Birth Year Watch. How did you pick yours?

[Martin Keene]

Hi Folks

I have been thinking for sometime, I'd like a birth year watch. I'm not planning on buying in the immediate future, I think it might be a nice treat in a few years for the old 40th for example.

The problems is, I am really struggling to find watches list by year, and not being a major connoisseur of vintage watches means I am struggling to find something I like.

Can you help by pointing me in the direction of some useful sites.

Yeat required is 1975.

TIA

Martin

[andy_s]

1975. Depending what you're looking for there are some classic culprits like Rolex subs, Tudor subs, Omega Speedmasters, early Breitlings are nice, something cheaper and left field like a Lemania, Seiko or Tissot, something classic and dressy like a JLC, something electro-mechanical like the Bulova Accutron - loads to choose from. Probably best to think about what sort of watch you'd like from that general era and start narrowing it down from there depending on price and taste.

As Nemisis says, the ones from that era that are more specific to the mid-seventies are the early LED watches, really early Pulsars have fetched into 5 figures, so not necessarily cheap, although a Commodore or Texas Instruments won't be expensive at all, but you may have to hunt hard to find one date specific.

[andy_s]

Not cheap.

Mid-seventies for a mix of old and new on the cusp of the digital revolution:


If I bump into anything like that N I'll let you know - so many about at that time. Try - http://www.digitalwatches.de/ENGLISH_INDEX.HTM or http://www.ledwatches.net/photos-n-z.htm

Edited by andy_s on Sunday 3rd October 18:51

[Martin Keene]

Hi guys

Useful stuff. I think I'm leaning towards a normal analogue watch, e.g non chronograph, I already have 3 chrono's, so I think this needs to be a little dressier.

I quite like some of the left field stuff, I have already got a Kalasnikov, and fancy a Poljot in the not to distant future.

Hopefully that helps a bit.

Martin

[mel]

For most people I'd say the best classic birth year watch would be a Rolex Sub' they're pretty darn expensive but should hold their value and are fairly easy to date. However in my case being born in '69 there was only ever one choice it had to be an Omega Speedmaster, a classic watch which holds huge relevance for that particular year.

[Spice_Weasel]

My birth year is 1969 and I went for a Breitling Chrono-Matic with the Calibre 11 movement launched in, you've guessed it, 1969.

[auditt]

I missed out a Rolex date just which on the rolex paper work was dated the same day and year that i turned 18 (me trying to cut a deal and maybe being a bit tight missed out on it) and been kicking myself since.

Not the best looking watch but it would of had more sentimental value

[Stuart]

I have a fairly good idea of what I want for my birth watch (OK, I can definitely get it down to 3, or possibly 5) but I used chrono24.com and just threw the birth year in as a search term. Sure it throws up some random stuff but you'll get some good ideas. Maybe try a couple of years around your date (since watches are often in production for a couple of years at least) to get some wider inspiration.

Try this

[HereBeMonsters]

Took my favourite brand, looked at what they were producing in that year, then bought 5 or 6 before I found one with a serial number that matched.

[Adrian W]

I'm so old that any watch i like from my birth year will cost a fortune.

[CraigW]

http://www.vintagewatchcompany.com/mens-vintage-ro...

I got a 1972 (MBY) for my wedding from the place above.

[LordGrover]

Hmmm. Not something I've considered before. This little baby turned up: click - any good? I have no idea about today's watches let alone yesterday's.



FWIW I like the look of it.

[Adrian W]

This

http://beta.chrono24.com/en/rolex/submariner-6538-...

or this

http://beta.chrono24.com/en/patekphilippe/ref-570-...

[Stuart]

Adrian W said:

This

http://beta.chrono24.com/en/rolex/submariner-6538-...

or this

http://beta.chrono24.com/en/patekphilippe/ref-570-...

Time to start lying about your age. Much cheaper!

[Martin Keene]

Stuart said:

I have a fairly good idea of what I want for my birth watch (OK, I can definitely get it down to 3, or possibly 5) but I used chrono24.com and just threw the birth year in as a search term. Sure it throws up some random stuff but you'll get some good ideas. Maybe try a couple of years around your date (since watches are often in production for a couple of years at least) to get some wider inspiration.

Try this

Excellent. Just the kind of site I was looking for. I can keep my eye out fir anything that takes my fancy now.

[andy tims]

The closest I've had (to 1965) are these

1963 SM300



1969 Speedy Pro MKII Racing Dial



I think if either of them had been 1965 watches, I'd still have them, especially the SM300.

I'd love a 65 Sea Dweller at some point.

[Podie]

That SM300 is

[Stefan SRT8]

Well for me as I like Breitlings I was determined to pick up a 1969 birth year watch at some point. Back in early June whilst browsing Ebay one Sunday afternoon there was a guy selling a Chrono-Matic big case Navitimer on the hard to find original steel bracelet, needed a little bit of TLC but was on for a buy now of £1,000. I checked the serial number and it turned out to be a 1969 so I bought it.

The worst thing about it was that the 'glass' was a little scratched, but after using a little Autosol on it, it went from this.................



to this..........



Time keeping was a little out so it's been away to Breitling UK for a full overhaul and should hopefully be back with me some time next week!

Apparently the guy who sold it said it be longed to his adopted Father who was in the French Air Force, his Father had bought it for him when he earned his wings, so it was a one owner with a bit of supplied history behind it.

Stef

Edited by Stefan SRT8 on Saturday 9th October 10:27

[Martin Keene]

Slightly OT, but how much is a full service on something like that?

I ask, because my day to day Accurist is starting to look a bit dog eared and when I asked them for a service the cost was something like ~75% of the cost of the watch...

[VPower]

I have a very nice Tissot from the early 70's.

A quick Google found this for 75.

http://www.tz-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t...

I like that quite a lot!