About Us : Vintage Gold Watches London :

Passionate about excellence and helping you choose your perfect watch.

Why should I buy a watch from Vintage Gold Watches London ?

Whenever a new customer calls us, quite naturally and rightly, this is the question underlying the first part of our discussion.

Fundamentally, we’ll explain we’re not here to sell you a watch but to help guide you towards your perfect watch. Then, provide help and support to ensure you’re happy throughout your ownership. Hopefully, by getting to know us and reading through our website and our customer reviews, sooner or later, we’ll win your trust. If not, we’ll be very happy when you’ve looked and perhaps bought elsewhere, and you return you us. During our chat we’ll explain VGWL was born out of one man’s passion for vintage dress watches, which began over 35 years ago. Alan’s collection grew to the point where after 20 years collecting, his interest took over, and he took the plunge to turn his hobby into a business by establishing VGWL.

We’ll explain that although we’re now a sizeable team, Alan still does all the buying, and so he only buys the watches he likes. VGWL’s scouts understand what he’s looking for, so they only seek out and offer him the watches he’s likely to buy. Even so, he declines the majority of what he’s offered and only buys the best.

Alan believes that if a watch is right for you, it should sell itself. So as long his the team does a good job with the photography and description, answers all your questions and acts as your guide, your decision on which watch to buy should be a reasonably easy one.

We’re here to make things as simple as possible for you, including the throughout the buying journey and then later with after-sales support. If then, when you receive your watch, you’re unhappy with it for any reason, we’ll gladly exchange it for another, or provide you a refund.

VGWL Loves Happy Customers. Our team loves what we do, and aims to share this with you. We promise we’ll do our best to count you among our long list of happy customers.

Some further background…

Vintage Gold Watches London is a partnership based in Kensington High Street, London (W8 4SG) engaged in selling ‘fine’ Swiss watches, primarily from 1950 to the 1980s. We particularly love this time period for its classic elegance and quality. In fact, we consider this to be the golden age of Swiss watchmaking, when technical excellence, design and craftsmanship all came together to provide us with some of the finest and most classic timepieces ever. We are huge admirers of 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s watches from Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Rolex, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega, Longines, IWC, and Zenith. And so these form the heart of our collection.

Each of these famous watch ‘houses’ offers something different in terms of character, style and personality. Rolex is of course the most famous, notably for the robustness of its watch cases and movements, but also the news-worthy events and record-breaking successes of its early waterproof automatics. However, each manufacturer has its own fascinating history to tell, along with many highlights and claims to fame. In terms of design, refinement and ultimate quality, each of the brands we specialise in is on par and often exceeds that of Rolex. Value for money is the main reason for offering a carefully chosen portfolio of brands and models, in addition to Rolex.

Of course in addition to their unmatched quality, our customers love the design elegance and style of mid-century wristwatches. But often it’s the value for money which surprises our customers most, particularly when found in such amazing condition and backed by a solid warranty. If one considers the extremely high cost of these watches when they were new, adjusted for inflation, along with the very high price of present day equivalents; high-quality vintage gold watches really do present excellent value for money. If we then factor in double-digit growth investment potential, we really do have something special to wear, treasure and enjoy. All of which we think, really adds up.

Once the decision has been made to purchase a vintage gold watch, we fully appreciate this is a significant moment for our customer, so our first priority is to make the experience as simple, straight forward and pleasurable as possible.

As you will discover, we’re keen to help our customers understand the key points and differences between each of our watches. We are happy to answer questions by telephone or email and hear your preferences so that we may guide you to your perfect vintage gold watch. It is always worth enquiring, as we typically have around 40 watches undergoing restoration at any one time, so it may well be that we have exactly what you are looking for, soon to be available.

For example you may be seeking a watch that was manufactured in your birth year, or perhaps a watch with a particular dial colour or design – size and price are also key considerations. Whatever your preferences might be, please let us know as we may already have something of interest in stock which is waiting to be listed on this site. We also have strong connections with a good number of fellow watch dealers in London, so we may well be able to find you a good example of exactly ‘your watch’, in much less time than you might spend on your own. If necessary, we will then restore a watch for you, using only original parts to make it look as good as the rest of the watches you see on this website.

We always endeavour to find watches of the highest quality, with as little wear a possible. Each watch is then restored as necessary to bring the watch back, as close as possible, to its original condition. Typically, this requires the skills of a minimum of three craftsmen. Our vintage specialist watchmaker will restore the movement and co-ordinate the rest of the restoration. The case will be forwarded to our watch case-maker who will review the structural integrity, attend to repairs and polish the case. Meanwhile, the dial will be sent to our dial restorers who have accomplished fabulous work and are widely regarded to be the best in the UK. This, as you will appreciate, is a labour of love and very time-consuming, but our customers agree this is well worthwhile.

