ok, well vintage watches for sure arent my area. Im much more in tune with the prices of stuff from the 70/80s onwards.
Another good site to check prices is Chrono24. Its an online watch trading site and while the asking prices tend to be a little on the high side from the final selling prices i would suggest only by 10 / 15% or so.
Ive put your watch model into the search bar on there and several similar models come up for sale varying from GBP2k to quite a bit more -
You'll find 496,846 luxury watches on Chrono24: watches from watch brands such as Rolex, Omega, Breitling. Buy men's watches, ladies' watches, or sell a used watch.
www.chrono24.ae
You may need to change the currency and location in order to get British Pounds.
I would be amazed if it wasnt worth at least a thousand pounds just because its an 80 year old watch from a very storied brand. Not that i would sell it if i was you. If it was mine and it was my grandfathers that held memories and stories i would put a bit of money into it and have it sympathetically restored ie keep some of the patina and the face and hands of the watch that hold so much history with your grandfather and then maybe get the acrylic polished and put a new strap on it and get it working. To me that would be lovely to wear on family occasions or his birthday/wedding day etc etc. Each to their own of course.
I would actually love to spend time looking at the history like you now seem to be doing, i quite like learning about stuff like that. If you put a picture or two of it on the rolex forum vintage section and ask for advice about value and possible restoration you should get some decent responses. One top tip though… be wary of taking it to Rolex. They have a policy of always trying to return any watch to its original condition ie they would totally replace all of the worn parts including the face and hands with new parts. The only exception with your watch may be that age precludes rolex from having too many replacement parts available. Still the Rolex forum would be full of recommendations im sure.
Anyhow good luck with your quest and i would love to know how you get on.
so just out of interest, watch brands are considered as being prestige these days?
i know the traditional ones, Rolex, tag heuer, breitling, Rotary but that is all o know.
i was rather surprised to find out recently that both casio and sekonda are now considered to be very solid brands.
i say im surprised by that because when i was a kid, casios were 2 pound off the board on the market stall and sekonda’s were a solid but cheep brand.
apparently today sekondas are in the same range as Rotary and casio’s arent far behind, or so it seems.
but dont quote me on it because im not a follower of fashion or this kind of thing in general!
so yeah, please educate me on the current “way of things” in the watch world!
Well the 3 watch makers that are generally regarded to be of the highest quality and storied are the so called ‘holy trinity’ Being Patek Phillipe (PP), Vacheron Constantin (VC), Audemars Piguet (AP). Each of these brands have exquisite finishing and have models that are almost impossible to buy by walking into a shop with a large wedge of cash. In the case of Patek you are invited for an interview for certain models to ascertain your suitability to buy.
Other Swiss premium brands that have both long histories and reputations for quality are many but to name a few - Blancpain, Rolex, Omega, Breitling, Richard Mille, Zenith, Tudor, Panerai etc etc.
Tag Heur has probably slipped a little since its heyday in the 90s and there are many good quality watches at the lower end of the luxury watch band such as Tissot, Rado, Hamilton, Seiko etc etc.
Non Swiss brands to look out for - Grand Seiko, Glasshute, A Lange & Sohne.
This list is by no means exhaustive and im sure ive missed many names… however the Holy Trinity is the Holy Trinity and always has been.
Sekonda are a British company founded in 1966. I would guess that the name was chosen to sound a little bit like Seiko. Originally manufactured in the Soviet Union but since 1993 all made in Hong Kong.
I haven’t been wearing a watch since the beginning of Covid, as I found that they were getting in the way of all the handwashing, wipes, gels etc, and I’ve yet to resume the habit.
Anyway, my regular daily … , the Casio w217H, for me, the best modern iteration of the classic '80’s Casio W91. The W217 is slightly bigger than the W91, retains the look, but up to date.
On slightly ‘posher’ occasions, the Citizen Eco-Drive solar.
And…, needing a battery, the Thai Beach Seller ‘Rolex’, … 40 years old now. Still keeps good time.
i really miss the old duel time watches that had both a clockface with hands AND a digital display!
i was trying to get one when i got my Rotary but couldnt find many and none in the correct style!
its a real shame there not as popular anymore because they are really good for people with dislexia and or learning difficulties as it helps them to learn to tell the time by a clock.
its how i learnt to read a clock because when i would check the digital display i would also see the clock and so slowly over time i learnt to read a clock face without even having to think about it!
An ex-OC member mate (a surgeon) has a drawer full of expensive watches, never wears them. Instead, when on home visits to Malaysia, he makes sure he stocks up on the top drawer replicas/fakes, to actually wear. Side by side, I can’t tell the difference.
These aren’t the £30 replicas with Chinese or Japanese movements, but are £500+ replicas with the same or very similar Swiss movements as the originals.
