Phat! Cowabunga! Get jiggy with it! Yes, the ’90s were quite the time to be alive, even if you were a luxury watchmaker. Around the mid- to late ’80s, mechanical watchmakers that managed to survive the quartz crisis were able to recover by positioning their timepieces as upmarket luxury goods steeped in history and tradition. The good times continued into the ’90s, where legacy brands continued to further experiment with engineering and design, and even some German watchmakers were brought into the fold following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
That is to say, the ’90s were a bit of a precursor to the modern watch industry (which admittedly isn’t doing so hot). New life was breathed into the industry. So there are plenty of wonderful pieces from the decade to be snatched up. And while current tastes show a lot more demand for watches from the ’60s and ’70s, and because people might be reluctant to consider a watch from the ’90s “vintage,” you’ll generally find that you can get a good amount of watch for your money. Here are three great examples that are all that and a bag of chips.
Nomos Ludwig
What we like: Nomos sprung up following the reunification of Germany in the early ’90s with a portfolio of four watches: the Tangente, Tetra, Orion and Ludwig. All pieces used the same Peseux 7001 automatic movement (Nomos now does its own in-house movements) and all had beautiful, minimalist Bauhaus-inspired designs that were especially unique at the time. I’m fudging a bit here, as this Ludwig is actually from 2000, but it’s essentially the same as the early Ludwig that helped turn the German brand into the powerhouse it is today.
