Vintage watches
Discussion
For that kind of thing you're better off using ebay. Hamiltons and Bulovas offer decent value for money and you should be able to get something quite nice for <£200.
Example (redial)
Example
Example (engraved back)
Example
You need to allow the following:
* £80 to £100 for a service. You might get away without it, but your ebay watch might run like a dog and need a service immediately.
* £20% import duty if importing from outside the EU plus £20 charge for the courier to charge you the import duty Again, you might get away without it, but better to budget for it and be pleasantly surprised than not to and get a nasty surprise.
Do not buy from a seller using ebay's global shipping program, unless you're happy paying 50% over the odds for import duty.
Example (redial)
Example
Example (engraved back)
Example
You need to allow the following:
* £80 to £100 for a service. You might get away without it, but your ebay watch might run like a dog and need a service immediately.
* £20% import duty if importing from outside the EU plus £20 charge for the courier to charge you the import duty Again, you might get away without it, but better to budget for it and be pleasantly surprised than not to and get a nasty surprise.
Do not buy from a seller using ebay's global shipping program, unless you're happy paying 50% over the odds for import duty.
Thank you for the reply.
I had been looking at this one below from http://www.vintage-watches-collection.com/
They are the top end I think and the quality and authenticity looks great but a bit pricey. This one is at £1345. I love it but don't want to pay over the odds.
Highly attractive gold filled tank shaped Jaeger LeCoultre from 1940 with a very distinctive art deco dial format.
This is an American market model, hence the abbreviated LeCoultre signature on its dial and movement. While Jaeger LeCoultre watches from this period were branded as such for European sale, a dispute over the rights to the Jaeger name meant that the company sold its offerings in the USA under the shortened LeCoultre banner. In every respect, the movements, dials etc were of the same quality, regardless of intended country of sale.
As called for, this watch has an American made case. Attempting to protect its own domestic industry, the US government imposed high tax levels on imported watches from Switzerland, but these punitive rates did not apply to movements. Hence the major Swiss brands shipped mechanisms to their US agents, who then housed these in US manufactured cases. This case is 10 karat gold filled, manufactured by the Apex Watch Case Mfg Co of Fulton, New York. Jaeger LeCoultre's US agents were New York based, so Apex would have been an obvious choice for them.
The condition of this watch is quite incredible, and we were delighted to purchase it. Unlike more recent gold plated cases, gold filled cases have a thick gold cladding but even so, they can often be noticeably worn on the lugs when they get to this age. This case is virtually perfect, with no discernible wear whatsoever.
The movement is an almost mint example of Jaeger LeCoultre's hand wound calibre 410 . The quality is superb, with every aspect of these units having been manufactured in-house at LeSentier. Notice the "VXN" letters that are stamped next to the regulator, again, indicating a US market product. American legislation required that every imported Swiss watch movement had to be marked with the three letter code assigned to its importing agent. VXN was the code relating to the Vacheron Constantin Company, who were also the official American distributors for Jaeger LeCoultre. It is worth noting that the 410 was the movement used in Jaeger LeCoultre's Reverso model of the period, but normally had 15 jewels. The 17 jewel version here is a rarer variant, mainly used in the "Reverso Deluxe" models.
Falling between the two extremes of 125000 and 140000, the serial number of this movement, 135266, dates it to 1940.
A charming watch by one of the most highly regarded makers in the world. Superb value for money as well at £1345 pounds.
I had been looking at this one below from http://www.vintage-watches-collection.com/
They are the top end I think and the quality and authenticity looks great but a bit pricey. This one is at £1345. I love it but don't want to pay over the odds.
Highly attractive gold filled tank shaped Jaeger LeCoultre from 1940 with a very distinctive art deco dial format.
This is an American market model, hence the abbreviated LeCoultre signature on its dial and movement. While Jaeger LeCoultre watches from this period were branded as such for European sale, a dispute over the rights to the Jaeger name meant that the company sold its offerings in the USA under the shortened LeCoultre banner. In every respect, the movements, dials etc were of the same quality, regardless of intended country of sale.
As called for, this watch has an American made case. Attempting to protect its own domestic industry, the US government imposed high tax levels on imported watches from Switzerland, but these punitive rates did not apply to movements. Hence the major Swiss brands shipped mechanisms to their US agents, who then housed these in US manufactured cases. This case is 10 karat gold filled, manufactured by the Apex Watch Case Mfg Co of Fulton, New York. Jaeger LeCoultre's US agents were New York based, so Apex would have been an obvious choice for them.
The condition of this watch is quite incredible, and we were delighted to purchase it. Unlike more recent gold plated cases, gold filled cases have a thick gold cladding but even so, they can often be noticeably worn on the lugs when they get to this age. This case is virtually perfect, with no discernible wear whatsoever.
