I’ll be honest here, last week was supposed to be #thesubregister post, but I struggled to find anything worth posting. And this week was supposed to be the second installment of the monthly roundup, I actually found some cool watches for sale. So, here we go for a late February sub register starting with a killer vintage chronograph.
Excelsior Park EP4 Chronograph
Photo courtesy of FS listing on ChronoTrader, click through for more info.
Vintage Chronograph, especially those from recognized brands, with good movements, and great features are hot. They’ve been hot for a while now and unfortunately the market is only getting more competitive. In defense of rising prices, the best way to fight back is by looking for the 3 C’s of collecting: condition, condition, condition. You may pay a little more, but this ensures your money is well spent, and value will be retained above the others in the future. This Excelsior Park two-register chrono embodies this perfectly. It’s an absolutely gorgeous watch with a great 37.5 mm diameter stainless steel case with those wonderfully sharp bevels on the lugs, has a wonderfully glossy black dial that is both sporty and classy, reminiscent of the tachy scale dial 3646 Heuer Autavia’s with the applied numerals at 12 and 6 and arrowhead indices elsewhere. The manually wound EP 4 column wheel movement is also said to be one of the best in the business, and absolutely sublime to operate. (I long to own an EP 4 or EP 40 chronograph) Excelsior Park branded watches are less common as you typically see their “EP” movements inside of Gallet branded watches. I happen to think this makes this watch stand out from the crowd a bit more. And really at 3600EUR asking price, when you compare it to other classic sports chronographs from the 1960’s that look this good, this is a steal. Find this watch and all the details on ChronoTrader here.
Photo courtesy of FS listing on OmegaForums, click through for more info.
I don’t know exactly why, but vintage three handers, especially those that are slim, clean, and simple, and especially those with higher beat rate movements are really my jam right now. They’re very versatile for the office, nice weekend affairs, and more formal events, wear very well due to the hand wound movement, in this case, and just have that nice subtle character. The clean and sharp case with thin bezel to make it wear larger than its 34mm diameter, the applied and beveled indices, clean font, and offset date all lead to a very classy package. This one has a little bit of dirt on the dial, but you’re getting a really nice hand wound movement in a classy watch for under 400EUR, making this really tough to beat. 375EUR asking on OmegaForums here.
Photo from eBay listing, click through for more info.
In a similar vein to that last one, this manually wound Longines has a lot to like with only the “Longines” text on the dial, and a very clean layout in a super slim case. I honestly don’t know much about this watch, since the listing doesn’t include any reference numbers, but it looks legit from what I can see, and at a $200 starting price, it’s pretty low risk, especially with those great beveled hands. $200 on eBay here.
It just doesn't get any cleaner than this. Photo from watchpool24.com website, click through for more info.
If you’re into vintage Heuers, this may not be news, but I’d be remiss not to mention this roundup of truly exceptional vintage Carreras from dealer Watchpool24. To celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Carrera, they have 6 variations of the earliest Carreras (well technically two are 2447N’s (black dials) but one is a Swiss only dial, so kind of different still). All of these Carreras have very sharp cases, crucial to the value and soul of these watches, and all of them appear to be in really excellent condition. The asking prices are strong, as eluded to in this thread, but strong is also relative. Many that are referring to Heuer prices as being strong are used to the days of 5-10 years ago when 2447’s could be had for $3k or less, but when compared to their vintage counterparts from other manufacturers, the prices really aren’t unreasonable. The Rolex Daytona gets used as the gold standard for vintage chronograph, and vintage Carreras use dials also made by Singer, the same Valjoux column wheel movements, and arguably more interesting cases and cleaner dial layouts. Plus, finding vintage Daytonas is far easier than finding vintage Carreras, I can personally attest to that. Soap box aside, 11,900EUR for the 2447S is really not unreasonable for one of the cleanest and just most stunningly balanced chronographs ever made. And hey, if you don’t like these prices, my case for the Excelsior Park at the top of this post is all the better, right? These 6 Carreras can be found on watchpool24’s site here.
Photo courtesy of eBay listing, click through for more details.
For reference to the above, this 3647N Carrera recently pulled from eBay due to “errors in the listing” most certainly sold offline for less than its $12,250 asking price, but how much less I don’t know. In either case, assuming it went for close to $10,000, the “market” really makes a good case in support of the asking prices from Watchpool24. This watch appears to be all original, sharp, correct, and very attractive. The black dial Carreras do typically command a bit of a premium, but seeing these watches get close to 5 figures really goes to show just how strong the vintage chronograph market is.
Thanks for reading, and as always, if you come across something interesting, or have something you're selling and would like to be featured, please reach out via the contact me page or tag me on instagram @meticulist.