy outside the U.S. what’s your experience?
Hello The Time Teller! I have recently acquired an Atlantic Worldmaster Original.
Actually past year I got a 1969 Omega Seamaster 166.067 (cal 565) and a 1971 King Seiko 5625-7041 chrono. I got them on eBay from sellers in Japan. I especially love the King Seiko... they’re going for $300-$500 for the 5625 movements.. amazing highly underrated pieces !
Don't old King Seikos have the problem with no parts being available.
No support for old Movements.
My very old Seiko has zero parts availability and very little in the way of parts movements.
The movement was only used in a few models none of which were super cheap meaning no parts watches.
Mark Wilko no doubt that is a concern with vintage KS or GS for that matter. However, the 56KS movements were mass produced using automation unlike older movements (guessing more were made). The 56KS is known to be reliable as long as you’re careful with changing the date. Lastly, I found my watch for $300 so I am less worried about repair costs. I am banking on parts from donor watches since this movement is not exceedingly rare.
Old Seikos are awesome - I picked up a GS 6146-8050 last year for $600. Incredible value, amazing watch!
@@jordanbuttkevitz6895 Mine is 1965 and the movement is not that common or cheap.
It's a Manual movent.
I am hopping it will be in better condition because it's a very low beat watch..
The only vintage on my must have list is the Seiko Bellmatic. I love Seiko, it's slightly larger than a typical vintage watch and is the first automatic with an alarm. I'm looking for a nice 27 jewel JDM.
Personally I like Wittnauer- the Swiss made 60’s and some 70’s watches are classy as hell
So is it worth it to buy a vintage watch that needs to be repaired for very inexpensive and pay for the probably significant repairs or straight up buy the watch in the best condition you can find, using vintage omega as an example??
Just bought a 1941 Hamilton Myron, rectangular that was just serviced. Hope it works well
Kevin Corkery any news ?
I bought 3 citizen promaster watches iv spent 400$ on all 3 of them i realy like them but i think i youst spent to much on a quartz watch that have wear on them And all 3 have scuffs and some issue that i can't fix that easy
thanks for another engaging episode! with regard to vintage hamiltons, the american-era and transitional (pre-swatch) mechanicals with valjoux movements are still a good buy and there's excellent support and service available directly from hamilton right here in the los angeles area. post-swatch hamiltons are still nice, affordable, and the eta movement ain't bad at all.
Trying to collect on a very tight budget, I just bought a Citizen Eagle 7 on Etsy. We will have to see how it looks when it arrives, but I can't wait to have something a little unique in a collection of quartz.
Well, if it ends up being a not so great example, you don't need to worry as a new movement is only about 30 dollars.
Which year or reference number should we look at for the Seiko Lord Marvel?
No lie y’all.. Timex Marlin’s especially the 60’s models and even more so if they’re made in Great Britain. You can get these things for CHEAP and they’re amazing little dress watches with rock solid movements. I picked up a 1966 on eBay for $25 bucks, had it serviced and it looks amazing. (All original and original Acrylic crystal in amazing shape.)
Wittnauer, specifically the 242T, is this watch in a bubble now or are we still prebubble?
Thoughts on vintage Wittnauers? I'm looking at a 50s vintage wittnauer with a Swiss 11ARG movement.
Seiko Goldfeather! Also an absolute steal! :D
Fillipo ad before this episode begins... 😂
Been looking for a nice entry level luxury retro diver... have been looking at Tag Heuer, (I know) 1000,2000 especially the one with the moondust dial. Can’t really seem to find other classic divers like omega, tudor, Oris, etc for under $500
You can easily find some cool retro Tag Heuers on Ebay for a good price often with Box and papers, you just have to do a bit of digging and be patient till you find the right deal (which is difficult of you're as impatient as I am😂)
There's a lot of sellers from the UK as Tag Heuer is quite big there.
I like you, I like this idea, I like this video, but I did not feel too comfortable with one phrase near the end on the Constellation part, "...maybe its your first mechanical watch...". I just would not recommend a vintage watch as a first mechanical watch to anyone. You had said earlier in the video to do your research, but if someone has never owned a mechanical watch at all, ever, before, it seems too much to ask them to be able to make an informed decision about a vintage one.That would be my opinion at least
My recommendation is to start at the under 200 $ market. If you get burned the odd time as you learn its not by much.
I've picked up a vintage jules jurgensen manuel wind solid 14kt white gold for 300$ get aton of compliments and not alot of people know about that brand lol
What vintage watches ages to? Up to 80s?
The Longines looks a little bit like a Bulgari Octo finissimo!
I love your your channel. Can you make your videos longer? Very interesting stuff.
i would really appreciate if somebody gave me some answers about some vintage watches recently i saw in Austria some vintage pieces from Zenith : Zenith Vintage Cal.2541 from 1960 , Zenith Movado Sporto 28800 Cal.2562 and ZENITH Respirator for around 200-300 Euros would they be a good purchase or not ?
I love vintage Watches, but one thing that scares me is the use of Radium in a few vintage pieces, frankly I wouldn't want to bring anything radioactive with a half life of 1600 near me or anybody else for that matter, even if it's in the watch itself i'd always be scared of it leaking Radon or tiny particles getting out😂
How about IWC caliber 89?
you forget to tell the time lets get down to business :X
0:32
My first watch was my great grandfathers omega... now im looking at watch #8 its an addiction
I want a vintage Longines soooooo bad! I trust your knowledge and will be checking with you and asking your opinion when I think I have found the right one, and by right one, I mean one I can afford. Ha!
What about the orient sk
Can you say a quartz can be vintage?
Automatic Timexs are super cool and cheap.
Bulova space view skeleton 72 I believe
I love Bulova Sea Kings, timex dynabeats, benrus ,clebar,gruen precision swiss automatics unknowns brands have a 1948 Birks a nice bidyantor felsa 692, a royaume du cadeau, a aseikon columbo, two tuning fork accutrons... I even have a Zim. If you're going to start collecting start small and have a good vintage watch repair guy to pull your watch back to life. If you love thwm cough up the cash and get them serviced and assume you'll have to if you don't have a sercice history on your cheapo.
bulova super seville is sweet as well
Hey there Jory. I love your videos and your passion for horology. I’ve actually gotten into Favre-Leuba. You can do some research on them, but they’re the 2nd oldest Swiss watch company making a comeback. I own a Twin Power and a Duomatic. Let me know what you think of you have a chance to check them out.
That Lord Marvel is 👌🏾
Is your beard....growing another tiny beard?
Kim sez to get a Pogue. It’s a man’s watch. Just be careful of the frankens.
Pre vintage is much easier too do
What happened to your intro?
Rado Diastar
Overused word was ‘vintage’. How about ‘classic’ instead?.
Vintage? A mid 60's caravelle that's quartz accurate, seiko 5, 67 timex marlin. So far.
Why do you shout all the time....calm down.
Dude what is wrong with you 😂
f