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Vintage watches remain ever popular in the watch collector’s journey. There are serious collectors who remain focused on buying only vintage. Since the pandemic, my inbox has been flooded with auction houses and vintage dealers trying to one-up each other by selling the most curated “once in a lifetime” or most expensive vintage piece. I have nothing against the sellers and buyers, especially if they can vouch for the authenticity and pay for the repairs, they deserve my appreciation.
Personally, I am apprehensive of owning vintage watches at my current point of collecting. I owned a few vintage watches in my early days as a collector, most of them were bargain finds on eBay that eventually stopped working or I ended up trading, except for one expensive Rolex Datejust that had to be serviced. Ultimately, service on the Datejust was as expensive as the watch, including Rolex replacing the dial to a different color which I hated and ended up selling for a loss. I know it was a rookie mistake, but that was the end of vintage watches for me.
After that experience, I stuck to buying either new watches from retailers or pre-owned watches from other collectors. As it happened, my work took me to Germany often, and there I discovered a whole new world of neo-vintage watches.
Before I get deeper into what specific “affordable” neo-vintage watches a couple of my collector friends and I recommend, I should briefly define what neo-vintage watches are and why they are easier to collect.
I would define neo-vintage watches as watches made between the 1980s to the early 2000s. As a Gen-Xer it is hard to believe that the 1980s were 40 years ago, which could technically be considered vintage. But watches made during this period have special characteristics – while their design remains unique to this period, their manufacturing is more closely aligned to modern-day manufacturing. They are easier to repair, and parts are still available with the original watch company or independent repair workshop.
Due to availability of parts and documented services, there is less chance of fraud (but not zero). I am confident there are enough Franken-watches out there but even if there are watches with non-original parts, they are easy to authenticate as the knowledge from the brand or creator is readily available. Unlike true vintage, which requires deep expertise to authenticate, these watches are likely easily identifiable.
In the early to mid 2000s when I was looking at watches from the 90s and early 2000s, I could easily find Daniel Roth and Roger Dubuis watches in great condition with some of the best designs and technical movements, all for a reasonable price, often under $5,000 (with some models well below that). The same goes for Franck Muller chronographs and many other brands that put out some of the best designed and technically superior watches of the era. Sadly, since the 2020s, those same watches have really appreciated due to hype and secondary watch dealers pushing their prices up. They sell for anywhere between $15,000-$30,000 depending on condition, complication, and perceived or hyped desirability.
This became a topic of conversation with two of well-known collectors and friends from Germany, Thomas Brechtel and Mike Stuffler. I posed a question: if all of us had $5,000 to spend, which neo-vintage watches would we buy? Since the three of us are biased in our collecting towards German watches, our recommendations are from German brands.
The first brand we unanimously stated was Union Glashütte, pre-Swatch acquisition, when it was a sister company of Glashütte Original. Union was resurrected by Glashütte Original in 1996 since Union had legitimate history in Glashütte like Grossmann and Lange did. Even though Union watches were priced lower than Glashütte Original, everything was made using the same high-quality cases, dials, and high caliber movements. The brand was only sold and marketed in Germany and Austria, but thanks to watch forums, Union grew a cult following in the early 2000s.
Brechtel states that watches from the Julius Bergter collection are beautiful and honor the Glashütte tradition yet provide excellent value for money. Julius Bergter Editions were limited editions that offered everything from a small seconds complication to a perpetual calendar, and everything in between. Thomas’s favorite is the Zeigerdatum (Pointer Date) model in silver dial (Ref.30-02-01-02-10) with a manual winding movement that was limited to 200 pieces. Later, Union made another Pointer Date anniversary version with automatic movement in a black dial that was limited to 111 pieces.
