Skip to content

Dispelling Vintage Watch Myths With The HODINKEE Shop

Published on Mon, 26 Apr 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Our own in-house experts, Saori Omura and Brandon Frazin, set the record straight so you can fully enjoy hunting for your next vintage pick-up.

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host Stephen Pulvirent speaks with vintage watch experts Brandon Frasen and Seori Omura from the Hodinkee Shop to debunk common myths and misconceptions about collecting vintage watches. With over 20 years of combined experience evaluating fine vintage timepieces, the guests provide practical advice for both new and seasoned collectors looking to navigate the vintage watch market with confidence.

The conversation addresses six major misconceptions about vintage watch collecting. They discuss why box and papers, while desirable, should not be the primary consideration when purchasing a vintage watch—condition and originality matter more. Brandon humorously notes that he even smells old papers to verify authenticity, as genuinely old documentation should have that "attic smell" rather than appearing suspiciously pristine. The experts also clarify that while unpolished cases are preferable, most vintage watches have been polished during routine maintenance over the decades, and what matters most is whether the polishing was done well with the watch's integrity maintained.

Addressing concerns about price and wearability, Seori and Brandon encourage collectors to keep an open mind about case sizes, pointing out that vintage watches under 36mm can wear larger than their measurements suggest due to design elements like bezel width and lug shape. They emphasize that vintage watches don't have to be expensive, highlighting undervalued categories like vintage Seikos, Omega Seamasters, and even pocket watches. Most importantly, they stress that vintage watches were made to be worn daily and, with reasonable care and proper maintenance, can continue functioning perfectly for decades to come. The episode concludes with an interesting discussion about vintage quartz watches, including models like the Rolex Oyster Quartz and Patek Philippe Beta 21, representing a fascinating experimental period in watch history.

Transcript

Speaker
Brandon Frasen One of the things I do when we get the box of papers is I kinda like smell the box and papers and it kind of uh it's weird, but you know, when I when I smell it it's not a s it gives you that like reminds of my grandpa's basement or something, you know. I love that. I love that the the
Stephen Pulvirent answer is like sniff the papers Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Pulverin and this is Hodinky Radio. This week we're here to talk all things vintage watches. Uh vintage can be exciting, but it can also be pretty scary. Uh if you dig deep enough on Google, there's information out there to support basically any opinion you could possibly have about vintage watches. So I thought I'd call in reinforcements here and get the facts straight from the experts. Those experts are Seori Omura and Brandon Frasen, both of the Hodinki shop, and between them, they've got well over 20 years of experience looking at and evaluating the finest vintage watches in the world. When I need help looking at something, these are the folks I call, so I thought they'd bring them in to chat directly with you. Um they're gonna help me answer questions like do you really need box and papers when you're shopping for a vintage watch, and how small is too small for a vintage watch? Should you be buying 31 millimeter watches? Do you need to be looking for oversized? There are a lot of myths out there, and they're gonna help me dispel some of them and give you information that can arm you to make the best purchasing decisions when you're looking for a vintage watch. And that way it can be a fun experience instead of an intimidating one. So whether you're brand new or whether you're a seasoned collector, I think you're gonna learn something here. I know that I did. So without further ado, let's do this. This week's episode is presented by Bulova and the Joseph Bulva Collection. Stay tuned later in the show to learn about this new line of Swiss-made automatic watches or visit bulva.com for more Hey Siori, hey Brandon. Good to have you on the show. Hi Steven. How are you? Hey Steven. Thanks for having us. Of course. You guys are uh coming to us live from Hodinky HQ in New York, right? That's correct. Yep. Well, I appreciate you guys taking the time to chat with me. I mean this this comes out of mostly my own like neuroses and obsessions. Um and I