Newbie about vintage watch

Hi guys,

I am a newbie about vintage watch. Usually i am against all the ideas of buying second hand watch. But recently it caught my attention that a heuer sold for record breaking value in bidding.

So i have several questions, please bear with me.

1. What is definition of vintage watch ? Is it old second hand watch constitute as vintage watch ?

2. Are all vintage watch still serviceable ? For example if i decide to buy vintage heuer can the local tag heuer service center repair my watch if something happen ?

3. Will tag heuer someday be a vintage watch ? (TAG HEUER not HEUER). By this question my status as noob should be confirmed by now.

Thanks

Vintage simply means "of a good year" or something of high quality from the past. If you search on this forum and others, you'll likely find lots of differing opinions as to what constitutes "vintage" and what it means precisely in terms of date. For example, I might consider some 1980s watches to be vintage whereas others might not consider anything later than the 1970s or even earlier.

Vintage watches are often serviceable. But the older a watch gets, and the more bespoke parts it has, the less likely it is that Tag Heuer or anyone else will be able to supply spares. Take a 1970s Tissot Seastar Navigator for example - servicing the movement is no problem as it was a very common movement (Valjoux 7733) used in many watches from multiple manufacturers. However, the tachymeter bezel wears easily on these watches and Tissot can no longer supply spares. Hence you see a lots of watches for sale with worn bezels, or odd replacements.

You'll also see vintage watches that have been "restored". Overpolishing, badly done redials, non-matching crystals, etc. If not done properly, then this can serious affect the value of the watch. All this means that vintage watches can be a minefield and you really need to know what you're buying.

Will Tag Heuer watches someday be vintage? For sure, in fact some might say that the Tag Heuers of the 1980s are already getting that way. I do consider my Tudor Submariner from 1984 to be "vintage". Even the early 1990s Carrera re-issue is almost a vintage watch in my eyes (debatable I know). But I wouldn't necessarily term everything from that era vintage.

Thanks for the insightful reply, Imagwai ! Cheers

A couple more things... If buying vintage, my advice would be to spend more and get the most original and best example you can find.

Also, don't necessarily believe in the values you often see quoted in auctions.

And identify a good watchsmith. Not one of those 'shopping mall' outfits but someone with a passion and talent. They may not be local so obtain recommendations for someone you can trust to work with remotely.

I would not trust ADs with vintage pieces. It would quickly become unnecessarily very VERY expensive, very quickly. A good specialist will happily tell you if all your piece needs is a quick clean and lube and will charge accordingly.

Agreed, I wouldn't trust valuable vintage pieces to the service centre. The big manufacturers typically replace original parts for new ones which can destroy the value.

Thanks for the good inputs about finding local good watchsmith. Sadly i havent found any good watchsmith in here. Or i doubt i ever found one. But i will continue to search for one before i buy vintage.

Its not common to buy watch from local jewelrer in here. But plenty of gray dealers are available. Most of them didnt have shops.