The watch I acquired was also from the Julius Bergter collection. It is the Julius Bergter Chronograph (Ref. 30-06-01-02-10) with a silver dial, manual winding caliber 30-06 in a 39.5mm steel case. The silver dial from the early 2000s has developed a patina with a warmer shade of silver. The watch was in perfect condition, and I paid 3,500 Euros. I have seen this watch sell for anywhere between 2,000-4,000 Euros online and in second-hand shops. Just keep in mind that the Union website lists the price of 400 Euros for servicing the chronograph 30-06 movement.
In the early 2000s I collected Union’s catalogs from the 1997/98 and the prices in Deutsche Mark were unbelievable. For a die-hard collector of resurrected Union, a must have is the 1997 anniversary 3-watch set, and the very rare 2001 Johannes Dürrstein Flying Tourbillon. Of course, these are out of the price range we’re discussing, but still worth mentioning. Also, if you happen to visit Glashütte, please do visit the German Watch Museum which showcases a complete history of Union. You can also pick up a booklet on the history of Union from the gift shop for 5 Euros.
The second brand we unanimously agreed on is Chronoswiss under the leadership of Gerd-Rüdiger Lang. Though they now operate as a Swiss brand (their headquarters is based in Lucerne), Lang was German, and Chronoswiss was founded in München, Germany. They are often associated closely with other brands under discussion here, so it feels apt to include them. Brechtel explains, “Everybody who believes in watchmaking, everybody who claims to be a watch collector has to have one or more GR Lang Chronoswiss watches. Lang’s Chronoswiss is everything you can imagine, dream about, it is larger than life, it reflects the rebirth of mechanical watchmaking, it is all so beautiful and so affordable.”
I couldn’t have said it better than how Brechtel sums it up. GR Lang really made the casual watch wearer into an enthusiast. He was the first one to make the movements see through from the case back. He made so many different complications, case shapes, and used interesting movements. He also made sure that all the watches were priced reasonably.
When it comes to interesting complications, I see similarities between Habring and Chronoswiss. Understandably, Habring watches are slightly higher priced since the movements are made in-house. Chronoswiss used third party movements and modified them to develop their own complications. For example, a few years ago I purchased the Delphis model (Ref. CH 1423) with a bronze dial. It is based on the Enicar automatic caliber 165 but modified to be the first watch featuring digital jump hour, retrograde minutes, and small running seconds. I purchased this watch for about $4,000, but I have seen silver dial Delphis for under $3,000 on Chrono24 or eBay.
GR Lang’s Chronoswiss made so many different models, all classic in their own right, so it is hard to pick a favorite. The regulator pops up most often when you do a search on Chronoswiss watches. The second iteration of the Regulator (Ref. CH 1223) uses a modified Enicar automatic movement. However, a more collectible Regulator is the older manual winding edition (Ref. CH 6327) with Unitas 6376 movement.
There are several variations of chronographs like the Lunar Chronograph, Opus, Kairos Chronograph, and Tora Chronograph – all using ETA based movements. However, there were a few variants of chronographs that used Lemania 1873 movements as well.
Two watches I came close to pulling the trigger on were the Tank-shaped Hora (Ref. CH 1351) which also features a jump hour complication, and the wild and cool pilot’s chronograph, the Timemaster (Ref. Ch 7533). GR Lang had creative designs and also employed creative designers like Thomas Schnelle, who I wrote about recently. The Timemaster takes the concept of a traditional pilot’s watch and makes it larger than life, and I am obsessed.
Chronoswiss produced a few hundred watches annually in the early 90s and increased production to several thousand of watches annually in the early 2000s, so you can easily pick one up in good condition for between $1,500 – $4,000 online or with secondary sellers. The brand did make many precious metal watches with nice matching thin bracelets, and prices of those are naturally in a higher range.
While the watches are easy enough to source, a book on Chronoswiss and GR Lang titled “Sign of the Times” is slightly harder to find in good condition. I was fortunate to get an autographed copy from the author during my visit to the atelier. I would highly recommend this book since it also lists collectible, limited edition watches with all the technical details. I have fond memories of meeting GR Lang over the years at Baselworld meetings or visiting him in Munich. He sadly passed away in 2023 at the age of 80.
