when does something become vintage?

[four20]

20 years? 50?

do these things come in stages? ie- "Classic" becomes "Vintage" after X number of years which in turn becomes "Antique" later?

i'm asking because i see a lot of different things (not just watches) listed for sale with "vintage" and it seems vintage can be anywhere from 10-100 years

[Ryeguy]

20 years? 50?

do these things come in stages? ie- "Classic" becomes "Vintage" after X number of years which in turn becomes "Antique" later?

i'm asking because i see a lot of different things (not just watches) listed for sale with "vintage" and it seems vintage can be anywhere from 10-100 years

I think you can use yourself as a yardstick for this analysis. You, my friend, could best be described as "vintage", even bordering as "antique with a well earned patina".

Me, on the other hand, could be described as "classic".

[BBK357]

When Hodinkee and all the overpriced Rolex sellers say so ):


Really, I’m thinking 80’s qualifies. I know when I was buying older Sinn models a lot of people called 90’s “neo-vintage”. No clue why.


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[JDC222]

"The rule of thumb used by most antique dealers is that anything about 100 years or older is an antique. Items that are old, but not quite that old, are called vintage."

[JBZ]

This question comes up on TRF with some regularity, and there is no definitive answer other than, like pornography, "I know it when I see it." Anytime someone tries to add specifics (lug holes, tritium, plexiglass crystal, etc.), there's always an exception.

And I've never been fond of "classic," which I find to be an even more confusing term.

[dukerules]

There obviously can't be a strict definition with anything, including watches. But for me, a watch is vintage if it has tritium or radium on the dial. That simple.

[demer03]

When the berries hang below the twig....

[JBZ]

There obviously can't be a strict definition with anything, including watches. But for me, a watch is vintage if it has tritium or radium on the dial. That simple.

So a brand new Ball watch would be vintage?

Just busting your stones, but that's the sort of response I see on TRF with regularity. Someone says "tritium." Someone then asks whether their 1997 Rolex is vintage, since it has tritium. And then someone else says "it's not vintage, but it is classic." And then I start drinking.

I just think it's hard to define. Everyone agrees that a four digit Rolex (e.g. 1680, 1675, 1655, 1601) is vintage. At least with Rolex, it gets harder when you get into the 1980s and 1990s with the five digit models.

[dukerules]

Yeah of course not. I mean tritium hands and plots and not capsules. But this is why all of this is dumb. There is no set of objective criteria here.

[BBK357]

When the berries hang below the twig....

But with a Twig so small, you’ve dealt with this your whole life. You were born vintage? Much interesting .


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[demer03]

When the berries hang below the twig....

But with a Twig so small, you’ve dealt with this your whole life. You were born vintage? Much interesting .


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chortle

[toxicavenger]

When the berries hang below the twig....

hahahaha so true

[matt009au]

Dunno, but for me it feels like stuff from the 80s, both cars and watches, are just entering the 'vintage' phase. 90s definetly not yet.

[HapaHapa]

Use “vintage” when it sounds good in the sales post?

[logan2z]

Dunno, but for me it feels like stuff from the 80s, both cars and watches, are just entering the 'vintage' phase. 90s definetly not yet.

My '95 has been referred to as 'classic'

[JBZ]

Dunno, but for me it feels like stuff from the 80s, both cars and watches, are just entering the 'vintage' phase. 90s definetly not yet.

My '95 has been referred to as 'classic'

[amckiwi]

My 6309 is considered vintage
This concerns me as I bought it new

[aikiman44]

I’d say 25 years.

[Bradley_Goodchil]

Would this be a vintage?

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[dnslater]

I’d say 25 years.

Yeah 25-30 years feels like a minimum. I think most Swiss companies made the switch away from Tritium in the late 90’s, so tough to consider Luminova watches as vintage. This came up when I was searching for 5 digit Sea Dwellers recently. They were made from 1988-2008 and older ones were being sold as vintage, while newer versions felt very fresh.

[Henryj]

My 6309 is considered vintage
This concerns me as I bought it new

If guys here start saying “I bought one of them new for 35 bucks”, it’s vintage.

[BacoNoir]

For me, it’s always been tritium lume for vintage, but as time passes another 10 years or so, that may change to aluminum bezels.