Before the 1980s, when computer-aided design and manufacturing began helping brands standardize their watches and increase production, every wrist told a different story.
“In the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, people weren’t following trends like they do today,” said Tania Edwards, co-founder of the watch education and sales platform Collectability. “They’d wear all types of watches that suited their lifestyles. If they were a doctor, they’d have one with a seconds hand because it was more practical.
“That’s why people get really excited about vintage,” she added. “You’re not going to see the same watch twice.”
That, according to Sydney Stanback, the global trends and insights lead at Pinterest, helps explain why the platform has seen searches for “vintage luxury watch” grow by more than 80 percent year-over-year among Gen Z male users. (And in the United States, as the 39 percent tariff on Swiss watch imports will make them more expensive, older timepieces are expected to become even more appealing, experts said.)
“The appetite for vintage has been building steadily, but what has changed is its cultural positioning,” Ms. Stanback wrote in an email. “Vintage is no longer just about affordability and quirk; it’s become a shorthand for individuality and discernment.”
And yet, the variety that makes vintage watches — loosely defined as timepieces manufactured before the 1980s — alluring is also what makes buying one daunting.
“When we get new collectors and they want to learn about vintage, I’m like, ‘How deep do you want to go?’” Justin Gruenberg, co-founder of the Keystone, an online rare and vintage watch dealership, said on a recent video call from the company’s showroom in West Hollywood, Calif. “‘Do you want surface level? Do you just want to learn about how the Rolex Submariner advanced through different references, or do you want to look at typography on dials?’ You can really go crazy.”
In an effort to help prospective buyers avoid, or embrace, the madness, The New York Times asked dealers, auction house experts and insiders for advice.
Get a Feel
Adam Golden, the owner of Menta Watches in Miami, said the most important thing to consider was whether the watch elicited an emotional reaction.
“Sure, you could buy it for investment and store of value, but first and foremost, it has to bring about a feeling inside of you,” Mr. Golden said on a video interview last month. “When I got my first proper vintage watch, it was like a lightbulb went off. I sold all of my modern watches and focused strictly on collecting vintage. It’s similar to when I drive a vintage car. It makes me think about the story that it’s lived.”
Many dealers insist that trying a watch on, or experiencing it “in the metal,” is the best way to know if it is right, although they also acknowledge that is a challenge as so many vintage timepieces are sold online.
“A lot of dealers are similar to us: We offer an easy refund policy where if you buy a watch and you don’t like it, you can send it back,” said Max Abbott, the Keystone’s other co-founder. “But it’s important to try stuff on because all of these watches are different shapes and thicknesses, and they all feel different. There are small watches that wear very large just because of their shape.”
For Sacha Davidoff, co-founder of Roy & Sacha Davidoff in Geneva, a watch must meet two criteria before he would embark on a deeper inspection. “If I find it aesthetically pleasing, the second question I ask is the price,” Mr. Davidoff said. “Always buy a watch that you like, that is within your budget, and then do all the forensic science you want.”
What to Buy
The question of what to buy is virtually inseparable from how much to spend.
With $1,500, a buyer could pick up pieces from storied brands such as Hamilton, Longines and Movado. At $5,000, options expand to include midcentury sport models by Omega and Rolex. And at $10,000, choices include classic gentleman’s watches from Breguet and Vacheron Constantin.
Geoff Hess, a senior vice president and the global head of watches at Sotheby’s in New York, recommends that first-time buyers opt for the blue-chip brands: Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. “It’s much safer to buy these brands because they have a very broad market and they’re easier to sell,” he said.
Most buyers quickly discover that Rolex dominates the vintage market, just as it does the new. “Their production was so much higher than everybody else’s that there’s just so much more available to the consumer,” Mr. Golden said.
“If you want to be a vintage Audemars Piguet collector, there is not a lot out there,” he added. “Maybe you’ll come across the right watch twice a year. And if you’re looking for something from the ’40s, forget it. When you do find it, it’s in an auction and it goes for $350,000.
“With Rolex, you could even find nuance year to year. A 1960 GMT will be different than a 1961 GMT, and every collector who really knows what they’re talking about will be able to tell you why.”
While Patek Philippe shares the vintage spotlight, its pieces are usually priced out of reach for most buyers. Ms. Edwards said she and John Reardon, Collectability’s founder, often suggest starting with a simple time-only model from the brand’s Calatrava collection.
“But even a simple mechanical wristwatch is going up in price,” Ms. Edwards said. “Our advice is to look at pocket watches because they are, in our opinion, the best value Patek Philippe you could possibly buy. They’re usually in really good condition because they were always very respected. You can get one for under $10,000.”
