Discussion
It's my 50th soon and I was thinking of buying a nice date of birth watch. As I'm so old & falling to peices myself, would a watch from 1964 be OK to wear on a daily basis & how accurate would it be?
Also has anyone got any recommendations? Money is not an issue as long as it keeps it's value. I like sports style watches like the Omega Moon watch & also like the Rolex S/S watches. But may be swayed by a nice dress watch?
Many thanks
Also has anyone got any recommendations? Money is not an issue as long as it keeps it's value. I like sports style watches like the Omega Moon watch & also like the Rolex S/S watches. But may be swayed by a nice dress watch?
Many thanks
There's no reason that a mid-60s watch shouldn't be used as a daily, as long as you can accept the inherent lower accuracy of mechanical watches.
Most of the Swiss stuff from that sort of era will be easily capable of better than 10 sec / day accuracy if it's serviced and regulated properly. I wouldn't even consider sending a repair on anything half-decent out if it was worse than that, and a lot of the ones I see have been seriously abused over the years!
One of my first watches when I started learning repairs was a 1940s West End Watch Co out of my bosses scrap bin. Once repaired, and with very careful regulation to my useage pattern, it averaged under 20 sec / week gain. The daily rate varied a little (+/- a few seconds) from day to day, but was always within 20 secs of the shop's RC clock by Saturday evening. That's less than 3 sec / day average from a (then) 50 year old manual wind
Water resistance is similarly only a matter of seals. A quality case that was water resistant back then will be just as water resistant now if you replace the seals, and availability isn't a problem because generics work just fine.
Find a watch you like, make sure it's in good order, and enjoy it!
Most of the Swiss stuff from that sort of era will be easily capable of better than 10 sec / day accuracy if it's serviced and regulated properly. I wouldn't even consider sending a repair on anything half-decent out if it was worse than that, and a lot of the ones I see have been seriously abused over the years!
One of my first watches when I started learning repairs was a 1940s West End Watch Co out of my bosses scrap bin. Once repaired, and with very careful regulation to my useage pattern, it averaged under 20 sec / week gain. The daily rate varied a little (+/- a few seconds) from day to day, but was always within 20 secs of the shop's RC clock by Saturday evening. That's less than 3 sec / day average from a (then) 50 year old manual wind
Water resistance is similarly only a matter of seals. A quality case that was water resistant back then will be just as water resistant now if you replace the seals, and availability isn't a problem because generics work just fine.
Find a watch you like, make sure it's in good order, and enjoy it!
A CK2998 Speedmaster is a pretty bullet-proof option on both counts - not sure you could lose money on a Speedy if you tried, and they're absolutely useable watches.
Same can be said for early Subs, but some of them are a little eye watering lately!
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-new...
In slightly more dressy / restrained (but still eminently useable) options you could do a lot worse than look at offerings from Cyma. Nice quality watches and generally still under-valued compared to equivalent models from more "household" names. A bit harder to date to an exact year though, so may have problems for your purpose.
Same can be said for early Subs, but some of them are a little eye watering lately!
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-new...
In slightly more dressy / restrained (but still eminently useable) options you could do a lot worse than look at offerings from Cyma. Nice quality watches and generally still under-valued compared to equivalent models from more "household" names. A bit harder to date to an exact year though, so may have problems for your purpose.
Your challenge is going to be dating the watch accurately.
Some watch makers (eg Bulova) use a date code, so you'll be able to tell exactly what year the watch was originally put together, but most don't. So if you do with something like an Omega, the closet you'll get is a model that was available in your birth year - for example I have a birth year Omega Dynamic, that could have been put together anywhere between '67 and '71.
The next thing you have to consider is if you want a watch that is "of the period", or one that is timeless. You could buy a 60's Rolex that will look identical to a modern Rolex, for me that would rule it out as a birth year watch. You may feel differently.
I don't agree with previous posters that a 60's watch will have poor timekeeping. There's no reason why it shouldn't be able to operate very close to it's original specs (unless it was originally a chronometer).
Waterproofing will be an issue.
Next, you need to know that a 60's watch will be much smaller than a modern watch. I have a gents Hamilton that is 1" square, most modern ladies watches are larger than this.
We really need to know budget and the type of watch you're looking for.
Here are a couple of interesting suggestions:
Bulova Accutron Spaceview. £400-500ish.
Hamilton Ventura. £1500 ish.
The worlds first electric watch. Famously worn by Elvis and the watch of choice for Men In Black.
They stopped production in '63. So a watch made in '63 could easily have been sold in '64. Making it an ideal birth year watch. If you squint.
Jaeger Le Coultre Memovox. £800-£1500ish
The watch pictured hails from 1956. But I think they were produced through the 60's.
Rado Diastar Chronometer. £400-500.
I have one of these. An "unscratchable" watch with a tungsten carbide case and a faceted saphire crystal. It's very blingy.
That's all I have time for now. Lunch over. Let us know if anything insipres.
Some watch makers (eg Bulova) use a date code, so you'll be able to tell exactly what year the watch was originally put together, but most don't. So if you do with something like an Omega, the closet you'll get is a model that was available in your birth year - for example I have a birth year Omega Dynamic, that could have been put together anywhere between '67 and '71.
The next thing you have to consider is if you want a watch that is "of the period", or one that is timeless. You could buy a 60's Rolex that will look identical to a modern Rolex, for me that would rule it out as a birth year watch. You may feel differently.
I don't agree with previous posters that a 60's watch will have poor timekeeping. There's no reason why it shouldn't be able to operate very close to it's original specs (unless it was originally a chronometer).
Waterproofing will be an issue.
Next, you need to know that a 60's watch will be much smaller than a modern watch. I have a gents Hamilton that is 1" square, most modern ladies watches are larger than this.
We really need to know budget and the type of watch you're looking for.
Here are a couple of interesting suggestions:
Bulova Accutron Spaceview. £400-500ish.
Hamilton Ventura. £1500 ish.
The worlds first electric watch. Famously worn by Elvis and the watch of choice for Men In Black.
They stopped production in '63. So a watch made in '63 could easily have been sold in '64. Making it an ideal birth year watch. If you squint.
Jaeger Le Coultre Memovox. £800-£1500ish
The watch pictured hails from 1956. But I think they were produced through the 60's.
Rado Diastar Chronometer. £400-500.
I have one of these. An "unscratchable" watch with a tungsten carbide case and a faceted saphire crystal. It's very blingy.
That's all I have time for now. Lunch over. Let us know if anything insipres.
Glideman said:
It's my 50th soon and I was thinking of buying a nice date of birth watch. As I'm so old & falling to peices myself, would a watch from 1964 be OK to wear on a daily basis & how accurate would it be?
Also has anyone got any recommendations? Money is not an issue as long as it keeps it's value. I like sports style watches like the Omega Moon watch & also like the Rolex S/S watches. But may be swayed by a nice dress watch?
Many thanks
No need even to gift wrap it: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rolex-Submariner-5513-No...Also has anyone got any recommendations? Money is not an issue as long as it keeps it's value. I like sports style watches like the Omega Moon watch & also like the Rolex S/S watches. But may be swayed by a nice dress watch?
Many thanks
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