"We are firmly ensconced in the era of the gold dress watch, particularly of the vintage varietal. They're everywhere, from the 31mm Patek Philippe ref. 96 to all manner of stone-dial Piagets, from deep-cut, postwar Cartier to - gasp! - quartz-powered fashion watches from the 1990s. The early 2020s have seen the pendulum swing from stainless steel luxury sports watches back to their categorial opposite, and frankly, we're here for it."
"Where once old mil-spec models were commanding close to $10,000 on retailers' websites, their prices have nearly halved. And where just a few years ago a beautiful 36mm piece from a mid-tier Swiss marque would easily have cleared $5,000+, today they're trading for perhaps $3 to $4K. In short, if you're willing to zig where others zag, you can snag a pretty wonderful watch at a price that was unthinkable for much of the past decade."
""While the marketplace has seen untold thousands - possibly millions - of new mechanical watch enthusiasts since the pandemic, a notable generational knowledge gap now exists and is perhaps most felt in the vintage segment," Lamdin says. "As a result, demand for vintage pieces - particularly sports models from the 1940s to 1980s - has decreased dramatically in the past five years. Prices for these watches fell steeply, and they now represent one of the best values on the market.""
Gold dress watches, especially vintage examples, have surged in popularity across a wide range of models, from 31mm Patek Philippe ref. 96 and stone-dial Piagets to postwar Cartier and 1990s quartz fashion watches. The early 2020s shift away from stainless-steel luxury sports watches toward smaller, dressier vintage pieces has driven renewed interest in smaller and dressier watches. Conversely, vintage chronographs have seen steep price declines; mil-spec models and mid-tier 36mm chronographs now trade well below recent peaks. Thousands of vintage watches change hands annually, a generational knowledge gap among new enthusiasts has reduced demand for 1940s–1980s sports models, and present market conditions offer notable buying opportunities for open-minded collectors.
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