By Alan Wood
We bring you the 10 gift ideas for vintage watch collectors. Discover the best gifts to buy the vintage watch enthusiast in your life, from the experts at Vintage Gold Watches.
Alan Wood (above) is a trusted vintage watch dealer with over 35 years of private collecting experience. After founding Vintage Gold Watches in 2011, his deep knowledge and infectious passion for mechanical timepieces earned him a highly respected reputation in the industry. Vintage Gold Watches has become a renowned dealer thanks to Alan’s expertise and skilled team of restorers. Alan’s love for vintage watches started as a young Mechanical Entrepreneur and grew into an obsession. He believes the finest watches were made in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and is thrilled to share them with others.
10 Great Gift Ideas for the Vintage Watch Collector in Your Life
If you’re looking for a gift that will wow them, choose a gift that inspires their passion for vintage watches or compliments their existing watch collection. But where to start? Alan Wood at Vintage Gold Watches has plenty of gift ideas to share with you. From watch winders and watch repair kits to storage cases, vintage watch books and more.
Understand Your Watch Nerd
The watch collector in your life understands full well that the Casio digital watch on your wrist keeps excellent time and costs under £40, but that’s not what they’re hankering after. Watch collectors are searching for a unique watch that reflects their style and personality and provides a window to a bygone era of exceptional watchmaking. Don’t try to guess which vintage watch they will love, and don’t try to buy a sensible new watch. Just show your support for their existing passion, whether it be a passing phase or a lifelong obsession.
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Watch Books
At Vintage Gold Watches, we’re frequently asked for book recommendations, particularly those centred around vintage Rolexes. Books themselves can be as captivating as the timepieces they describe, and over the past two decades, we’ve amassed an extensive collection. We stock books on the brands we closely follow or more specialised books exploring the fascinating world of vintage watches.
Our stock boasts over a hundred titles, encompassing nearly all the essential books on Rolex, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega, Longines, IWC, and Zenith. We hold every title authored by British watchmaker George Daniels, along with various books delving into the early history of Breguet watches.
If the watch nerd in your life is an admirer of Rolex or Patek Philippe, there are no finer or more in-depth books on the market than those created by Mondani Books. Authored by Giorgia Mondani, Mondani books are considered among the best resource books for these two top Swiss brands and for learning how to invest for both pleasure and profit.
Last but by no means least, there’s a must-read book for all vintage watch collectors by Matt Hranek. Called A Man And His Watch, this entertaining book delves into the captivating stories and intimate connections between men and their wristwatches through a collection of anecdotes and interviews. The book comesbeautifully illustrated with many photographs.
Watch Display Cases
Sooner or later, you’re going to get tired of watches gathering dust on the bedside unit or filling up drawer space. What’s needed is a good quality collector case to keep everything tidy and display-ready. We have just what you’re looking for.
This Luxury Wooden Watch Display Case is capable of storing up to ten watches, with plump felt pillows with which to strap the watch around to secure them. The lockable box has a real wood exterior and a full felt interior. This stylish and reasonably priced case ensures each watch can be found and admired at a moment’s notice while keeping the collection safe and dust-free.
Watch Rolls
Watch rolls can comfortably hold and protect up to six watches at a time for storage or travelling. This Soft Leather Watch Roll, available in soft black or brown Nappa leather, is a convenient and elegant method for carrying watches safely.
Watch rolls come in different sizes to accommodate one or many watches, so you can find the watch roll that best suits your collection.
Automatic Watch Winder
Mechanical watches will happily tick away for 48 hours or sometimes more, but if you don’t wear them for a few days they will stop. So, if your watch nerd owns a mechanical watch, a watch winder is the perfect gift. This Automatic Watch Winder doubles up as a display case for one watch. It’s compact and attractive, so you will be happy to have it on display.
If you’re looking for watch winders of a specific size or capacity, we know where to source them and can advise you on the best watch winder for you. Send us an email to find out more.
Watch Straps
The right strap can add individuality and style to any watch, whether it be box fresh or vintage. Many vintage or antique watches do not have metal bracelets and so require a good quality leather strap. The Strap Tailor specialises in hand-made leather straps such as Ostrich, French Calfskin, Epsom Calf, Goat Skin, Pig Skin and Suede.