The movement is an almost mint example of Jaeger LeCoultre's hand wound calibre 410 . The quality is superb, with every aspect of these units having been manufactured in-house at LeSentier. Notice the "VXN" letters that are stamped next to the regulator, again, indicating a US market product. American legislation required that every imported Swiss watch movement had to be marked with the three letter code assigned to its importing agent. VXN was the code relating to the Vacheron Constantin Company, who were also the official American distributors for Jaeger LeCoultre. It is worth noting that the 410 was the movement used in Jaeger LeCoultre's Reverso model of the period, but normally had 15 jewels. The 17 jewel version here is a rarer variant, mainly used in the "Reverso Deluxe" models.
Falling between the two extremes of 125000 and 140000, the serial number of this movement, 135266, dates it to 1940.
A charming watch by one of the most highly regarded makers in the world. Superb value for money as well at £1345 pounds.
I was looking at watches from that place and to cut a long story short, the watches on the site are hardly ever available.
I rang the guy up and he said the watch was long gone (It's actually still on the site) and he tried to flog me a vintage Tudor instead .They just seem to be there to entice the buyer.
I rang the guy up and he said the watch was long gone (It's actually still on the site) and he tried to flog me a vintage Tudor instead .They just seem to be there to entice the buyer.
Seems a bit pricey, but I suppose that goes with the name. Something about the dial on that one looks repainted to me. It's not as sharp as I would expect.
Have a look at Elgin, Gruen, Hamilton...+ others. There are so many to choose from. I would be surprised if the quality was any less than the LeCoultre from the brands I have mentioned.
Have you tried one on? They will be very small.
Have a look at Elgin, Gruen, Hamilton...+ others. There are so many to choose from. I would be surprised if the quality was any less than the LeCoultre from the brands I have mentioned.
Have you tried one on? They will be very small.
On a practical note, I'd be a little concerned about that level of polish on a rolled gold case. You can't polish metal without removing some and, when you only have perhaps 20 microns of gold to start with, complete removal of 70+ years worth of wear and blemishes like that is inevitably going to leave it thin - especially on the edges and corners.
Of course, it may have survived with virtually no wear but, in that case, it shouldn't have needed polishing to that extent anyway.
Of course, it may have survived with virtually no wear but, in that case, it shouldn't have needed polishing to that extent anyway.
Uncle John said:
I was looking at watches from that place and to cut a long story short, the watches on the site are hardly ever available.
I rang the guy up and he said the watch was long gone (It's actually still on the site) and he tried to flog me a vintage Tudor instead .They just seem to be there to entice the buyer.
I had a similar thing .. all on the site are now sold but emailed me images of others just in. Doesn't seem right somehowI rang the guy up and he said the watch was long gone (It's actually still on the site) and he tried to flog me a vintage Tudor instead .They just seem to be there to entice the buyer.
AlexC1981 said:
Seems a bit pricey, but I suppose that goes with the name. Something about the dial on that one looks repainted to me. It's not as sharp as I would expect.
Have a look at Elgin, Gruen, Hamilton...+ others. There are so many to choose from. I would be surprised if the quality was any less than the LeCoultre from the brands I have mentioned.
Have you tried one on? They will be very small.
No haven't tried one on .. I will get myself down to a shop so can actually try on my wrist .. good point. Thanks.Have a look at Elgin, Gruen, Hamilton...+ others. There are so many to choose from. I would be surprised if the quality was any less than the LeCoultre from the brands I have mentioned.
Have you tried one on? They will be very small.
Cyma / Tavannes of that era were a very well respected maker with high quality in-house movements. As a brand they were on a similar level to most of the other "big" names such as Omega, Jaeger, etc but (probably) haven't survived as well in the public's memory because they've had less modern exposure.
Bear in mind that an awful lot of today's brand perception is down to quite recent marketing / brand positioning efforts and doesn't have much relation to where names sat in the vintage world. Sadly, that means that some very good brands have fairly low desirability now, while some (Oris springs to mind) have become hugely over-rated for their fairly mediocre vintage production.
Someone who knows vintage watches will appreciate Cyma, someone who doesn't may well say "who?"
Bear in mind that an awful lot of today's brand perception is down to quite recent marketing / brand positioning efforts and doesn't have much relation to where names sat in the vintage world. Sadly, that means that some very good brands have fairly low desirability now, while some (Oris springs to mind) have become hugely over-rated for their fairly mediocre vintage production.
Someone who knows vintage watches will appreciate Cyma, someone who doesn't may well say "who?"
I'm happy to give an opinion on anything you find on ebay that you like the look of. Ebay watches are a bit of a lottery though. From the pictures you can tell a lot, but not everything is evident. But for me, that's part of the fun.
A 40's tank will be about the size of a modern ladies watch. Here are a couple of pics of my Laco (40s stlye, probably a 50s watch) to demonstrate:
A 40's tank will be about the size of a modern ladies watch. Here are a couple of pics of my Laco (40s stlye, probably a 50s watch) to demonstrate:
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