Does anybody sport vintage American made/owned watches from the boom period? That is, Hamilton's, Bulova's, Ball Railroad watches and others.
This strikes as the way to go, a lot of fine examples out there at reasonable prices and with a build quality that means you can wear a fifty-year old watch as your everyday time piece. Hamilton also offer a Swiss made Ventura reedition, real modernist space age style from the late Fifties/early Sixties.
Agreed, the Ventura is an absolute design classic capturing in essence that spirit of optimism from an age when cars looked like rockets. The reedition is a good move by Hamilton, unlike the Railroad watch which is a design failure. I am very tempted to purchase a Ventura, but first my wrist is set on a vintage Glycine Airman, which before the Omega Speedmaster, was being sported by the Mercury astronauts.
Hamilton watches are probably the best move if you want a watch that captures the cool modernism of the boom period.
Also worthy of consideration are some of the current Longines Heritage range watches which are near straight reeditions or draw inspiration from Longines own boom period in the '50's. Often marketed in the US during the period as Longines-Wittnauer; they were more of an upmarket brand than what they are considered today. In drawing inspiration from Longines rich heritage of the period, strikes me as a major move forward by this brand and complements the Ivy aesthetic with ease.
Longines Flagship and Conquest ranges et al from the 50's are true design classics, and pair themselves extremely handsomely with an OCBD. And we have these watches available in the High Street today, no bad thing.
If there is such an Ivy watch, and I am not convinced there is such a classification, we are well catered for in the present.
That's the cool, paired down watch sensibility that I am after!
A friend of mine recently completed an MBA in Geneva and they said it was surprisingly grotty in places. You would have thought it would be an ideal locale to source Swiss watches cost effectively.
The two best countries I've found for sourcing watches are Germany and when in-country, Italy has some great vintage sellers.
Last edited by Raul (2012-04-20 13:19:19)
I notice that the original Hamilton Electric's have been shooting up in prices recently.
^I don't see it?
There's luminous material at each hour marker but none on the hands, making reading it in the dark pretty much impossible.
At some point in this watch's life, someone changed the hands. The serial number on the movement doesn't match any of the ones that were installed in Steeldons, so I'm pretty sure the entire movement was replaced with one from another Hamilton.
It's not unknown, once the calibration hasn't been serviced enough and the workings have worn down, the only viable solution, especially if the movement is no longer available is to replace with a new/alternative one. Hands too oxidise and can need replacing. I don't worry much about the authenticity of all original parts, so long that it keeps reasonable time.
Regarding small watches, Ole Mathiesen still make 33mm watches in their range for men. Ben Silver stock them. A bit too small for my liking, but only by a bit, the optimum size for watches for me are 35-37mm witch limits modern offerings.
The Hamiltons I have are tiny.
32mm for the Arnold and 30 for the Frankensteined Steeldon.
My old Seamaster is 34, I think, and it looks small compared to watches today.
I don't own a watch. I would like one, vintage or new, that can be found cheaply, is nice enough to be worn every day, and works with 50s style clothing. Any recommendations?
On a very limited budget:
http://www.swatch.com/en/watches/originals/new-gent/suob705-twice-again
It's plastic, modern, falls into the toy watch category, but by god it is functional and can be paired with a OCBD with ease. You won't be handing it down as heirloom, but that's not it's mission!
Also Jeff Reed's good to go, the Orient Bambino, one hell of a watch for the price, that may well have the staying power to be handed over to the next generation:
http://www.seriouswatches.eu/orient/automaat/orient-er2400cn-bambino.html
This forum is the best.
Do you guys like mechanical watches or automatic better? I really like Hamilton's new Khaki mechanical watches, but I've never owned a mechanical watch before.
No offence taken. I assumed they were also mechanical. They're just called automatic by Hamilton because they are the self-winding type correct?
I suppose automatic would be more convenient most of the time. Maybe quartz would be better for a field type watch though.
Last edited by Jivy (2015-01-26 00:47:49)
The Cocktail Time is another Japan only Seiko watch worthy of grey importing.