I'm mid 20 and I don't really get vintage-styled watches

More power to you! I usually get vintage watches rather than vintage style myself! I like vintage style though, so they won’t receive and criticism from me!

It’s all good, everyone has their own tastes. Glad you found your path.

Not everyone has to like everything, there are plenty of styles I don't care for. But tastes change, maybe in 10 years you'll like the vintage aesthetic.

Interesting that you mention this, I was talking with @Mutated_Cupboard about this yesterday, why I prefer aged tritium than fauxtina, the very concept of a watch changing with time. It's a bit like genuine dings and cracks on a guitar compared to Murphy lab at Gibson.

Well, uh, that's great. I declare here that I don't like chocolate ice-cream.

That’s cool - you like what you like.

It would be out of the ordinary if everyone said they liked the same thing.

My tastes have evolved over short and long periods of time.

A lot of people get angry or upset over trends/brands/watches but they seem to forget that those things weren’t created to upset them but they were created for people other than them

It's totally fine, don't try to force yourself to like what others like. Now that you know your preferences, you can choose what suits you better.

Be patient. 40 years from now the modern looking watch you bought today will be vintage and you'll be glad that you still own it.

I see you like Star Wars, though! That came out way before you (and even I) were born! Maybe not all vintage?!

I don't like them either, however, my son - early 20s - loves them! 😄 It looks like it's a nature not a nurture thing 😛

Tastes are a journey. They change all the time. I can't say I love vintage watches as a whole, for the same reasons as you. But over the years I found myself attracted to older 60s and 70s models occasionally for their more understated styles.

For example, I find the 44KS and 45KS more elegant and refined than the modern GS trying too hard with the oversized evolution 9 indices.

Modern Designs are cool! Vintage Designs - also pretty cool!

Every watch has its upsides and downsides, in both tech and design. I love modern tech, but some older vintage designs speak to me a little more.

To me, a 'perfect' watch design is when a watch brand can pay tribute to their heritage (where relevant) or the general history/design language of horologists of old, whilst still being able to refresh the design and combine it with modern tech.

A few examples from established brands: TAG Heuer's Glassbox Carrera & Tudor's Opalin Black Bay GMT:

An excellent example of a microbrand being able to do this is Lorier, who I admire for the fact that they wear their heart on their sleeve - In this context, meaning that they are open and honest with the designs that inspire their collections. Take the Falcon, for example:

They are very vocal about which timepieces and brands have inspired them to create the designs they do:

All in all, that's my two cents. Everyone has their individual preferences and the heart will always want what it wants. I understand where you are coming from, though; I find that if a company goes overboard with the vintage design elements, it can almost feel like 'stolen heritage' - like you're cashing in on a brand's history in a very disingenuous manner.

Everything isn't for everybody. Cool though that you are developing a strong sense of what you prefer in a watch. As always your wrist your rules.

That perfectly fine honestly.

When I was 20 I didn’t get it either. Mainly because everything I did at the time was in style

Cloths, music , all that.

Not that I’m 34 and things that use to be in are nostalgic you begin yo under stand appreciating vintage things.

Or you don’t

And that okay too.

You like what you like, but your tastes do change over years, the more you learn about specific details or the history of certain brands the more you appreciate certain differences.

But we all have different tastes so there is a no wrong or right with what you like or dislike as long long as your not offensive about things.

It's perfectly fine to only like the new watches. You may have to rethink your position years down the road when watches you bought new are now firmly in the vintage wheelhouse. Such is the case for many watches in my collection.

Time marches on, and one day you realize it is marching across your (watch, lol) face!

It’s more the story behind it rather than the pure aesthetics why I like vintage watches . Gives it a bit more soul. But if there is no good reason/excuse for the brand to adopt the vintage style then it loses that authenticity

As someone who has effectively only done vintage since his pre-teens when it comes to watches, I understand why from a logical perspective, but not from sheer looks and value. Come on in… we don’t bite.

Yep, my tastes were fixed in the 60s and that is the era of vintage re-issues that I gravitate to.

