Tim Mosso owns vintage watches, but he has a unique view of vintage watch collecting. Tonight, Tim talks about buying vintage watches in 2024 and what it takes to buy with confidence. Old watches are an intimidating purchase due to fears of fraud, counterfeits, frankenwatches, and damage. Whether vintage Rolex, Patek Philippe, Heuer, or JLC, the risk of buying a bad vintage watch demands that collectors arm themselves with information. Tim explains how to buy vintage with confidence in tonight's episode

Tim's 1971 Jaeger LeCoultre E877 Memovox "Snowdrop" is the only watch he kept when he sold his watch collection, and for good reason; he might never find another. His search spanned years, and he passed on the opportunity to buy watches with gold cases, silver dials, sub-par condition, and sketchy sellers. Having found a potential black dial Snowdrop Memovox in Romania, Tim deployed a series of watch collector screening tools to avoid fraud. Given its condition, rarity, and rising value, the Snowdrop wrist alarm became Tim's "never sell" watch.

Beyond Tim Mosso's own vintage watch, tonight's episode focuses on strategies that watch collectors can use to research, find, and purchase vintage watches. From vintage Rolex Submariners to the Patek Philippe Nautilus 3700, all vintage watches should be sold with detailed photos, no-fault returns, and by dealers with verifiable reputations for integrity. The best references for buying vintage watches are books published by authorities like Guido Mondani, John Goldberger, Manfred Rossler, and Pucci Papaleo Editore. In the absence of a published reference, online experts can be helpful, but care should be taken to trust only reputable expert opinions.

Every vintage watch forum has self-appointed "experts." Trust only those with verifiable firsthand knowledge of the watches they're discussing. Vintage watch experts who supply their own photos are more trustworthy because their hands-on experience is verifiable. Online experts like Robert-Jan Broer (Omega Speedmaster), Jeff Stein (Heuer chronographs), and John Reardon (Patek Philippe) are the best of this breed. If somebody unlikely claims to have exhaustive and detailed information about vintage watches - say, a 20 year old talking about 1940s chronographs - demand to know where he read that information, because it's obviously secondhand. If you've ever wanted to buy a vintage watch, tonight's show is for you!

All of this plus live discussion and watch collector wrist shots appears tonight on "Watches Tonight!"

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