think in vintage watches there's so much of this like received wisdom out there, stuff that everybody says is true and is fact and is just like how you have to do it. Uh and I don't I don't know that that's true. And maybe it is, maybe it's not, but I I thought uh the two of you could definitely enlighten me a little bit. Is that does that sound good? Sounds great. Yeah, sounds fun. Perfect. So what we're gonna do here is I've basically put together like six misconceptions that I think people have about vintage watches. These ideas that are just like out there that people say whether they understand them or not. Um and I'm gonna kind of ask you to debunk them for me, maybe give set the record straight. Some of them might not be true at all. Some of them might be partially true. The first one is that box and papers are critical, that they're super important. And that if you're buying a serious watch, you kind of like have to buy one with box and papers. What do you what do you guys think about that
Brandon Frasen ? You know, box and papers are important and they're great when when you have 'em and can find a watch with them. But at the end of the day, I think condition and originality, you know, is more important. You could have like a really bad watch with box and papers, or you could have a really great watch naked, as you know, they say, uh, no box and papers. And I would prefer one without box and papers in, you know, good original condition. Um you know from my past experience uh working at the auction uh at Christie's auction house and stuff a lot of people back in the day when they bought these watches, you know, they would throw the boxing papers away. Yeah. Uh like the first thing they did. So it's really hard to find it. Find box and papers. So, you know, I think being open minded to just getting a good watch is is is a good mindset for for finding a vintage watch. What about you, Sari? Like at Antiquor, I'm sure you heard a lot of people throwing throwing the watches, uh, boxes away too. Oh
Seori Omura sure. I mean, you know, it's kind of rare. I mean, even, you know, even kind of today as well. I mean, I guess people are a little bit more aware today, but like back then, you know, box and papers were not really so considered as part of the collector's item. So, you know, a lot of people just put them away or oftentimes they moved, you know, from, you know, different places. So they kind of, you know, lost them along the way. So it's not that uncommon to just see a watch by itself. So yeah, I think that should not discourage anyone from buying that watch if, the watch is in great condition, um there'
Stephen Pulvirent s certainly value to that. Okay. So so ultimately the idea is like box and papers are great. And if all things being equal, like it's probably worth the extra money to get them if you can, but like it's better to buy a good watch than to buy an okay watch with box and papers.
Brandon Frasen Absolutely. Yeah. I think that's a good way of looking at it. Um and it, you know, we get a lot of, you know, we do get watches that we sell here with box and papers and we're always excited when we find that because it is rare. But it's funny, you know, a lot of times one of the things I do when we get the box of papers is I kinda like smell the box and papers and it kind of uh it's it's weird but you know when I when I smell it it's not it gives you that like kind of like reminds of my grandpa's basement or something, you know. Yeah. It's like and that's kind of a good sign to me when the papers are like sometimes too fresh, it makes me wonder. But you know, these things have been stored for so many years and in like musky basements and stuff. So Yeah, you you gotta smell the papers
Seori Omura and boxes. It felt awes have that like um old library book smell. I'm sure everyone's familiar, you know, that kind of kind of old paper, a little bit sweet, um, you know, that type of smell. Um you you get that with um old pap
Stephen Pulvirent ers. So yeah, that's yeah. I love that. I love that the the answer is like sniff the papers, right? Like you got you gotta verify. Um I've never thought about this. Like in all the years of of looking at vintage watches, but you're you're totally right. Like if you get a box and papers and they look and smell and feel like truly, truly brand new, like who was putting Rolex box and papers in like a hermetically sealed box in nineteen sixty four? Nobody, right? Like that that just doesn't make any sense
Brandon Frasen . Yeah. I mean it's I think it's it's possible for sure. I've seen some really pristine stuff, you know, knowing the proven odds and everything. So it's not always, you know, sometimes it's okay, but it's always that that attic smell always gives me a little bit of reassurance
