Collecting Watches Affordably

When people think about watch collecting the same famous names always pop up. We all know about Rolex, Omega, Breitling and Cartier and while these are worth collecting and often increase in value it can be fun to look at watches from less known brands as you'll be surprised by what you find.

Many brands created innovations that moved the watchmaking world forward. Take for example Eterna, the brand responsible for ETA, arguably the most well known and widely used movement producer in the Swiss watch industry.

There are also many small brands which used quality movements such as the Valjoux 7733/4. An example of this is the Sandoz recently listed. Some of these have beautifully designed dials and can also be had for 3 figures.

There are other watches like Seiko which were instrumental in the development of the quartz movement and Bulova who developed the tuning fork movements.

Universal Geneve prices can be quite high, but they do offer the microtor design in many of their vintage pieces which allow for a very slim automatic movement (as the design means the rotor sits level with the rest of the movement instead of on top). Some of these can be had for well under the £1000 mark.

When you think of super compressor watches you may immediately think of Longines. What must be considered, however, is that a 'super compressor' watch actually refers to the case design and manufacture (these were made by (EPSA) and were not Longines exclusive. The case was used by many other less known brands and although the quality of movements will differ you will find you can spend well under £1000 for a nice super compressor watch.

These are just a few examples of how you can collect a variety of watches without having to sell some or face the prospect of divorce!

Next blog coming soon!