What holds the value of a vintage watch

The four things that hold the price

• The original bracelet. The first thing to get lost and the hardest to replace: links are no longer produced, and generic ones give themselves away by pattern and finish. A piece with its original, complete bracelet always sits at the top of the range.
• Intact plating. On plated cases wear cannot be repaired: worn edges and casebacks stay worn. It is the variable that most often explains two hundred euros of difference.
• Box and papers. Of 69 available pieces, 24 come with the box and only 14 with box and papers together; 15 arrive with neither. They are rare because nobody kept the boxes — and that is exactly why they count.
• The original dial. A redone dial shows in the fonts and in printing too crisp for the age of the case, and it costs more value than any scratch.

Hermès

Loquet Di lizard

Excellent

€ 675

Saint Laurent

Octagonal Bianco

Excellent

€ 395

Hermès

Clipper Classic Bianco

Very good

€ 570

All available watches

And what destroys value instead

• Replating. It erases the original finish and often the markings on the caseback: a replated piece is worth less than one with honest wear.
• Polishing a plated case. The same thing, done without realising it.
• A redone dial presented as original.
• A generic bracelet fitted in place of the original, especially if the original was thrown away.
• A dead battery left inside for months. If it leaks, the movement often cannot be saved: the most common damage on vintage quartz watches.

Price ranges, by maison

These are the pieces available now, not market estimates. They give an order of magnitude: within each maison the difference comes down to the four factors above.

• Gucci — 29 pieces, from € 225 to € 575, median € 330
• Hermès — 9 pieces, from € 475 to € 1,045, median € 615
• Longines — 3 pieces, from € 395 to € 570, median € 570
• Omega — 1 piece, € 710
• Saint Laurent — 27 pieces, from € 235 to € 395, median € 285

What we will not tell you

That a vintage watch is an investment. We do not know, and we are not financial advisers: prices follow demand, demand changes, and a model much sought after today may not be in five years. Anyone promising returns on a fashion object is selling something else.

What we can speak to is the object, not the market: whether the bracelet is original, whether the plating is whole, whether the accessories are there, whether the dial has ever been touched. Those are verifiable facts, and we state them in every listing. The rest is forecasting.

If one day you want to resell it

• Keep everything: box, papers, spare links, the original strap even if worn, the signed buckle.
• Never have a plated case polished. And say so to whoever handles it, because they do not always ask.
• Change the battery when the watch stops, or have it removed if it will sit unworn for a long time.
• Photograph the caseback and the clasp: those two places show almost everything, and a listing that shows them sells sooner.

How we describe condition

Quick answers