Stephen Pulvirent . That's that's great. Uh I mean I'll speak from personal personal experience here, uh to your point about you know, a good watch uh versus a good watch with box and papers. Uh I I used to own a a vintage GMT that anybody who's been following me on Instagram or whatever has definitely seen pictures of. And that watch was a full set. Inner box, outer box, hang tags, brochures, the whole thing. And I love the watch. I mean the watch itself is incredible. But I ended up selling it to buy a watch that came with nothing. That was just the watch. Uh and at the time I was like, uh, is this stupid from a collecting standpoint and some people told me it was some people said like you just don't give up on a on a full set like that and ultimately I made the choice that I wanted the watch to wear on a daily basis that I wanted to wear as opposed to like having the box and papers in my, you know, in not in an attic, but in a in the top of a closet. Um and ultimately I'm super happy with the decision. So like I think, you know, it's it's good to hear that the advice you're giving people is what I did so I don't feel like an idiot on my own podcast, uh which I always love. And and people do need to occasionally look out for for bad boxes and papers, right? Like these these things can be fun, but they can also be a way for a dishonest seller to kind of like bump that price up uh on an otherwise like only okay watch
Brandon Frasen . Yeah, that's that's that's with everything. You know you, know.' Its you gotta just uh know the seller, you know, try to know the provenance if you can. Um you know, kind of uh yeah, there are fake papers out there, people, you know, that's a known thing. So you just got to really trust kind of like where you're getting it from. And that's kind of like when we find stuff with boxing paper boxing papers, you know, we're always kind of vetting it extra, making sure we know, you know, where it comes from and uh just if anything looks funny we just
Seori Omura kind of pass on it usually yeah and also um because there's so much uh premium added on box and paper these days there's more incentive for people to you, know, put something together. So that's also something to keep in mind. And, you know, between Brandon and myself, you know, we've looked at so many boxes and papers in, you know, the course of some, you know, a long, I actually a long time. So um, you know, we can actually kind of figure out, okay, this looks a little bit off or this looks right. So that's also a part of, you know, what we um do here at uh you know the vintage team here just to make sure the bosses and papers are original to the watch. Nice. That's also an important part of the process here. Nice.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah. Well all right let's let's move to number two here. Uh number two is that unpolished cases are the best and that's always what you want. You just don't want to buy a polished watch. Is that true
Brandon Frasen ? Um I mean, you know, if you can find an unpolished watch, that's great. But you know, I think kind of similar to the box and papers thing, you know, I don't think you need to go into finding something, you know, needs to be on polished. Again, these watches are all you know 30, 50 years old and polishing a watch was so routine, and it still is like you know, you send the watch in, like polishing it is part of the process of kind of maintenance. So until recent years, people got you know, people started understanding that not polishing it was better, leaving it original. But for vintage watches, you know, most of them, you know, so many of them have been polished. It's hard to say, you know
Seori Omura , unpolished versus uh polished, which which is actually better in the sense of like it's not a clear-cut case. Um, it's it's really a matter of degree of um you know polishing, you know, if it's done really well with integrity left to the watch, then that actually could benefit the watch itself. Instead of having a completely unpolished watch, that's not in great condition anymore. So it's really um something to kind of keep in mind. Um it's really a matter of degree. It's not like clear cut case here. Yeah. Yeah, no
