Five things to remember when buying vintage watches

A vintage or pre-loved timekeeper is about style, status and storytelling. 

Buying – and collecting – mechanical wristwatches, a hobby that grew in the 1980s and then became even more popular with the advent of the internet search engine, has proved well suited to the 21st century auction room.

Here are five things to remember when buying vintage watches.

1. Online resources

Buyers can easily find technical data and price trends online and then hunt down their quarry – whether it’s a recently made and good-value Rolex, a typical gold ‘dress’ watch, a coveted ‘sports’ model or a rare military issue.

You’ll find whatever suits your taste on thesaleroom.com. 

Bidding at auction for a good-quality second-hand wristwatch can provide you with a way of getting a top brand at a bargain price compared with buying one new.

2. Swiss legends

If ever there were a price to demonstrate just how important condition has become in the top end of the collecting market then it is the record-breaking SFr2.55m (£2.065m) for a reference CK2915 Oemga Speedmaster at Phillips (26/21% buyer's premium) in Geneva on November 5.

There are purchasing opportunities for classics by the so-called ‘bullet-proof’ brands – Omega, Rolex and Patek Philippe – or watches by lesser-known makers.

While a number of them are no longer in business due to the era now known as the ‘quartz crisis’ when the Swiss watch-making industry shrank by two-thirds, their rarity today can make them particularly desirable.

Increasingly popular are watches in original condition – they are honest survivors that show signs of wear and tear but have not endured regular episodes of restoration meaning they still have the dials and hands as they were when new.

3. What to look for

At Catherine Southon’s auction on February 2, a Rolex stainless steel GMT Master ‘Pepsi’ bracelet wristwatch – a type originally designed for Pan Am crews on long-haul flights – came with the 1970 original receipt and service history. The slightly whiter hour hand suggested a possible replacement. Bidders were undeterred and the watch, with calendar aperture, red 24-hour hand and classic blue and red ‘Pepsi’ bezel, was competed for by international and home bidders before going to the UK trade at a double-estimate £18,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium).

If the watch comes with accessories such as papers, boxes, tags, instruction booklets and point of sale materials from the shop where it was originally sold, it will be of particular interest to collectors and is likely to cost more. But such peripherals may not be of interest to you if you are looking to simply buy a good value watch to wear and enjoy.

Fortunately, there are watch sales at auction all year round so you will always be able to seek out the right item for you.

Look for auctioneers that provide the sort of clear cataloguing, detailed descriptions and high-quality images that informs buying choices. If in doubt, ask questions in good time before the date of sale. Check, too, the cost of packing and delivery: typically this can usually be arranged, via the auctioneer or a third party, at a modest sum as watches are not very heavy and easy to pack.

Of course, many of the watches traded on the secondary market post-date the birth of vintage wristwatch-collecting. Although the boundaries are blurred, the market can still be divided between those watches with a genuine collectable status (mostly pre-1980s) and those whose price is set primarily by recent retail values.

4. Second-hand makes perfect sense

Not a brand with great collectable status, Roamer watches remain good value with plenty of models priced at under £100. The one exception is the chunky 1970s Stingray Chrono that can bring close to four figures. The example heresold for £950 at Lockdales (18% buyer’s premium) in Ipswich on February 16-17, 2022.

Most ‘second-hand’ watches are sold at fractions of their retail levels. In this regard, buying at auction, free from high street mark-ups and the depreciation that goes with buying new, makes perfect sense.

5. What to do next

Watches of Knightsbridge (21% buyer’s premium) says that interest levels for vintage and second-hand Cartier watches have been rising as buyers look for ‘value’ in the market. A record bid of £96,000 was received on May 22, 2021, for a rare octagonal watch from 1976. This is from a range of timekeepers made for and retailed by Cartier London in the 1970s, with this gent’s size watch made in very small numbers.

Decide how much you’d like to spend and use the search facility on thesaleroom.com to find watches coming up for sale. You can filter your search by, among other things, price and by location of the auction house to narrow down your selection.

To research recent prices at auction so you can see how much different vintages of wine sold for you can also try out the Price Guide.

If you are new to bidding check out our guides to buying at auction – it’s easy once you know how.

Read our buying guide to Rolex Watches here.