Please define vintage..

[johnswatch]

It's great to have a vintage forum at last. Could we define vintage?

Is it 25+ years?

This will hopefully be a great resource for all the old Marconi's, 1920's cocktail watches, bubblebacks etc.

I'd be really disapointed if this forum ends up swamped with endless 'look at my 1970's submariner' type posts.

I'm beginning to get the Rolex collecting bug and informaton wanted posts tend to get pushed back to page 10 on the main forum within 24 hours due to endless wrist shots and 'what are you wearing today'.
Don't get me wrong, the main forum is great and has some of the nicest posters around along wth a great inclusive attitude but real histrical info can be hard to find.

[lobo58]

Originally Posted by johnswatch

It's great to have a vintage forum at last. Could we define vintage?

Is it 25+ years?

This will hopefully be a great resource for all the old Marconi's, 1920's cocktail watches, bubblebacks etc.

I'd be really disapointed if this forum ends up swamped with endless 'look at my 1970's submariner' type posts.

I'm beginning to get the Rolex collecting bug and informaton wanted posts tend to get pushed back to page 10 on the main forum within 24 hours due to endless wrist shots and 'what are you wearing today'.
Don't get me wrong, the main forum is great and has some of the nicest posters around along wth a great inclusive attitude but real histrical info can be hard to find.

Could be wrong...but I think Rolex defines it as 30+ years.

[astcell]

Vintage: It tasks or looks bad but we have to pretend we like it due to other factors.

[springer]

My definition is 20 years old and a discontinued model.

[Imtiaz]

Originally Posted by springer

My definition is 20 years old and a discontinued model.

Agreed. 20 years is a long time for a watch. That would be the treshold of vintage for me too.

[Skullring]

Originally Posted by Imtiaz

Agreed. 20 years is a long time for a watch. That would be the treshold of vintage for me too.

Yea!! 20 years I'm in the club.

[mike]

As with most things it depends on who you ask.

Twenty five years has always been a number that comes up.
The purist will state the watch must have a plastic crystal.

Yet others will state a movement that has been discontinued is a criteria.

I think as times change we have to show some flexibility in our definitions.

In my view the reference must certainly have some years to it, but I tend to lump the transitional 16760s, 16800, 16660s, etc...into the vintage camp.

I also view vintage and desirability as two very separate entities. There are many pieces that because of their age certainly fall into the vintage camp, but for any number of reasons have not attained the status of other references favored by the vintage community.

[goduke1]

Originally Posted by Skullring

Yea!! 20 years I'm in the club.

As am I! Mine is 37 years young!

[Lowflight]

I am more strict and say anything with Plastic Crystal AND and Matte Dial in the Sports Watch area. Who cares about the other watches

[fly-dad]

Originally Posted by johnswatch

It's great to have a vintage forum at last. Could we define vintage?

Is it 25+ years?

This will hopefully be a great resource for all the old Marconi's, 1920's cocktail watches, bubblebacks etc.

I'd be really disapointed if this forum ends up swamped with endless 'look at my 1970's submariner' type posts.

I'm beginning to get the Rolex collecting bug and informaton wanted posts tend to get pushed back to page 10 on the main forum within 24 hours due to endless wrist shots and 'what are you wearing today'.
Don't get me wrong, the main forum is great and has some of the nicest posters around along wth a great inclusive attitude but real histrical info can be hard to find.

I'd say try the search function....you'll be amazed at what you'll find....like this:

Originally Posted by mike

Go here,

http://www.network54.com/Forum/207593/

Wonderfull gentlemen with some real experts on all things Rolex vintage! The dial section alone is worth the price of admission.

And yes I tend to prefer the older references. This was a different era where watches really were used as part of necessary equiment for a specific task and were treated as such.

My favorites have always been the GMT family and the Subs.
While I'm fortunate to have examples of both vintage and modern, vintage is where my heart is. I guess being the orginal owner of some they don't really seem that old to me.

My humble group,

[Lol-x]

I think that without question vintage will include models that are no longer produced by Rolex.

As stated by mike, vintage to some is 'plexiglass (plastic) crystal.

Mike also states that flexibility needs to be given to the definition.

Thus vintage might even feasably be extended to the 14060M without the COSC.

However, I would tend to the view that if it hasn't been produced in the last howeversolong recent past, it is vintage.

It's no big deal, each item needs to be considered on it's merits, for example, I have a 1988 model that has a sapphire crystal and a double quickset movement (that Rolex still uses today).

Just enjoy the discussion and the watches

[SLS]

Vintage, watches with acrylic crystals & matte dials.
Transitional, sapphire crystals with matte dials (sometimes glossy) and a high beat movement.
Modern, sapphire crystals, glossy dial & high beat movement.
Scott