Stuffler, Bechtel, and I also happen to appreciate German pilot watches, hence we agreed that the Sinn 903 chronograph produced from the 1980s until the early 2000s is underappreciated since it looks almost exactly like a Breitling Navitimer. There is a good reason for that – Helmut Sinn acquired the rights for the Breitling Navitimer 806 & 809 designs when the brand’s assets were liquidated.
The Sinn 903 came in various configurations, but the 41mm steel case and familiar bi-directional bezel looks about as close to the Breitling Navitimer as you’ll ever get. Sinn used the Lemania 1872 movement and its derivatives for additional complications. Sinn also had a few versions with a rotating inner bezel via the crown, and another version with a date and the manual winding Valjoux 7740 movement. However, the simple Sinn 903 with Lemania 1872 is the best version to find and collect. Sinn still services all the Lemania and Valjoux 903s in their newly set up service center in Glashütte. I have found good examples of the Sinn 903 with a Lemania caliber for under $3,500.
Stuffler has a memorable quote on his 903: “When I was a young police officer in the 90s, I bought my first Sinn, a 903 St, then with the Lemania 1873. The Sinn 903 was a popular choice for watch enthusiasts at the time, especially for those who valued reliability and durability. The reliability has continued to this day, as the new 903 convincingly proves. Buy Economy, fly Business.”
Brechtel additionally added that neo-vintage Sinn 103 watches are also great watches to collect and can be found well under $5,000. Early (vintage) 103 models came with exotic movements and at times were made for Sinn. The best period to buy them are from the 1990s, especially when Helmut Sinn sold the company to Lothar Schmidt in 1993. These transitional models had either the automatic Valjoux 7750 or a manual winding Valjoux 7760 in a tri-compax dial configuration. The current 103 models resemble the Sinn 103 B model from the early 90s. A great resource on vintage Sinn watches is Vintage Sinn Collector. Michele Tripi is a passionate vintage Sinn watch collector.
Stuffler recommended one of my favorite Flieger chronographs from the early 2000s, the Tutima NATO chronograph with the Lemania 5100 movement. I regret selling this watch a few years ago. The Tutima Ref. 798 was made for the German Air Force in the early 1980s, but was later also issued to NATO pilots, hence collectors started referring to it as Tutima NATO chronograph.
It is a big watch at 43mm x 14.6mm but wears small due to short lugs and rounded edges. The NATO chronograph feels like a no-frills watch due to the brilliance of the case design with the integrated pushers to make it appear as a military tool watch. The dull pearl-blasted case gives all the attention to black dial with contrasting red chronograph and seconds hands. The Lemania movement is a pleasure to engage with a push of the chronograph button.
Tutima still services NATO (and all military) chronographs in their workshop in Ganderkesee, a town in Northern Germany. The version I owned was Ref. 760 in titanium, due to the comfort of wearing it. Tutima’s current catalog features the M2 Coastline model based on this watch. My guess is that since this watch is 200 meters water resistant, Tutima decided to change the name to reference its aquatic attributes. You can easily find the 798 or 760 on a bracelet or strap for under $3,000.
Even though IWC is technically not German, it certainly deserves an honorary mention. When I receive a press release from IWC on their newest Flieger Chronograph priced in $7,000-$8,000 range, I wish I could redirect everyone to IWC Ref. 3706, which is the best Flieger chronograph IWC has made, and it can be bought for much less than half the price of a new one, even on the bracelet. If you want to deep dive into 3706, read this great article by Zach. Another under the radar IWC is engineered by one of my favorite watchmakers, Richard Habring – the Dopplechronograph, Ref. 3711. Even this important split-seconds watch from the 1990s can be had for much less than a brand-new Flieger chronograph.
With ever escalating prices of new watches, I find it timely to explore neo-vintage watches that are still flying under the radar.