Stephen Pulvirent pun intended there. No pun intended. Yeah. No, that's that's really good advice. And I think you know the fact that it's it's hard to tell, I think can sometimes make people say like, oh well, then I only want unpolished because if I can't tell how polished it is, but I don't know, for me, I found little like tips and tricks from from you guys and from others that are helpful, things like you know, looking at where the the holes are if it's pierced lugs, right? Like you can kind of tell if the hole is in the right spot and if it's not, metal's been removed, right? Uh looking for the bevels on vintage Rolex uh sport models, like those little tips and tricks can can help people, you know, obviously they're not gonna have the same level of experience that the two of you have looking at, you know, thousands and thousands of watches a year, but like little things like that can help people feel a little more comfortable, right
Brandon Frasen ? Yeah. I mean, you know, it does take a long time to kind of like look at something and see, you know, kind of have an idea of what was done, but a good way to do that is also kind of if you know a watch has never been touched and never been like you know kind of you know the provenance you know this person's the original owner and it's never been touched it's good to look at those watches and then look at others and kind of just compare them
Stephen Pulvirent . This week's episode is presented by Bulva. There are only a handful of historic brands whose pasts powerfully connect American and Swiss watchmaking, and Boliva is one of the greatest. Founded in New York in 1875, Boulevard would go on to set up the first fully integrated watch factory in Switzerland, shaping the industry for generations to come. And, luckily, Bulova has a new collection of watches to celebrate The Joseph Boulevard Collection is an homage to the brand's visionary founder and how far the company has come in 145 years of continuous operation. The flagship pieces in the Joseph Boulevlectionard col are a pair of chronographs that combine classic elements of Boulevard design with contemporary manufacturing techniques. The chronos are each 42mm and made of stainless steel, with either a rose gold on black dial or a blue on silver dial. The three-registered design and slim Arabic numerals are inspired by those found on Bulova's very first chronograph from 1941. But the movement is a modern Salida SW500, which adds a day-date complication at 3 o'clock. These are watches that nod to the past without looking like they arrived here in a time machine. Each model is limited to just 350 pieces and they're priced at $2,495. Both watches are available now from Bulva authorized retailers. To learn more about the Joseph Bulava collection, be sure to visit Bulava.com. Alright, let's get back to the show. Alright, so so the next one I want to talk about is kind of a touchy subject sometimes, and that's that vintage watches are expensive. And sure, obviously they can be. Everything can be expensive. Uh but like I I know when I first got into watches, like there were lots of cool vintage watches that you could buy for quote unquote not a lot of money. And granted, not a lot of money is still hundreds or a few thousand dollars. Like we're not talking 10 bucks here, but like does does a good vintage watch today have to be expensive
Brandon Frasen vintage watches and watches in general could literally go from you know hundreds of dollars to millions of dollars so there's such a wide range um you know, and a lot of really cool watches are at the lower end of that range. You know, personally, I've I think I mentioned this maybe last time we chatted, but uh, you know, I've gotten myself a little collection of like Seiko's that, you know, all of them cost like less than a couple of hundred bucks each, but they're just really cool and they give me a lot of like satisfaction and pleasure when I'm playing with them, wearing them. There's a lot of other really kind of under the radar models and brands out there kind of like um you know seiko vintage seiko's are great uh boulevard caravels um and then you know another favorite is the omega sea master there are so many of them that are really well priced you, know, granted again, you know, under a couple thousand is still, you know, it's still a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of vintage watches, it's a pretty good entry level, entry point. Um I mean Sari, you've got a vintage Seiko. I mean not a Seiko. Um well you do have that, but a vintage Omega that's pretty nice that you got for a pretty good deal. And that thing looks really
Seori Omura good. I mean, I would have thought it was way more expensive. Well, um, I was pretty lucky back then. This is many years ago actually. But um
Stephen Pulvirent and you guys might have to. Classic vintage watch story. Yes, classic vintage watch. I got a great deal, but it was many years ago.
