Have you tried vintage watch collecting from other brands besides Rolex?

[h.chang]

Omega Constellation , with gold dial

[GradyPhilpott]

Originally Posted by conrail

Omega really did have some awesome watches in the 50s-70s.

They sure did.

I'd like to see Swatch return Omega to the styles of that era and start again from there.

[Dan Pierce]

Originally Posted by HORNBLOWER

I have crossed the rubicon to Tudor and will never look back (until a nice 16760 comes along!)

And you will be richly rewarded for having made that adventurous crossing.
dP

[Cannop]

I do have a thing for vintage Seiko's. Here some of my collection:

[Jason71]

Vintage Doxas for me. I collected them for the same reason as the vintage Rolex watches. I love diver watches, and really adore ones that were worn by Jacques Cousteau. I loved watching his shows as a kid.

All of these are fairly rare and DIFFICULT to obtain.

[Paul]

[1675-David]

My little non-Rolex collection

[Submarino]

Here's my vintage AP Royal Oak ref. 5402SA from 1972.

[LouS]

the cost factor quickly drove me away from concentrating on vintage Rolex, and although I have looked back, I've never turned around. In my area of focus - vintage chronographs - there are an embarassment of riches - fascinating movements, beautiful design, innovation, history and quality in no way inferior to Rolex.

Some loves of mine:
1. ZENITH: My favorite - originators of a movement so good that Rolex adopted it, fully 15 years after it was introduced.






2. UNIVERSAL: masters of the complicated chronograph




3. GALLET: one of the past greats




4. HEUER: motorsports on the wrist


5. BREITLING


...and I haven't even broached other legendary chronograph houses - Longines, Omega (some lovely ones in this thread), Minerva, never mind all the interesting odds and ends out there. It's such a rich rich environment among the vintages, I couldn't ever restrict myself to just one manufacture.

[adam78]

Lou, such fantastic watches you have!

I started collecting vintage Hamiltons, very slowly, about 13 years ago. I still do. Rolex only entered my sphere of collecting about 6 years ago. I also have many Omega, Illinois, and a few Girard-Perregaux, Longines, & Patek, one-offs from a motley of other brands, and a quartet of various chronographs.

Here are a few...

[cedargrove]

What a great thread. Very glad I stumbled on it. This makes me want to get into vintage even mor. I would be happy with pretty well much any of these watches, but Lou's Zeniths get me every time.

[cruvon]

Wow, awesome watches guys, didn't expect pictures of these many beauties to popup...as for me, besides Rolex the only thing closest to anything to do with vintage is a commemorative once off Accutron Spaceview 50th Anniversary rerun with a tuning fork movement. It was released in late 2010 numbering 1000 watches, to commemorate the original iconic 60"s tuning fork Spaceview watch. I am surely tempted to add some more vintages to my ranks though but I need to learn some more about them first and narrow down on which appeal to me. What's great is once we have collected Rolexes, the learnings and lessons learnt from forums like this which are of a very high standard and quality can be applied to our other vintage pursuits too, be they to other vintage watches, arts or cars with great success.

Keep the pictures coming.

[GlennW]

Oops....I forgot about this one, my other non-Rolex vintage watch from 1964.

[bb3188]

.....here's mine,

a chocolate gilt dial Early Eterna Super Kontiki.....

just love the dial

[Jason71]

Originally Posted by Nanuq

Hey Jason, have you been watching that Conquistador? Maaaaaan is that tempting at $3,000-ish! I just wish the hands were original to the piece.

These days.........I REALLY try to resist. I have too many watches.

A couple more vintages divers

[Subexplorer]

What an enjoyable thread!!
So many beautiful watches to see and find that while Rolex is our central interest, there are many other brands and models, which can give a great pleasure to own and to wear.
Thank you for sharing all these beauties friends!
Kind regards, Abel.

[jjmcd]

Yes, but only for select watches. See my ref. 7806 Breitling Navitimer and Omega Speedmaster below....

[slcbbrown]

"Collection" is a bit strong for anything that I have, but I'm a fan of Girard Perregaux, along with Rolex. GP has been around for about 220 years as an independent, until very recently. You can find very high quality newer models or mid-range versions from the 50's thru 80's, and prices all over the place. GP's can be had at very attractive prices on some very nice watches with some real horological significance.

The other brand that I'd recommend is Omega. You can find older models at every price range, and there are lots of them out there.

I'll always be a Rolex person, first, but the smaller brands like GP, JLC, Vacheron, etc. offer very interesting options from tiny companies. Many of these well known names have fewer than 200 employess, and you will rarely see one of their watches on someone else's wrist.

[SPARTAN2161]

I dont but have been looking into some Seikos and Omegas.

[tuonor]

I got this one before my rolexes. The purchase led me down the path of learning more about the vintage rolex as the base movement is a V72 manual like the early daytonas.

Still one of my favorites.

[fmc000]

Originally Posted by tuonor

I got this one before my rolexes. The purchase led me down the path of learning more about the vintage rolex as the base movement is a V72 manual like the early daytonas.

Still one of my favorites.

Nice start, btw.

[yannis]

Originally Posted by Dan Pierce

Mid 40's Pierce chrono because it has my name on it.


Seiko's because of the diversity of models and relative inexpensive hit to the wallet.




dP

I particularly like the 9139 chrono Dan. I have got one too. Great watches!! Is it the 6000 btw?

[Dan Pierce]

Thanks, Yannis!
Do you mean the 6139? it's a 6005.
dP

[eparisini]

here a few of others non Rolex

[yannis]

Originally Posted by Dan Pierce

Thanks, Yannis!
Do you mean the 6139? it's a 6005.
dP

Yes yes mate that's the one. Oh it's a 6005!! I got a 6139 - 6020 but it needs some TLC. Looking good mate!!

[Submarino]

Wonderful thread. All those Zenith and TAGs are making me drool.

[Warnsboy]

The are all neglected since I found TRF and greatfull for the thoughtful thread!

[sfglenrock]

Some Vintage divers...

[Rick-O]

Originally Posted by Nanuq

Here are a couple of mine... first is a Gigandet triple date AOPA chrono, a precursor to the Breitling Navitimer. I've never seen another one.



Next up is an extremely rare Doxa "Black Lung" SUB 300. This is one of 9 known examples, and the only one I've seen that's triple signed.

WOW! That DOXA is niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!! 1 of 9?? Holy cow

[bb3188]

Originally Posted by sfglenrock

Some Vintage divers...

nice...