Will you buy vintage watches with engraved case backs?
I have bought several vintage watches with engraved case backs. I think it's kind of cool. It shows that each watch has it's own story. However, I can see how some people would feel weird wearing a watch with someone else's name on it. What's your opinion?
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Marcus
Amateur Watchmaker
Fort Worth, TX
Member since
Last active: 22 hrs ago
5.75” / 14.61 cm
I once saw a watch that was engraved “Drive Carefully Me” and could not believe someone ruined a perfectly good watch. I bet they never sell that piece of crap. 😉
Voted nope but it’s a bit weird for me. I do like buying older pieces because of the emotion attached to it (that particular piece made someone really happy at one point and has it own journey etc), but I still can’t bring myself to buy a piece with an engraving when in theory it should be the same thing.
one exceptions when I was close was a beat up pocketwatch from the 20s but sadly misses out on that one
I love engravings. I buy vintage watches because they have history. I just got a WW2 watch that was engraved "good luck" in Hebrew. Stuff like that gives me a whole life to imagine when I put it on! It's great!
I once saw a watch that was engraved “Drive Carefully Me” and could not believe someone ruined a perfectly good watch. I bet they never sell that piece of crap. 😉
Makes you wonder how many times this has been faked on the back of a Rolex 😉
Makes you wonder how many times this has been faked on the back of a Rolex 😉
I bet some folks out there have done it. People are weird.
WWI watches with engravings are really cool because you can research who owned the watch and in what theater of the war they served and even how they came to own the watch.
Also, military engravings are very cool.
Corporate recognition watches are also cool especially since that seems to have gone by the wayside in the modern age.
Here are a few from my collection...
I love engravings. I buy vintage watches because they have history. I just got a WW2 watch that was engraved "good luck" in Hebrew. Stuff like that gives me a whole life to imagine when I put it on! It's great!
Pic please
WWI watches with engravings are really cool because you can research who owned the watch and in what theater of the war they served and even how they came to own the watch.
Also, military engravings are very cool.
Corporate recognition watches are also cool especially since that seems to have gone by the wayside in the modern age.
Here are a few from my collection...
Some interesting pieces
I would vote 'D'. Depends on what's been engraved. If it was something with a link to history then I'd be ok with it, but if it was just a random inscription I would likely pass.
It would be a hard no to something like "Drive Carefully Me" 😂
I think a watch with personalization is cool and could be a fun story to tell! But of course it has to be well priced. 😅 Maybe if it's something generic like a quote.
I could very easily forget it was there. Who looks at case backs?
Of course I have on my wrist now a watch from some gold corporate "years of service" engraved watch of a great uncle that died well before my birth. I think it's fantastic that the thing is engraved, particularly as this is one of the few family pieces that we're sure who the original owner was, but most of the time, out of sight, out of mind.
The real annoyance for me would be, you know, not knowing who the hell F.W.C. or whoever was. It's an unsolvable mystery. Were if fairly banal, I might risk buffing it off.