Seori Omura Many years ago. Maybe this may not happen today anymore, but um I was very lucky. Um I had an opportunity to buy this uh a large square, I guess you could call it a ciocolatone shape uh omega from the 50s with the bumper movement. And um it was uh actually a few hundred dollars at the time. But even at the time I was pretty lucky then um for a few hundred dollars. But um yeah, I wear it, you know, quite often and uh you know uh I have it on a it, hodinky Sedona green strap, which brings out the patina. I had to pitch it there. And um yeah and it's you know it's it's a watch that um I started actually started wearing again and um you know it's really not about the price per se of course you know you can possibly buy a great example for you know if you pay a lot more yes I understand that part as well but you know, I think it's almost for vintage, you know, keep your mind creative in the sense like if you see something that's that looks great, you know, go for it. You know, that's really the fun part of vintage because at the time, you know, all these designs were so quirky and not very sort of standardized like how we see today. So you might see, you know, a model, yeah, and you see this with UG quite a lot. But you know, it could be more or less the same reference, but they have different configuration dial configurations case shapes you know so you know have fun with it you know and also with like yuji and as Brandon was mentioning about Seiko's they're still within the reasonable price range. I mean, considering you, know, how vintage you know prices are going up. And also at the shop, you know, what we're trying to do is also bring in pocket watches. That's really like an undervalued category that not a lot of people are focusing because you know not many of us will carry pocket watches anymore, but as an object, as an orological sort of object, and looking at the history of how you know watchmaking happened, it's really a great source of also reference to see that these designs because you can actually see how the wristwatch designs can um you can see from the pocket watch designs like they were carried over to the wristwatches. And um yeah, I mean I think there are beautiful watches, uh pocket watches still out there under the radar pieces. So that's something that we kind of started bringing back um or bringing into the um Hodinki shop for the vintage um selection because uh you know renn and i come across these beautiful pieces and uh we want to you know let the people know that uh they're still under ball
Stephen Pulvirent ot category there so yeah yeah I mean that's a thing we haven't even touched on here, right? Is like there are still good deals to be had that might not be such good deals in two years, five years, ten years, you know? Like if you if you get into something today, who knows? You know, I I remember in the early days of Hodinky, you know, UG tricompaxes were fifteen hundred bucks, eighteen hundred bucks. I wish I'd bought twenty of them back then, you know? Uh be doing better than my mutual funds, right? Um but uh you know, who knows what the next the next thing like that is. So if you find something you like and it's accessibly priced, like you can enjoy it and you also might get a payday. Who n who knows? Exactly. Uh well cool. Well uh another one that's like near and dear to my my heart here is the idea that like men should only wear watches over X size and depending on who you talk to, it depends on what that size is. Some people say thirty eight, some people say thirty six, some people say twenty eight, you know? Like it really it really depends who you talk to. But one of the things we know about vintage watches is like watches have been getting bigger over the years. So the further back in time you go, the smaller they tend to get. Like, should people be limiting themselves to what they can wear, or should people be a little more open-minded and maybe discover some hidden gems? Yeah, I mean, I think you know people get sort of like
Seori Omura um um they focus on the case size the actual measurement of the case size and um you know don't turn the watch down just because it's it measures exactly you know on a caliper x millimeters because the actual size um and the design could actually factor in you know when you have it on the wrist because the side the the style of the bezel the case shape, how the lugs are downturned or you know elongated, it really makes a difference in terms of how the watch appears on your wrist. So, you know, actual case diameter might be 35 millimeters, but you know, depending on the bezel, especially like a wide set bezel may make the watch look a little bigger on your wrist. Uh, you know, logs that are elongated makes you know the watch look bigger on your wrist. So, you know, if you like the design, uh try it on and see how it fits on your wrist. I think that's the most important thing about um especially vintage watches because people could say, oh, it's 34 millimeters, it's just too small. You know, um, like for example, um Rolex date, you know, some of them really look, you know, beautiful on anyone's wrist. So yeah, just don't, you know, don't turn down a watch just because of the case meas
