Vintage Watches under $700

Unlike new watches, vintage prices are all over the place depending on many factors (condition, rarity, demand, etc...) If I were you I would find a design you really responded to and then try to find an example in your price range.

Also think about size. The "norm" of older watches is MUCH smaller, so if you're not used to a 33mm dial you may be able to eliminate a lot of options by only looking for things above 36mm.

You can get many vintage US made vintage watches for that price. I have two vintage Walthams both bought and serviced for just $760 all in.

I like to have my vintage watches cleaned and service once I get them just to make sure they are in good shape, it does increase the overall cost but I think it is worth it.

Most vintage watches are small, as stated above around the 33mm-35mm ball park. However I have a lovely vintage Omega Seamaster 600 similar to the picture below (but mine is is better condition and has a date). I see prices creeping up however circa £600 should get you a nice one. Something to consider is the invention of quick date. This happened in the 50s but was slow to come into the mainstream (Rolex were very late to the party) so the only way to change the date is to around the dial twice. What I do is record when the watch stops and wear it at this time each month 😁 the crowns are tiny so you will soon get annoyed with your skin peeling off your fingers winding it up. So check before you buy or don’t get a watch with a date.

If you have a local watchmaker/jeweler, I'd recommend shopping in person for this sort of thing. They tend to have a good handful of tasteful 60's looking dress watches on display in my experience. You can get a real assessment of condition, size, style and all that as opposed to guessing over the internet. Also, when on physical display, the turnaround tends to be slow. See it, try it on, go home and research it, and it'll probably still be there next month.

This is another reason vintage watches are a good fit for me. I have a small wrist (6-6.5 inches) so this is great to hear!

I’ve never heard of Walthams before but will look into them! I was planning on getting a service done once getting the watch and agree it’s a good idea to make sure they watch runs well.

Thanks Markell! This is a great piece and is similar to what I’m looking for! The small sizing is great for me as well (with only a 6-6.5inch wrist).

Thanks for the insight on the quick date as well, didn’t know that!

Here are my vintage Waltham watches. And a vintage TIMEX, was my grandfather’s.

I’m based in London at the moment (moving to Tennessee in September) so not sure of ‘local’ places with most being commercial and plugged into the online market. Any recommendations from yourself or fellow members on London or Tennessee based watchmakers/jewelers would be greatly appreciated!

The first and last ones are right up my street! Very nice pieces and look like they’re in great condition

You picked the Waltham watches, they where a huge innovator in the late 1800s early 1900s and if I am not mistaken where one of the largest watch manufactures in the world at that time.

A brief bit of history, there are good articles out there about them and it is interesting.

"Waltham Watch Company was a watch manufacturer founded in 1850 in Waltham, Mass. The firm was known as the American Watch Company from 1859 to 1885. It was renamed the American Waltham Watch Company in 1885 and retained this name until 1906. The company went into bankruptcy in 1948." from google search on "Waltham watch history".

I will take a picture of mine on my wrist tonight and let you know my wrist size. I don’t mind it at all.

With $700 you can get something really nice. Definitely get it serviced as preventive maintenance. Budget $200 for time only movements, more for a chrono.

30-34mm dress watches, especially in yellow gold offer the best value in my view because they are currently unfashionable and supply is plentiful. They were often given as long service awards by companies and then kept in the box in a desk drawer by the employee and rarely worn.

To give an idea of the UK market, here are some examples of things that I've bought for a range of prices, all excluding service.

34mm solid 9ct gold, AS movement. £56

34mm, solid 9ct gold, Peseux 320 movement, ultra slim at 6mm £102

34mm 14k solid gold with ultra slim Buren automatic movement with micro rotor, minor damage to dial around cannon pinion. £168

Big brand names usually cost more:

34mm, solid 9ct gold, High beat (for the time) 28,800vph movement. £295

36mm Integrated bracelet, also 28,800vph movement. £400

In case you fancy a chrono:

38mm Landeron 248 movement, seconds hand not original. £215

Divers are pricier than dress watches because they're in higher demand 37mm, ETA movement £240

My approach is to buy from eBay because prices are much lower than dealers and because I can get the watch checked locally and return it as defective if there are problems. However that does involve some risk. Equally you have to really trust a dealer to make the premium they charge worthwhile - plenty of watches with excessively worn parts will run after a cursory service but will cause problems down the road.

I'm also in London. I have never found anything in a bricks and mortar store which is remotely competitive with online dealers, let alone Ebay. The overheads are so high in London because of the cost of property and labour.

If you venture outside the capital, jewelers and pawnbrokers in smaller provincial towns can be good hunting grounds. Sometimes they have stuff which has been gathering dust for years. You can bargain hard on price, provided you don't mind them pretending to be offended, and they're often just happy to get rid of it. Antiques shops in those sorts of towns are usually massively overpriced.

Each individually stunning and also wonderfully complementary as group!

this is my Omega. My wrist is 18.5 cm /7” so if your smaller that that I would not worry about the size

This talk of Waltham obliges me to pipe up and say that some of the best quality watches ever made are American pocket watches and they still offer excellent value. Though nostalgia for the golden age of American watchmaking means they're not cheap.

Swiss and French post-WWII pocket watches are also excellently built, with pretty modern and accurate movements with shock protection. There's basically no collectors' market for them. So they're dirt cheap.

Size looks great. How do Omega do it - perfectly balanced dial, understated, yet classy!

In my view there is no such thing as a watch that is too small. Certainly anything over 30mm is fine provided you like it and ignore the online taste police.

I am thinking of getting a marriage watch. I have found a guy that makes modern wrist watch cases and buys old American pocket watch movement where the case has been sold and makes wrist watches with them. This way a pocket watch is not destroyed and you get the best of both worlds.

That sounds like a great way of saving all those orphaned pocket watch movements. The only thing to be mindful of is that there's no shock protection on classic pocket watch movements.

True... thus a special occasion watch is what I am thinking :)

Vintage Longines is great value. So much heritage.