Do not feel obliged to like a style, swimming against the grain is a sign of maturity. Personally, I like vintage (and I am in my 60ies) but more genuine vintage than vintage-inspired. Faux-patina is a nono for me. It also depends on the watch types you are interested in, dress watches and "military style" watches look cool in vintage, vintage divers are more of an acquired taste.

I have bought a few modern watches in vintage style that in hindsight I am less sure about. For example, there is this Escapement Time, apparently a homage to a vintage-inspired Longines.

That watch disappointed me a bit. It was trying too hard to be vintage and as a result the dial seemed compromised. Compared to modern dress watches I own, this becomes unreadable once the lights go down, its markers do not grab the light the way they ought to. BTW I doubt the Longines would fare better with me.

But I have also bought this Baltany which I like a lot better.

This is inspired from the trench-style watches that came out in the 1920s, although those would typically have small seconds at 6 (which other models of Baltany's range have too). This watch makes more of a statement than the Escapement Time.

There is also a huge difference between vintage style, and actual vintage. Take that MuDu, for example, sporting one of those milky dials...:

Would I buy a vintage-style modern watch of this ilk? No. But this is the real deal. This is a self-winder with applied indices from the 1960s, a brand usually smuggled into the UK and sold in pubs to avoid import duty. It shows signs of age, it could do with a service. It is cool AF.

It sounds like you don't like guilt, yellow and cream colors moreso than vintage styled watches. The ones you mentioned liking are vintage designs, they're just not made to "look old".

I too couldn't make up my mind on the fauxtina and large amounts of cream or yellow on a watch. I also found it to be "posing" as an old watch without earning it. But as soon as I switched my mind set to "it's just a color or a look" it stopped mattering to me all together. Now I fully embrace it and have twice as many choices to agonize over haha.

In any case, you might not change your mind ever, and that's fine. But if you do get ready to go down a second rabbit hole with true vintage and vintage lookalikes. Probably best you stick to your guns actually...

I’m almost completely in the other camp. My favorites in my collection are all vintage inspired watches. The stark contrast of white indices usually doesn’t look right to me and a box crystal distorting the edges of a dial looks so nice! To each his own right?

Yeah. I also think the vintage re-issue thing needs to stop.

Brands: "Look at our heritage, more heritage, another heritage ... "

😠 Go make something new and better!

I like reissues as close to the original but with modern tech. I’m not keen on faux stuff.

But to each their own. As some has said, be pretty boring if we all like the same stuff. 💪

Just wait it’ll all change later. I wore nothing but Swatch watches in the 1980s, now I have all kinds of watches, some really old from the 1920/30s and some more modern. You’re just a youngster right now. Too early to tell.

Well said! Yes I do! But its heartbreaking to see how the sequel movies by Disney went down. At least we have our Star Wars God Dave Falloni to save the day for now!

WOW thanks everyone's great encouragement and comments! I'm beginning to find my own style in watches. Although I still float between awesome cool dials and awesome cool watches (like the new Longines 39 Zulu Time). I think as time goes on, my taste will change too.

What my collection won't change isn't the beautiful dials I got. But the memories I instil into these watches.

I do see how to watch taste changes now. Like how I always make fun of my dad of loving his two-tone Tudor Oyster Prince as "old-school" and boring. Now he got a solid >10 different (mostly seiko) watches that are modern looking! (Probably influenced by me!)

[Though, my mum wasn't too happy when looking at the money we spent 😂 (its all within our budget), but at least she's happy we're happy! And she's here to help rein in our irrational brains when every time there is a new watch released!]

Can't blame you there. I was a small child in the 60s and even children had watches then because everyone needed a watch. I still remember TV and magazine ads for Timex, Bulova, Caravelle, Accutron and Seiko. That was a golden age for watches. My first watch was a Timex Mercury circa 1967. I can vividly remember what it looked like but I've never seen that exact one online.

I think you seriously need to broaden your horizons on different types of vintage watches.

I have quite a few in my collection from the 1960's which simply look like they could have been released last year.

For example....

I really think you have to wear what suits your style and not be too influenced by others.

I actually like vintage stuff but can’t help thinking that when I look at retro stuff (watches or cars etc) they look cool with a young Steve McQueen but they weren’t retro when he was wearing/ driving them. He would have been bang up to date with the best current watch or car, not vintage ones.