Tag Archives: Watch Info

tomvox1′s watches for sale — January Selection

MFL is proud to present links to tomvox1’s ads for vintage watches. These are sales posts you might otherwise have to search the web for or miss entirely before they are already sold. These watches are eclectic, cover a wide range of price points and offer the discerning gentleman the opportunity to acquire quality vintage timepieces that are guaranteed to be authentic and add penache & elan to a man’s wrist & wardrobe.  Most of all, they are backed by one of the world’s foremost collectors and always certain to be accurately and lovingly described down to the last detail. Simply put, you can buy a watch from some other random seller on the Internet with a lot of vague claims and small pictures or you can buy a tomvox1 watch and know exactly what you’re getting before you make the leap.

Vintage 1961 Omega Gold Cap Constellation w/semi-Arabics Pie Pan Dial, cal. 551 — Click here for complete Timezone Sales Corner ad: SOLD

Rare Vintage 1950s Solid Gold LeCoultre Calendar Disc in SQUARE Case — Click here for complete Timezone Sales Corner: SOLD

BIG SALE! Vintage 1920s Solid 14k White Gold Hamilton TONNEAU w/Beautiful Dial — Click here for complete Timezone Sales Corner ad: SOLD

Something special: A Chocolate Rolex GMT-Master

Every once in a while, you come across a watch that really gets your juices flowing, just like when you started out and everything was new and fresh. A special piece is exciting to find in the wild and it’s one of the thrills of the hunt when you bag one. I should add here that I am often excited about a lot of different watches I come across because, well, I’m a shamelessly promiscuous watchaholic. But there are flings and then there are the love affairs that last. And for a guy like me who has always had a special place in his heart for the classic Rolex reference 1675 GMT-Master, this one really put a charge in me.

1675GMTChoco-8_edited-3

Do not adjust your monitor–that dial really is that brown. A deep, dark chocolate brown in fact. Now, we know that the early meters-first matte dials for the Red Submariners are famous for their tendency to turn a pleasing “Tropical” brown. But for whatever reason, we see this less on the first series of GMT matte dials. It’s not unheard of, of course, I’ve seen it a few times prior. But it definitely seems more unusual. And to find a dial like this one that is evenly toned and essentially flawless is really a rare thing…

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Blog of the day– Jake’s Rolex World Magazine

If you want to get heavy into Rolex ephemera, pop culture and the wonderful personalities who wore Rolex throughout history, Jake’s Rolex World Magazine is a fine place to while away the hours. From the brand’s founder Hans Wilsdorf to the ultra cool ambassadors like James Bond, Jackie Stewart, Steve McQueen and (believe it or not) Martin Luther King, Jr., Jake has a passion for rooting out the many tales in Rolex’s storied history and the pivotal players who wore the watches. We’re not sure where he gets the time or the energy for such a massive amount of well done posts but our hat’s off to him–way to go, Jake, you’ve got a real cool blog!

Watch Collector’s Notebook: A golden dream

It won’t happen often but every once in a while as a watch collector you will run into something genuinely rare and special. I’ve been fortunate in my relatively brief years in the hobby to have more than my fair share of these moments. But the one watch that arguably stands out for pure Wow! factor is this early solid 18k gold reference 1680 Rolex Submariner:

1680-med-2Now there is nothing particularly uber-rare about an acrylic crystal “Nipple” dial gold Submariner, although they are not all that easy to come by. But what made this example really special and drew me to it is that the dial was meters-first, which is very uncommon in a Gold Sub. Rolex manufactured the Submariner line for 15 years before they decided to make a version in gold. (This despite the fact that they had always produced a GMT-Master in solid gold from the beginning of that reference in 1955. Who knows with Rolex?) But from it’s introduction at the Basel watch fair in 1954, the Submariner was only available in stainless steel. Also notable is that their dials had always had the proud depth rating with the metric measurement of 200 meters first. Furthermore, no Submariner had ever been produced with a date complication. But in 1969, Rolex was about to change all of these things.  Continue reading →

A (very) general hierarchy for vintage watches

Here are some very general guidelines on how to rank and compare vintage watches in a physical sense. Obviously, make and model have the most to do with the overall equation in terms of value but these physical characteristics can still give a collector a basic idea of the overall intrinsic value of a given wristwatch when compared against like examples.

  1. Case Type: A case with screwed back is generally more desirable than one with a snap/pressure fit back due to increased water resistance. Any given multi-piece case is usually preferable to a front loading “monocoque” one-piece case, a style which was popular in the early 1970s but is now out of fashion. A 3-piece case with back, midcase and separate bezel is generally considered superior to a 2-piece case with integrated/formed non-separate bezel. Continue reading →