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Enjoying the vintage scene
For me, the joy of testing the vintage waters is that, in many ways, it’s like starting the learning journey of watch collecting all over again.
While I’m building a rudimentary appreciation for the “rules” of not getting hurt with vintage (condition, correctness, and rarity come to mind), I’m still at a point at which I’m truly buying what I love rather than being influenced too much by others’ views of what I should be fancying.
Parting shot: crown and case detail, Patek Philippe Reference 1526 in pink gold
I can imagine that as the years pass, I may adjust and ultimately refocus my portfolio to focus on fewer big-ticket contemporary pieces and a larger number of affordable, wearable vintage pieces.
For now, though, I have the luxury of trying both, and I’m having a blast.
Quick Facts Omega Seamaster Professional 600 Ploprof Ref. 166.0077
Case: monobloc stainless steel, 45 x 54 x 15 mm, with anti-reflective mineral crystal; bi-directional rotating locking stainless steel bezel; water-resistant to 600 meters; square crown with knurled locking ring
Dial: painted metal dial with luminous tritium markers; “Plongeur” hands with luminous highlights (original hands tritium, Omega service hands Super-LumiNova); black-on-silver date display at 3 o’clock
Movement: automatic Omega 1002
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds; date
Years of production: 1970-1979
Recent sale prices: $6,000 to $8,000, depending on condition; Ploprof prototype sold for CHF 87,500 at Sotheby’s in November 2016
Quick Facts Jaeger-LeCoultre Futurematic Jumbo
Case: stainless steel, 37 x 10.7 mm; setting crown on rear of case, acrylic crystal
Dial: silver dial with painted and luminous markers; blued hands with luminous hour and minute hands
Movement: automatic JLC Caliber 497 “bumper” movement with hacking seconds; governor on winding mechanism when fully wound, 40-hour power reserve
Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds; power reserve indication
Years of production: 1953-1962
Recent sale prices: $2,500 to $8,500, depending on condition
Quick Facts LeCoultre Ladies’ Watch
Case: 14-karat white gold, 15 x 24 mm
Dial: silver dial with silver-tone hour and minute hands; applied square and round hour markers
Movement: manual winding LeCoultre Cal. 490/BW, 17 jewels; marked VXN to denote Vacheron Constantin factory provenance
Estimated production date: 1950s
Estimated value: $400 to $800
Quick Facts Patek Philippe Reference 1526 Pink Gold
Case: pink gold, 34 mm
Dial: gold dial with champlevé enamel numerals and minute tracks; applied pink gold dots and Arabic numerals; gold moon disk with hand-applied fired blue enamel background; hammered gold hands with blued hand for date
Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds; date, moon phase, day, month
Movement: manually wound Caliber 12”120 Q, Victorin Piguet base movement
Production number: 210 total examples of Reference 1526 including all metals, with a small minority in pink gold
Production years: 1941-1952
Recent auction price: 150,000 Swiss francs
* This article was first published on March 17, 2017 at A Contemporary Watch Collector Goes Vintage.
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