Where to Buy
Once a buyer has a brand or model in mind, finding a seller can be equally overwhelming given the variety of channels, both physical and digital, where vintage timepieces are sold. And a slew of websites, from Bezel to Watchfinder, have cropped up in recent years.
“I have friends that love the hunt,” Mr. Golden of Menta Watches said, “so they’re trolling eBay to find that old grandma or grandpa who’s had this watch forever and they throw it up for auction starting at 99 cents, and don’t realize it’s a $20,000 watch.”
Others prefer trusted dealers or auction houses.
“In our last sale, we had 1,355 registered bidders,” Mr. Hess of Sotheby’s said. “Some of the best property in the world is sold at auction in large part because the sellers know that the reach is truly enormous. The first reason to come to auction is for the variety and quality — we’re going to get the best pieces. The second reason is that these watches have been inspected and vetted in detail before being put on the auction block.”
In exchange for that expertise — which typically includes details about the watch’s provenance and condition — buyers must pay a premium on the hammer price. “In most instances, it’s 27 percent,” Mr. Hess said. “The buyer’s premium is part of the equation that translates to market value.”
Another avenue for those with their heart set on a Rolex is to buy through the brand’s certified pre-owned program, established in 2023 and available at select authorized dealers such as Bucherer. Alexander Lanaras, senior vice president of business development and certified pre-owned at Bucherer USA, said the program’s main benefit is its guarantee of authenticity.
“Every timepiece is officially authenticated and certified after a full service and inspection process, guaranteeing that every component of the watch meets its original configuration,” Mr. Lanaras wrote in an email.
Do Your Homework
The watch world lacks a resource equivalent to the car pricing platform Kelley Blue Book, but websites such as WatchCharts, EveryWatch and Chrono24 can help track prices.
“But you’ll really have to develop an eye for condition to assess that price and be able to contextualize it,” said Silas Walton, the founder of A Collected Man, which deals in rare pre-owned and independent watches in London. “There’s lots of conflation of numbers. Auction results, EveryWatch, going through old catalogs and old-fashioned elbow grease — that’s how to learn the art of collecting.”
Mr. Walton’s advice underscores something that veterans of the vintage market have learned the hard way: Understanding condition, originality and authenticity — all factors that can significantly affect the value of a timepiece — can take years of trial and error.
“When I started, I bought a great watch for nothing, and then I bought three really crappy watches that taught me something for the next 40 years of my career,” Mr. Gruenberg of the Keystone dealership said. “That’s how you learn anything — by making mistakes. I make mistakes all the time and I buy thousands of watches a year.”
Time-honored advice is to buy the best example you can afford. Many dealers insist that condition is the most important factor — particularly if, or how often, a watch has been polished. Overpolishing is considered taboo in the vintage world because it removes material from the watch case, potentially changing its lines or shape, and alters the timepiece’s original condition.
“If someone has owned something and loved it, it’s going to have been serviced, polished, and that’s OK,” Ms. Edwards said. “And has the dial been restored? We love watches in their original condition because that shows time, and that’s the whole point. Don’t expect vintage to be perfect because it can’t be.”
How to evaluate such factors boils down to preference, and price. “There’s a price for everything,” Mr. Golden said. “An unpolished watch is always going to be worth more than a polished watch.”
In other words, if a watch has been polished, make sure you do not over pay.
About a decade ago, the actor Fred Savage learned he had overpaid for a vintage watch after a friend told him that the dial had been replaced. Although the mistake taught him a lesson, he knew others might want professional insight, so early this year he officially introduced Timepiece Grading Specialists, or TGS, a third-party authentication and condition grading service in Dayton, Ohio, where the company’s minority partner, Stoll & Company, has a watch repair facility.
“We have over 40 watchmakers who are experts in nearly every luxury brand who open up the watch and make sure everything’s correct,” Mr. Savage said. “Then we give it to three different condition graders who give every component of the watch a grade: the hands, the crown, the dial, the lugs, the movement, the complications. And that all goes into a weighted formula to give the watch one overall grade.
“Say the watch is a seven and a half — you’ll see why,” he added. “Maybe it’s been overpolished. Maybe the hands have been redone. Maybe the crown is a service replacement. Maybe the bezel doesn’t quite match. None of these things are disqualifying and make the watch not worth buying. But it does affect the value of a watch.”
For all their variety and quirks, vintage watches are united by at least one quality: their ability to run, seemingly in perpetuity.
“This little engine of a mechanical movement is working every day,” Ms. Edwards of Collectability said. “It’s not a disposable item and if it’s looked after, it will last for generations. And that’s due to design. Most of these vintage pieces tend to be quite timeless — they’re elegant and simple and that doesn’t go out of fashion.”
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