Zach Brass
The growing popularity of the double-rimmed sword within the commercial segment is that the malicious individual tries to take advantage of the buyer so much that he is interested in something. Vintage watches have never been more coveted than ever before. As a result, it has never been more of a minefield than ever before to navigate. You’ll hear people in the watch community say they need to “buy a seller,” but in many cases people buy watches online and must be able to read between the lines of descriptions to best evaluate a seller and a vintage watch. Below are six important vintage clock terms you should know.
nos (new old stock)
When it comes to vintage watches, the term nos in the description is a giant green flag. NOS indicates “new old stock”. This means that the watch is not touched effectively using all or most of the original packaging. Buying a new, old stock vintage watch is the closest thing to jumping on a time machine and visiting a boutique for the past few decades. If the watch is really new and old stock, this means you are not wearing it and have a watch in its original condition. You will be the first and only owner of it.
Original owner from the original family
Speaking of lineage, auction houses or vendors promote the vintage watch term “original owner” or “from the original family”, but this term is a bit loaded. What it alludes to is that, since the watch is owned by a single owner or kept by a family, the history of its ownership and the life of the watch could be better tracked. The less the watch changes hands, the more controllable the environment of the watch. That said, if the original owner didn’t take care of the watch, what value would it really add?
Service History
There are two reasons why vintage watch service history is particularly important. Firstly, an unmaintained vintage watch may mean that you will be hit by a massive service bill as you make your purchase. As years go by, service costs increase as the availability of proper service parts for vintage watches decreases.
Second, and potentially more costly, if the watch is inadequately serviced. And being poor doesn’t mean being served by a watchmaker who doesn’t know what you’re doing. It could also mean that the watch is being served without considering what ultimately maximizes the value of a vintage watch: originality. A decent service history gives you a clear sense of how vintage watches have been maintained over the years.
Stretching and sizing of the bracelet
As an extension of your service history, when it comes to vintage bracelet watches, there are two important factors to look at. What is the current state of the “Bracelet Stretch” and what size will the bracelet be? Some people find the attractive nature of vintage bracelets attractive, but too much of the stretch on the bracelet is not a good thing. If that helps, you can take into account additional costs. Needless to say, finding a regular replacement for your original is expensive.
When it comes to bracelet sizes, it is also important to note the number of links included in the watch. Some links aren’t that hard to track, while others are absolute nightmares and if they happen to be solid gold it’s a huge cost. For example, as a Top Gun fan, I used to look at the Orfina Porsche design chronograph. This is the model Tom Cruise wore in the movie. Luckily, I learned that the bracelet is estimated to fit a 6-inch wrist. This would be too tight even for my little wrists, and finding the original PVD black link on the watch is like finding a hand in a haystack. It’s not necessarily Mission Impossible, but it’s certainly a very difficult mission.
Finally, with Groovy ’70S designs like Vintage Piaget becoming more and more popular, many pieces that flip through jewelry have bracelets that need to be cut. There are no links to add or remove. These are often valuable metal watches, so you don’t want to make the costly mistake of buying something that doesn’t have enough bracelet length on your wrist. Yes, on the right hand you can reduce to the size, but if you need to add more perimeters, you’re looking at a costly effort. Just thinking about it makes me sick.
To be clear, this is an easy solution for leather straps. Some vintage Cartiers have bespoke leather straps cut to fit the size, with zero punch holes for a clean look. The strap is cut to exact length and sticks to your wrist via a folding buckle. Fortunately, if you run into this scenario, it means you will need to entrust your own leather strap.
Repairs, resumes, re… whatever
Spell Re-flags – refined, resumed, exchanged, etc. Organizing or retouching refers to watching polished, cleaned or restored components to mimic the original look. But if too much metal is removed or the lines in the profile of the case become softer, it’s not a big no. Resum refers to the replacement of bright material, whether reapply or replace. Replaced or service parts refer to components that completely replace deleted components. Unless these tasks are performed by talented hands, or the parts have been replaced with periodically modified parts, such businesses can spell out the disaster of your vintage watch, at least in terms of their value.
There is no necessarily a mistake in purchasing a repaired or rilled vintage watch, but if such services are not transparently disclosed, it can be very wrong. The most common brand is Rolex. As mentioned before, originality is the most important thing when it comes to owning a collector-grade vintage watch. However, Rolex emphasizes factory repairs, replacing the components with the name of reverting the watch to its original specifications.
Ironically, this is a great way to restore a watch to its high-performance state, but it’s the worst nightmare for a watch collector. This idea was not suppressed that day, and many owners preferred such an aggressive recovery. Today, if it is perceived as the right kind of damage and a coveted intellect, the damage is not bad. For example, Rolex receives a tritium dial watch that no longer shines, replacing its hands and dials with service parts. As a result, you still have a Rolex that is currently functioning as intended – it glows in the dark, but with no more than half the value, as the puttyed dial is gone.
Green
Pale blue refers to the natural aging of the watch components, especially the hands and dials. As watchmaking evolved, the brand has perfected manufacturing technology and durability of its parts. This is not a bad thing, but it means that modern watches don’t grow like vintage watches. In particular, the transition to Superluminova and other modern luminescent materials means that the hue of bright fillings does not transition over time.
Part of the appeal of vintage watches is the use of tritium, and to some extent radium ages over time due to radioactivity. This aging is so desired that it is assigned a nickname to the various shades that occur in natural aging. It’s a heavy abdominal pumpkin with brightly colored sage, medium cookies and glorious fillings turning orange. There are cases where Lume turns green, but such aging is generally undesirable.
Putting also extends to the dial, and even external components such as bezel inserts are expanded. For example, tropical dials have disappeared brown thanks to the sun’s exposure and humid climate, which is highly desirable. Collectors also like the ghost bezel with aluminum inserts fade from black. However, when the tropical dial is repainted and returned to its original color, that is undesirable. This is all ultimately damage, but desirable damage.
Hopefully, the Vintage Watch Terminology Guide above serves as a good starting point, but in most cases, remember the old saying “If it’s too good to be true, perhaps too good to be true.”