Brandon Frasen urement. One of my favorite watches is my Tudor Ranger. That's 34 millimeter. I got it, I guess like three years ago from our our good friend Eric Wind. And when he sent it to me, he was like, I was like, you know, I like it, but the size, I don't know if I'm gonna wear it. He's like, trust me, just wear it for a couple days and I thank him for, you know, kind of pushing me to try it because I don't know if I would have. And now it really opened my eyes to a lot of other watches of that size. But you know, it's just like what Sarah was saying, like the lugs, the way the watch looks on your wrist, it may sound small, but it fits just fine. And the other thing about these sizes, they fit under a cuff really nicely. You know, sometimes I wear a sweatshirt or something with like a tight cuff. So I can't really, I don't want to wear something too big and it's like kind of like constricts my wrist, you know. So that's always for me is something to think about. Um, and you know, we do get a fair amount of under 36mm watches in the shop. And I'm always trying them all on. And I'm so surprised at some of them that I really love how they fit. And it's something I would never really think I would like
Stephen Pulvirent , you know. They they could also be a really great way to get a deal, right? Like the number of times the number of times I've seen a watch listed online and I'm like, why is the price so low on this? And then you get to the measurements and you're like, oh, cause it's 33 millimeters, not 35 millimeters, or oh, it's 34, not 36. But like like you said, you get used to it. It can be a great look, it can be a lot of fun, and like, you know, you you can find really incredible uh pieces from brands like Vacheron from brands like AP from brands like Omega Rolex Paddock uh from the mid-century and before that are incredible watches and if they were thirty-seven millimeters they'd be a hundred grand and because they're thirty-three millimeters they're ten grand, you know? Uh that's a good point. There are there is some good value
Brandon Frasen there, especially with the paddocks. But the only thing is it's like since I have the ranger I was just talking about, it's like my wife is trying to steal from me all the time. So it's kind of the the tough part, but that'
Stephen Pulvirent s that's good though. Totally. Awesome. Well, let's let's keep rolling here. Uh one of the things and and funnily I think it connects to size in in a weird way. Um one of the misconceptions I think is is that you can't wear a vintage watch every day. That if you buy a really nice vintage watch, it has to spend most of its time in a safe and you occasionally get to take it out and enjoy it. But that these things are like delicate and should be kind of treated like you know little gems, like they should go in a little box and be looked at and whatever. Um I don't know, for me that doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but uh I won I wonder what you guys are thinking. You know, vented watches should definit
Brandon Frasen ely be uh, you know, you need to be careful with them, just like any watch I would say really like make sure your crown is always like pushed in make sure the case backs are always secured just kind of like being conscious uh can allow you to wear these things more than you would think. At the end of the day, you know these things were made to be worn, even if they're 50, 60 years old, um, with proper care, they can kind of run for
Seori Omura ever. Yeah, I mean I think, you know, as Brandon just mentioned, you know, with reasonable sort of consciousness and common sense,. You know these watches were made to be worn, you know, practically every day. And, you know, even at the time. I mean, at the time it still rained outside, you know, everything's pretty much the same, more or less. So, you know, I think, you know, if if you are a little bit more conscious, I would say just make sure the crown is in, as Brendan was saying, because moisture is definitely enemy number one, I would say, for vintage watches. So as long as the crown is properly in, the case back is closed. You know, I think just enjoy wearing the watch and not think about too much. Don't feel it's super, super precious about it. You know, it's also the the part of collecting is also enjoying wearing your watch so definitely don't be too too uh careful about it you want to be careful a little bit compared to a modern counterpart but it's something that um you know you shouldn't have to think about your what's on your wrist all the time. Um, so you know, um, with proper care, with proper maintenance, it's made to last, and and you know, we handle watches from like you know, 40s, 50s, 60s, and they run perfectly fine. And you know, Brendan and I wear wear these watches every day and now they still keep time and they you know function perfectly well so enjoy your watches um with a little bit care and a little bit meanness and uh you'll have for an
