7 Lessons with Vintage Watch Collecting + Smiths W10 (Review)

A Discussion and Review of Vintage Watches and steps that have helped me when looking at them. The process focuses on learning about reference numbers, the years of manufacture, identifying the outliers and spending more time studying examples to know what makes a good and bad example. The video then looks at three Smiths W10 Field watches, compares them and discusses the nuances between them.

Introduction 0:00
Steps to Buying Vintage 0:59
1969/70 Smiths W10 Review 5:44

#VintageWatch #SmithsW10 #FieldWatch

All Images are Sourced from either Press Release Photos or Public Listings.
Below are a list of the common sources that are used in no particular order:

Bob’s Watches | Revolution Watch | HQ Milton | Hodinkee | Monochrome Watches | Jomashop | Analog Shift | Bulang and Sons | Robb Report | Watchfinder | WatchBox | Phillips Watches | Christies | Timekeepers Club | Fratello Watches | Bexsonn | Worn and Wound | A Collected Man | Oracle Time | Time + Tide Watches

[alvinmick]

That is positively the best explanation on how to go about seeking out a vintage watch that I have heard. I appreciate the tip about starting with a vintage military watch especially since I have a real affinity for these watches. You always make your presentations seem effortless. Well done as always!

[mkphilly]

Listening to you is like listening to Edward R Murrow reading an opinion piece.... a pleasure indeed!

[brianmason]

Patience is a virtue in this endeavor for sure. Great show as always ID guy.

[Yorkshiremadmick]

Great that you’re now putting yourself on screen. Nice to put a face to the voice.
Great “Smith’s”
The whisky, is obviously working!

[AbdulRWatches]

Great video IDGuy, I love vintage watches, it took me several of years, and costs me a lot of money to be able to select and identify good vintage watches and avoid troubling ones :D
I love that Smith, I try every time to get one from the website, but they sell out in minutes :D

[jameshoward]

Good stuff. I'd add: really understand refinishing techniques; understand how to spot them and how to spot new components. Unless you're very experienced, be practical/realistic and go for watches that can easily be serviced. Omega are a great option - high quality, very good spares/service back up, not too expensive (generally) and not normally worth unscrupulous refurbishing. I inherited a '70s Geneve - gold plate, nothing special but it was so easy to have it serviced and the non-standard crown/crystal replaced. Brilliant, my Granddad's watch back to life after 40years.

[russell]

Great catch, love these vintage pieces.🥃

[invisibility]

Looking at my 1967 6B/9614045 and 1970 W-10, yours is in better condition than both of mine ....Great review and a nice find! Love these watches may look too "utilitarian" in the 60s but today they are really versatile kind of like the rolex exploer

[lukasz_zegarkowy]

Great episode. Both parts for me. I love the Smiths W10 design so much. Maybe one day I could have one too. But for now I wait for a PRS-29 come back ;)

[mannyfernandez]

Thanks for the amazing video, I’m actually trying to find a vintage watch myself, so it was perfect timing jajaja, I’ve been looking for a vintage crosshair certina DSPH200M, the looks the hidden history behind the dsph line is just mind blowing, and hopefully one of the few vintage watches that can still take a beating, worst case scenario if I can’t find any, I’ll buy the beautiful re editions. Again thank you for the video, hope you have a fantastic weekend

[Andrew.W]

Great video, I've been collecting vintage watches for about 5 years now. I would add to the points made that it's important to know 'what good looks like' . You need to be able to find good images of original unpolished examples to compare to the watches you are looking at. Also it's important to know a good independent watchmaker, I always assume any watch I'm buying will need a service & I like to buy 'out of the sock draw' watches that haven't been worked on before. This way when I get a watch serviced I know exactly what work has been done on it!

[timmytim]

I joined the British Army in 1972. I had the pleasure to get a Smiths watch as my first G1098 issue. Sadly I had to handed it back for audit purposes.

[anthonysmith]

Great vid IDGuy. Hearing the different ways enthusiasts approach their purchases is always interesting.
The only thing I want to add to the discussion is that I found it less nerve wracking to make my 1st vintage purchases very inexpensive watches.
'Zacac MO CCCP' Vostok Komandirskie's; military watches with an interesting history at >$100. I ended up buying a number of Soviet era pieces + some Ricoh's from Japan (underrated btw) and a cracking Swiss skin-diver - all of them were well >$100. There were mistakes made, but nothing that was a complete waste of money - just a few 'projects' in the drawer!
It was a steep but cheap education and I've got a few really cool pieces to show for it. And 1 or 2 that I'll never sell.
Importantly it was experiencal learning that taught me some fundamental do's and don'ts, many of which apply to how I buy my newer pieces too.
It's fundamentally important to be financially ready to buy too. It's a waiting game and one has to be ready to pounce as soon as 'the one' presents itself.
Cheers mate.

[Chu_Strums]

I had the re-release of the PRS-29 (sapphire) but was disappointed by how modern it is coming from a company that prides itself in vintage inspired designs. The lume plot on the hour hand is a different shape from the original and previous models (acrylic crystal era). It doesn't extend to the hand tip. They sneakily made the change. There was a lot of hype for the re-release, but to me they weren't upfront about the changes and it felt like they didn't care about such details. Your W10s though, lovely 👌

[TechNoir]

Hi, really enjoyed your review of the Smiths W10, and glad that someone has done a review of this amazing watch and English brand (as you mentioned it’s the last mechanical watch made in England)…(I have a 1969 army issue too) I’m from Cheltenham, had 3 family members work for Smiths, went to their Xmas parties as a kid even :)..and collect Smiths as well …maybe one day you could look at / review the Everest / Imperial 25 Automatic (the first English deigned and made fully automatic watch)..(I have a mint condition one) ….really enjoyed the video anyway so new subscriber here 👍

[BoboBloxham]

That Nato with a deployant clasp looks great! where did you find it? Great Video IDguy!

[thomasont]

Nice video presentation. I am fortunate to own and experience wearing my Rolex Oyster Date Precision hand wound. I was not too bothered about its imperfections condition and flaws as I have come to know that these watches have an additional charm values to them, life experiences ingrained into the physical watch condition. I too am following in Patek Phillipe's mantra that, "We merely look after it for the next generation, " as guardians. Best regards, 😎⌚👍

[LaFritePerreGoat]

Never saw anybody use a deployant clasp on nato! I have to investigate that Sir!

[IansModRite]

What is the black nato with deployant clasp? I’m intrigued.

[bojannikolow]

Which strap are you using on 10:16? Great video about Smiths, Thanks!