Fratello Talks: The Vintage Watches We’d Buy Under €5,000
Vintage watches can seem intimidating when you first start looking. There are unfamiliar references, decades of production changes, questions about originality, and the ever-present possibility of an expensive service bill. But you don’t necessarily need a huge budget to get into vintage watches. In fact, €5,000 opens up a surprisingly broad selection. In this episode of Fratello Talks, Nacho is joined by Daan and Max, the latter of whom usually spends his time behind the camera but joins the podcast for this episode. The three discuss the vintage watches they would consider buying with a €5,000 budget. Each participant has selected three watches, with a few honorable mentions along the way. As always, the aim isn’t to create a definitive buying guide. Instead, it’s an opportunity to explore some options at this price point and explain what makes them interesting. But first, a quick wrist check.
Wrist check
Daan is wearing his Cartier Santos Galbée XL, a larger interpretation of Cartier’s distinctive square sports watch. Its curved case and distinctive bracelet give it a different character from the more traditional Santos designs.
Max is wearing a Rolex Oyster from the 1950s, a vintage example of the simple water-resistant Oyster case that became the foundation of Rolex’s modern identity.
Nacho has his Omega Seamaster Professional 300M ref. 2254 on the wrist (as is often the case). It’s a modern classic with the familiar black wave dial, sword hands, and aluminum bezel insert.
Image: Bulang & Sons
Fratello Talks: The Vintage Watches We’d Buy Under €5,000
A €5,000 budget doesn’t get you everything in the vintage market, but it gives you plenty of options. More importantly, it offers enough room to explore different eras, styles, and brands without necessarily compromising what makes vintage watches interesting in the first place. In this episode, Daan, Max, and Nacho each select three watches they’d consider buying for €5,000 or less, with several honorable mentions thrown in. We’ve deliberately kept their choices under wraps, so if you want to find out which watches made the cut (and why), you’ll have to tune in.
Now we’d like to hear from you, Fratelli: what vintage watch would you buy with €5,000, and what would make your list?
