How old before reliability becomes an issue

[taxboy]

I've been trawling the internet and have come across mechanical watches from the 80's which have a certain appeal. However are watches from this era likely to turn into money pits or is it simply a lottery in the same way as older cars.
Alternatively is there a sweet spot e.g. up to 10 years where the risks of a second hand purchase are reduced

[Miguel Alvarez]

Only my own personal experience but for me it s been a coin toss. I ve got older watches that are pretty much spot on with time keeping. Some that are not.

One thing I ve found with some older watches is getting parts or someone trusted to fix them. I have an old bumper automatic that s being looked at and it s taking ages as getting parts are not that easy.

A phrase I learned when I joined this site is buy the seller ask questions if you feel happy with the answers it s probably worth a punt.

What are you looking at?