You can supply the name of the watch or a picture of it to Strap Tailor, who will recommend a suitable strap. Don’t worry if you can’t fit the watch strap yourself, that’s the first thing a watch nerd learns to do. If not, it can be easily fitted at a local watch repair store.
One of the coolest ways to give a vintage watch a bit of sophisticated James Bond style is to fit it with a NATO Strap. The NATO strap, initially designed for military purposes, has evolved into a mainstream watch accessory, renowned for its robustness and versatility. The strap attaches individually to each lug bar or spring bar of the watch, providing exceptional security and is a top choice for watch enthusiasts worldwide.
If the watch nerd in your life served in the armed forces, the chances are you can find his regimental colours in a NATO strap and it can be fitted to any vintage watch.
Book in for a Watch Service
As your vintage watch lover will tell you, their beloved watches must be serviced and shown some TLC every few years. Unlike your Casio! Do your vintage watch enthusiast a favour and arrange for their vintage watch, or watches, to be lovingly serviced by the best watchmakers and specialists around.
At Vintage Gold Watches, our team of vintage watch experts and our strong network of specialist restorers and finishers, are amongst some of the best in the country. We pride ourselves on the quality of our workmanship, and our servicing costs are very reasonable.
A full service at Vintage Gold Watches includes fully dismantling the watch to all its component parts, cleaning and close examination, checking for signs of wear and replacement where necessary with only original parts, reassembly, adjustment, testing and calibration. Including a 12-month warranty on the movement.
Watch Artwork
If your watch collector admires the beauty of a vintage Rolex on their wrist, imagine the pleasure of owning a piece of Rolex artwork. Excellent Rolex wall art by Toby Brown Illustration creates bright and vibrant watch artwork. He doesn’t only paint watches, so you can complement his watch artworks with other painting themes too. All prints are reasonably priced at £18.99. If you can’t find the watch you want, you can commission the artist to create a specific piece.
Watch Magazine Subscription
There are several watch magazines published regularly. Among the best of them is Revolution Magazine. It began life in Singapore in 2005, and you won’t find a nation more fanatical about watches than Singapore. It’s safe to say these guys really know what they are talking about.
Nowadays, the magazine is available with separate editions for the Far East, Europe and the USA. Each editor is a watch expert, so there is always something new you can learn. Revolution is constantly ‘celebrating the machine with a heartbeat,’ and a subscription to it for the keen watch collector could give them a first-class horological education.
Vintage Watch Catalogues and Advertising
Vintage watch catalogues are a great gift as the old catalogues offer page after page of watches with an abundance of information from long ago. The only thing is, you will have to get creative about sourcing them. They are, by their very nature, a finite resource, but one that the vintage watch lover in your life will pour over for years to come.
We could give you links to various pieces, but the best advice is to simply go on eBay and explore the manysellers selling all kinds of watch catalogues, some inexpensive, some a little more costly. Similarly, with prints of vintage watch advertisements from decades ago, it’s possible to find several examples on eBay, and they make a great poster or framed piece for the wall.
Watch-Related Experiences
Many vintage watch collectors yearn to discover how watches are made first-hand and to sit at a workbench todiscover exactly what it’s like to make a watch. Explore Watch offers tours to the very heart of the action, both in Le Locle and La Chaux de Fonds in Switzerland. These areas are regarded as the cradle of Swiss watchmaking, and you get the chance to see how watches are created first-hand.
Not only will you see watches being made, but you can also talk with the craftsmen. Factories visited include Zenith and Officine Panerai. It will hold any watch collector in thrall, and once the tour is completed you have time to explore Switzerland. Check out the various gift vouchers you can buy on the Explore Watch website and take a fascinating horological holiday.
Your One Stop Shop
Our partners at Vintage Gold Watches are dedicated not just to selling fine vintage watches, but to helping the collector learn more and enjoy the hobby to the full. We stock a range of accessories, a wide variety of books, and publish expert content on a range of vintage watch-specific topics. To get vintage watch news straight into your inbox, sign up for our informative weekly newsletter.