Looking To Get Into Vintage Skin Divers, Any Suggestions On Where To Start?

Not much vintage experience and no experience on buying vintage skin drivers.

Not looking to break the bank or anything fancy. Just looking for automatic vintage skin divers with lots of character and personality. 

Any suggestions for brands, models, where to look or tips would be appreciated! 

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https://www.retrowatchguy.com/ you may like this source.  I got a watch from him.  He's all over IG and has great service.  Fellow Retro/Vintage guy for sure.  He walks and talks the part for sure... imho.

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I would look at the Doxa brand (I really dont understand, why it is not part of the brands you can chose as favourites here @Max ).

The price is great, they have a unique vintage look and they have their own style for sure. 

https://eu.doxawatches.com

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I had a couple of Caravelle skin divers from the 60s. 36mm, no date…loved those things so much, and I gave them to friends as gifts when they were starting to get into watches. Back in the day I guess Caravelle was a brand with some cachet. These days not so much.

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Ruckstar

https://www.retrowatchguy.com/ you may like this source.  I got a watch from him.  He's all over IG and has great service.  Fellow Retro/Vintage guy for sure.  He walks and talks the part for sure... imho.

thanks very much for the link, I'll definitely have a browse! 

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soybobomb

I had a couple of Caravelle skin divers from the 60s. 36mm, no date…loved those things so much, and I gave them to friends as gifts when they were starting to get into watches. Back in the day I guess Caravelle was a brand with some cachet. These days not so much.

Cheers for the tip, I'll have a look at the brand on eBay. I'm struggling to find a vintage skin diver I like with no date but that would be ideal!

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in ebay or catawiki - skin diver, then just pick something that fits your taste and pocket size:) I have a bunch of interesting skin divers, duward has some lovely models, enicar too. Pretty much almost all vintage divers qualify as skin divers:) 

Gotham ss swiss skin diver 900 circa 1960's – Artofit
Duward Aquastar Automatic Vintage Swiss Divers Watch
Enicar Sherpa Collectors Guide Part 1 (Single Crown models) - The Spring Bar
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The Skin Diver is a great choice for vintage. So many different brands to choose from. What’s your budget? 
 

some brands to look out for include Bulova, Longines, Sicura, Dugena, Mortima, Lip. Prices from £200 to £1500

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I do a blog with my brother and most of our collection are divers and a lot of vintage. Have a look for realwatchbrothers on Instagram. 
There are so many vintage diver brands for really reasonable prices. 
Have a look for Bulova, Oris, Squale, Doxa, Seiko, Yema, Mortima, Smiths, Waltham. There are probably hundreds of brands with prices from under £100, so do plenty of research and trawl the auction sites or FB groups and see what you can pick up. 

Good luck too, just enjoy it all 🙏

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I would second the note on the Caravelle/Bulova “Devil Divers” - the prices are starting to get a bit  higher than the value they provide but they still look super cool if you find one cheap.  Plus if you find one that’s a bit beaten up without the bezel, they still look really cool IMHO (almost like it was designed without one)!  Good luck and have fun!!

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The Oris Diver 65 Vintage is a super re-issue, with its sharply tapered Tropic it really evokes the era and the “skin diver” vibe.

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Can't go wrong with a Seiko 6309 or a 7548 depending if you want a mechanical or quartz watch.

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Lots of vintage skin diver rabbit holes one can go down, as they were sort of the microbrand scene of their day. 

There’s some killer IG accounts of deep vintage skin diver collections. I follow them for ideas. You can find good profiles via hashtags like #skindiver #skindivetwatch and the like.

WUS also has a skin diver thread that‘s pulled together a fair amount of pics, info, and links over time. It’s an ever growing resource, but a solid place to brush up on a decent amount of skin diver stuff. 

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ck2k01

Lots of vintage skin diver rabbit holes one can go down, as they were sort of the microbrand scene of their day. 

There’s some killer IG accounts of deep vintage skin diver collections. I follow them for ideas. You can find good profiles via hashtags like #skindiver #skindivetwatch and the like.

WUS also has a skin diver thread that‘s pulled together a fair amount of pics, info, and links over time. It’s an ever growing resource, but a solid place to brush up on a decent amount of skin diver stuff. 

This… but be prepared to find some nasty surprises along the way. I would always query the movements, some of them are just garbage. Just also be prepared to find a lot of franken-watches as well, and perhaps make friends with a watch repairer as you may be passing a lot of business their way.
The microbrand comparison is actually quite fitting, there are so many random brands of which very little information is available so you may as well just buy something you like the look of and forego any cool points.