While Patek, Vacheron, Rolex, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Omega, Longines, IWC and Zenith form the core of our collection, we regularly acquire other watches on behalf of our customers. For further information please add notes to the Enquiry form at the bottom right hand side of each watch description.

For further information please also see our FAQs and of course, you are very welcome to call us on 0207 727 7095 or email us at [email protected] whenever you wish.

A Vintage Gold Watch as an Investment:

It’s rare to find an interesting and attractive investment which you can wear.

It’s often surprising that such miracles of micro-engineering offering so much beauty and elegance, from the highest regarded Swiss watch brands, can be acquired for such relatively little money! While we would always recommend you buy with your heart first and consider the investment second, the advantage in buying vintage against new is its value will rise almost from the moment you take it home. This intrinsic value is as solid and real, and as perpetual, as the timepiece itself.

If we were to take a quick look at the trends since 2010, we’ve seen real terms double-digit growth each year, across many of the models seen here on this site. And since the new markets for high-quality vintage Swiss watches continue to expand across the Far-East and across the developing world, this positive effect on prices is only likely to continue into the foreseeable future.

Although it’s not very widely known, for the collector or the serious investor there are some special tax advantages associated with buying vintage watches for those residing in the UK. Specifically, HM Revenue & Customs UK regard these items as “wasting assets” and so cannot charge Capital Gains Tax on the profits made when they are sold (provided they have not been used in the course of business) – for the private investor, this strange anomaly is actually something of a gift from the taxman. For example, if money is retained in a bank account, the small amount of interest earned is taxable. Regarding property, if a second property is purchased and then sold, again, there will be tax to pay on the profit generated by the sale. The same applies for shares and other financial investments. However, if the same funds are used to purchase a collection of vintage watches and then, in due course sold at a profit, no Capital Gains Tax is owed to the Revenue. Of course, we need to add the usual disclaimer not to treat this as ‘advice’, but purely background information for you to check with your financial advisor or HM Revenue & Customs. This situation is not unique to vintage watches – antique guns, classic cars and motorcycles; antique scientific instruments and some mechanical toys also qualify as ‘wasting assets’ in the same way. However, to reiterate, ask your financial advisor about this. Perhaps, at the same time, you might also ask why they have not mentioned this before? We might suggest, although of course we wouldn’t, there is no potential commission available for the advisor if you buy a vintage watch or a small collection. Or perhaps grow a large one over time!

A Vintage Gold Watch in everyday use:

Accuracy, Reliability and Dependability.

It’s useful to consider there are similarities, in fact quite a few, in owning a vintage watch and owning a vintage or classic car. For example a carefully chosen classic car which is well maintained and well cared for can be relied upon, day after day for a very long time. Almost indefinitely in fact. The same is true, only more so with a vintage watch. Even though a Swiss watch is superbly engineered with legendary Swiss reliability, vintage watches remain pieces of micro-mechanical engineering, typically 50 years of age and therefore it’s not really fair to expect the ultimate performance and reliability of the modern equivalent. For instance, a vintage automatic watch may still need help with winding from time to time simply because vintage automatic watches are not as efficient as new ones. Moreover, typical accuracy may vary by say up to +/- 30 seconds per day. However, please note when we restore a vintage watch, we strive for an accuracy better than 10 secs/day when it leaves our hands.

It’s best to keep in mind that gold, particularly vintage 18ct gold, is a relatively soft metal alloy which is by no means as hard wearing as the modern equivalent. Therefore some care will be needed to avoid scratches or other damage, which will affect the value of your watch. It is also crucially important vintage watches are kept away from water, dirt and dust. This is because a vintage watch is unlikely to be waterproof, no matter what the original specification. We do not test this and it is not guaranteed, therefore, water and dust must be avoided as these will undoubtedly cause harm if they come into contact with the movement.

Need some extra help finding your watch?

We’re here to help.

If you have a clear idea of the watch you are looking for, but your search is not proving very fruitful, or perhaps it’s taking up too much of your time, why not let us do the searching for you? After all, we do this every day, and we enjoy it! We will undoubtedly have many more sources and contacts than your good self, and for a 20% deposit, we will happily work for you on your behalf until we’ve found your perfect watch. We’re particularly good at finding watches which have dates which coincide with a special birthday or special anniversary. Please see our FAQs for more details.

Need a little time to pay for your watch?

Time To Pay

If you see just the watch you have been looking for here today, but it’s just at the wrong time in terms of your cash flow and you prefer to avoid lots of interest on your credit card, then why not use our ‘Layaway’ facility? It is so simple: we take a 20% deposit and provide you with a sales invoice for the watch at full price. The watch is then marked sold so it is yours, but we look after it for you in our safe while you settle the balance over up to eight months in equal 10% payments. No interest is paid because no ‘loan’ is made!