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7 Vintage-Inspired Watches to Add to Your Collection

New watches offer timeless appeal

Time may not stand still, but good design sometimes does. Especially in watches, where luxury brands have launched new and reinvented collections meant to recall favorite timepieces of years past. The latest styles tend to have smaller faces and more subtle detailing than those of recent years. Here are seven classic, nostalgic designs.

Carl F. Bucherer

$19,900 at Tourneau

The rose-gold Heritage Chronometer Celebration watch by Carl F. Bucherer harks back to a 1960s design.

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Jaeger-LeCoultre

Starting at $21,700 at Jaeger-LeCoultre.com

The Collectibles are rare timepieces from the 1920s through the ’70s. The most recent batch, including this one, sold out, but another is on the way.

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IWC Schaffhausen

Price on request at IWC.com

The Ingenieur Automatic 40 by IWC Schaffhausen recalls designs of the ’70s–steel features, integrated bracelets, and patterned dials–by watchmaker Gérald Genta.

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Chanel

$5,950 at Chanel

A nod to Chanel’s first-ever watch, designed in 1987, the shape of the Première Édition Originale is inspired by the Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle and features the leather/metal braided chain for which the brand is known.

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Grand Seiko

$6,000 at Tiny Jewel Box

The SBGA493 by Grand Seiko is a reimagining of the 44GS watches from 1967.

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Breitling

$8,000 at Breitling.com

Inspired by ’60s sports cars, the newest models of Breitling’s Top Time collection include the B01 Ford Thunderbird, with its “racing red” leather strap.

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Chopard

$32,900 at Chopard.com

The L.U.C. 1963 Heritage Chronograph by Chopard evokes quiet luxury in vintage form, with a leather strap and a classic case shape.

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Photographs courtesy of Jaeger-Lecoultre, INGENIEUR, and Carl Bucherer, Breitling, Chanel, Heritage, and Grand Seiko.
This article appears in the November 2023 issue of Washingtonian.

Amy Moeller
Fashion & Weddings Editor

Amy leads Washingtonian Weddings and writes Style Setters for Washingtonian. Prior to joining Washingtonian in March 2016, she was the editor of Capitol File magazine in DC and before that, editor of What’s Up? Weddings in Annapolis.