Stephen Pulvirent other fifty sixty years. Love that. Love that. Uh yeah, I'm a I'm a firm believer like if you're if you're gonna buy it, enjoy it, you know? And and for some people that might mean putting something in a safe. For me, that's yeah, that's not the case. Like if it's not on my wrist, if I'm not, you know, wearing it out to dinner with my wife or to go hang out with friends or whatever, like at that point it's it's kind of a waste to me. But or the other option is buy one and keep one. And or not bad one to keep one, but wear one and keep one. One one to rock, one to stock, Sayori. Exactly. That's exactly right. Love it. That's that's solid advice right there. Um we we all know somebody actually who has done that. Uh I won't call him out by name on this show, but uh I know somebody who had a good royal oak and a bad and a wearable royal oak. Uh that uh the the good one was too good to wear. Uh so he ended up buying another one uh in order to uh to enjoy it. But uh we'll let that person remain anonymous for now. Uh all right, let's let's for the last one. I'm gonna ask you a question that you might you honestly might just tell me to go take a hike here. Uh so that's why I saved it for the end. Um people uh when we talk about vintage watches, it's kind of there's like an understanding that when you say vintage watch, you mean vintage mechanical watch. Uh, but we are now at a time where there are quartz watches that are vintage, uh, and there are other types of watches, you know, Accutron and and tuning fork movements and other things. Uh does a vintage watch always have to be mechanical? Good
Brandon Frasen question. You know, that was my that was my initial thought when I first kind of like got more into watches. And I thought, you know, automatic or manual, that's all I would want. But after having more experience with some vintage core watches, I'm kind of I'm more open to the idea of it. Especially you know, recently we did 80s week with a couple cool like we had that PVD Hoyer, which is pretty funky, but the that was quartz, you know. We had the Seiko Golden Tuna, which I really liked, and that was quartz too. So, you know, I'm open to more quartz vintage watches. Um, the one nice thing about quartz is like you don't really have to set them that much. Um Sowery can, you know, I have like getting blisters on my fingers from setting these plots. Yeah, that's we we both do. It's like being a guitar player. Exactly. Yeah, that's like one thing which is kind of nice, you know. You can kind of set them and just adjust them for the date once in a while, um, more daylight savings and everything. But um there's a lot of cool quartz ones out there. Um, you know, like we also had another a nice beta 21, which is obviously pretty cool quartz too
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, I mean I've always I've always really liked the two the two vintage quartz watches that have always caught my eye that kind of like made me want to ask this question are um those old oyster quartz uh date just with the really funky, kind of like heavy bracelets. Um they just feel like the most like late 70s, early 80s watch you could possibly own. Uh in solid gold, obviously. Um Uh and then the weird paddock beta 21s um are just so strange and like I love that era where like the watch industry was kind of like trying to figure out what the hell it was gonna do uh in the future. Uh and you get all these weird experiments. And I I just think I think it's a really interesting period in watch history. And even if you're like a really diehard mechanical watch nerd, like this this is a thing you should at least know about, even if you don't want to collect it for yourself.
Seori Omura For sure. I mean, they also made as you know, to Steven's point, they certainly made a lot of interesting designs that they probably wouldn't have made otherwise. And you can see this with Oyster Quartz, for example, and definitely with Beta 21. If you look at the beta 21 design, that is very not Patek Philippe at all in terms of stylistically speaking, it's a heavy case, it's bold, it's some some of them have the Swiss cheese bracelet. Yeah. It's not very much in in sort of their classic uh aesthetics, but they went there and I think the 70s was really a a time period, you know, all these Swiss watchmakers were like, okay, we got to do something different. Uh we have to stand out. And that really shows in their sort of a product um, you know, um from that time so and also these uh pieces especially the oyster quartz the prices are going up uh there was a time uh back in the day as we would say you could buy them for a fairly uh reasonable price but certainly uh the prices are going up and uh even their quartz uh especially for the oyster quartz uh date just version day date version um you know they're becoming desirable um so yeah something to keep in mind
Stephen Pulvirent yeah, I do like the oyster quartz. Those are cool. Are are we calling it? Is the next big thing uh eighties quartz Rolex? Um I mean maybe, you know, it's hard to say. looks on the two of your faces when I said that were absolutely priceless. Uh that that was worth it all on its own
Brandon Frasen . Um but no those are they're like the royal oak of uh Rolex to me. You know they have that like integrated race of look. Yeah
Stephen Pulvirent . Awesome. Well, thank you guys for taking the time to do this. Um, you know, despite having been around watches every single day for the last, you know, 10 years or so, uh, I always find I still have stuff to learn and I think that's a good, you know, lesson for for everyone listening. Like part of the fun of this is that there's always more to learn. There's always different perspectives. And uh, you know, I'm pretty lucky that I have the two of you on speed dial any any anytime I need. So it's nice to be able to bring that to our audience and we'll have to have you back to to talk more vintage soon. Yeah, that would be great. Thanks for having us. Thank you. That was fun. Awesome. Thanks guys. Talk to you soon.