On the Dearth of Woman's Vintage Watch Collectability
There is a sizable number of men here with ample collections of men's wrist watches from, say, before 1960. On the whole, there is no great shortage of watches from these earlier periods. They run, they get bought and sold, people wear them.
Admittedly, women's (dis)interest in watches is a know subject that has been covered before. But the ones that are tend to be into new watches, or higher end ones, or both. I have never heard of a woman that had a watch older than the moon landing that was not at least a Cartier Tank, if not something rarer and pricier.
I'm going out on a limb, but I'm pretty sure that women wore wrist watches for the first five or six decades of the last century, and in great numbers, across all class and price levels.
Where did they all go, and why does seemingly nobody care about them?
This all comes to mind because today I got an Ebay alert. I am on the hunt for a tiny vintage women's ribbon clasp. The listing was for an 18k gold women's watch case and clasp for a paltry sum that seemed to be well below melt value.
Furthermore, I know that women interested in vintage clothes, shoes, and just about everything besides watches, are a thing. I've seen them, even met a few. So the reason can't be entirely that women's fashions change more quickly. Female anachronists exist.
I could prattle on with my possibly contentious theories, but I'm more curious to hear the insights of the WC communitay. Where did the everyday women's watches of the past go, and why do basically no women (or even men, I guess) have much interest in them?
Started as a quartzbro goofing on the mechanical snobs, wrote for thetruthaboutwatches.com, and lately started finding forgotten familial vintage watches in need of love.
From my very limited experience, I know approximately less than 1% of all women: All old "lady's"watches are sitting on the bottom of jewellery cases. They are tiny and golden. They all look a bit patinaed but beauftiful. They all have a story that brings me to tears. They all have witnessed hardship and pain, difficult decisions and joy. They all are never being worn. Ever again. Their destiny is to live in jewellery boxes and be taken out from time to time, be looked at and then layed back with a sigh.
Not a single auctioned multi million dollar Rolex will ever have nearly as much meaning as any of these tiny watches sitting on the bottom of the jewellery case.
I find vintage women to be quite collectible.
I find vintage women to be quite collectible.
Dammit, I've updated the threak title to include the word "watch." People only read the headlines.
Dammit, I've updated the threak title to include the word "watch." People only read the headlines.
Well that’s disappointing, there are already too many watch-related threads around here.
A couple of thoughts on this.
I think size creep has had an impact to a certain degree, as even my wife thinks most vintage women's watches are too small. She has an heirloom Hamilton that was her grandmother's, but she prefers wearing my 1949 Bulova to that.
She says this is the perfect size for her. It may be there just isn't much of a market.
This brings me to my second thought. While I will admit I see far more vintage watches for men when I am searching, I do see vintage women's watches regularly, including the small rectangular watches like my wife's, and a nice 25mm Rolex on ebay just the other day. I was really tempted, but it was outside my price range by a bit. 😁
I have not really done an extensive search for them, so I can't speak with certainty. This is just based on my observations while dabbling in the vintage market.
As @DigitalDivider has already mentioned, many are just too TINY. I know @Aurelian and @chronotriggered love showing off what manly-men they are by strutting around in their 25mm's (and I don't disagree with them) but (complete with Crocodile Dundee voice):
"That ain't small. THIS is small."
10mm.
When you get to that size it's more like a piece of jewelry than a practical time piece and the vintage styling makes it more so. This puts it in a grey area. Too jewelry to be worn as a watch and too watch to jewelry. Women's tastes just aren't what they were back then, so just as the proportion of men wearing sub 28mm on WC is exceptionally small, so is the proportion of women wearing sub 18mm. If you then factor in that woman only make up a small fraction of the online watch community anyway, then you start to realise how rare the women you are looking for are.
There are definitely women out there wearing pre-60's vintage though. 😉
Vintage women's watches were always more bracelet than watch. They did not retain their price and I fear that many have been scrapped at the "We Buy Gold" places that popped up a decade ago.
Vintage watches are appropriately sized for most women. It is just that they are old men's watches.
Hopefully, an actual woman will weigh in and cast some light on this topic. (Edit: as I was typing @Deeperblue was illuminating. For the record, I only have one sub-30mm round watch. I have old eyes.)
Vintage women's watches were always more bracelet than watch. They did not retain their price and I fear that many have been scrapped at the "We Buy Gold" places that popped up a decade ago.
Vintage watches are appropriately sized for most women. It is just that they are old men's watches.
Hopefully, an actual woman will weigh in and cast some light on this topic. (Edit: as I was typing @Deeperblue was illuminating. For the record, I only have one sub-30mm round watch. I have old eyes.)
Great point! Glad to see @Deeperblue weighing in. Would also love to hear @celinesimon's thoughts on this topic.
Great point! Glad to see @Deeperblue weighing in. Would also love to hear @celinesimon's thoughts on this topic.
I have seen @celinesimon post wrist shots of some beautiful vintage style watches, but I'm not clever enough to date them 😏
When I go around town, trying to spot watches in the wild, I occasionally do see these really small women's watches being worn, but pretty much exclusively by older women. Younger women either wear no watch, an Apple watch, or something of dial size 36-40.
Thanks for sharing those pictures @Deeperblue. That was indeed my grandmother‘s gold Blancpain watch. I agree it could be a size issue; as small as my wrists are by today‘s standards, her watch is a little snug on me so I can only wear it for a few hours.
I also have this gold pendant watch from my great grandmother that I love!
Like some mentioned here, I also think a lot of these vintage pieces are either stashed away in jewelry boxes (left unworn) or have been sold/donated/lost.
I have watches from my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother - so when my daughter eventually inherits them, she’ll have my watches in there too. Hopefully she’ll love and take care of them decades from now 😀
I got my wife a vintage omega seamaster cosmic "men's watch" and the sizing is perfect...she's not interested in anything micro size
It may be due to the fact that historically watches for women have been both extremely small and overly frilly & feminine, which doesn't line up with todays preferences. While vintage men's watches tend to be considerably smaller than current models, they don't suffer from the same degree of fussiness present in so many women's watches, and are still large enough to be functionally readable.
Women are more interested in people than things. A pair of vintage shoes boosts a women’s social prominence while participating in a rugged round of Bunco; more I think than a mechanical, albeit, dainty jeweled-case watch.
Women are more interested in people than things. A pair of vintage shoes boosts a women’s social prominence while participating in a rugged round of Bunco; more I think than a mechanical, albeit, dainty jeweled-case watch.
Yeah...I don't know that person
My wife appreciates mechanical watches...and well engineered German automobiles among things
Most woman I see are so into them dam square smart watches. Rare is see some wearing something classy.
I never thanked all for the insightful responses, many which jibed with my initial thoughts.
Anyway, the auction that spurred this has proven many here correct. It may have started at $9.99 but it's not over yet and there are 11 bids and a current price of $133 for a little watch case and clasp.
Here are some of my vintage ladies watches 😊
But I think women don't fixate on watches like men do because they're less likely to be fascinated by mechanics. Women who want to flex clout do so via handbags - if they want to sit on a waiting list to spend ££££'s, that's where they do it. Men have relatively few opportunities to wear "flair." they could obsess over Hermes neckties, but most men rarely wear them. Watches are one of the few arenas for flexing and being individually expressive. (Shoes are another and there are sneaker collectors.)
As for the watched women do collect, most vintage ladies watches are tiny. The fashion for everyone is larger watches. Some women go for vintage men's watches, which are often around 33mm and very suitable for smaller wrists.
Today I'm wearing this vintage Marlin, which I've put on a pink strap.