A new marketplace for the brand’s older timepieces - called “LW Vintage” - has just been launched. It raises an important question: what is vintage?

And in a fragmented and decentralised watch market, consumers might not know where to look first. That’s probably more true for those on the market for vintage timepieces.

Linde Werdelin prides itself on taking care of its consumers, and the brand has taken one more step to make life easier for fans interested in their older timepieces.

Their new initiative is called LW Vintage, as co-founder Jorn Werdelin explains:

“LW Vintage is another customer-centric service that focuses on serving the customer. We are taking responsibility for our historical production, now dating back 10 years, and the experience that owners have long after they buy one of our pieces.”

LW Vintage brings a luxury experience to the vintage marketplace. The platforms matches sellers with buyers at a price agreed by both parties. But before the timepiece changes hands it is fully serviced by the brand’s trusted watchmakers and paired with a new strap and a new 24-month warranty. Each timepiece is also numbered and limited, making it easier to ascertain provenance and guaranteeing the authenticity and history of all pieces.

The brand’s initiative is definitely a positive, recognising that the vintage market should be embraced. This is especially true with increasing demand for vintage models generally.

But LW Vintage also raises the question of what it actually means to be vintage? The term is used loosely across all industries, so it usually varies to some extent. Personally, I follow the 25 year rule, similar to the common understanding of what a vintage car is.

LW Vintage, on the other hand, is stretching what it means to be vintage. 2016 marks only 10 years since Linde Werdelin first delivered a timepiece to market. Since then the brand has produced some 4,500 individual pieces across 73 individual series.

That’s all well and good, but it also means that the brand’s most vintage model is only a decade old. I have t-shirts that are more vintage than that.

Still, I understand the motivation to start the second-hand watch marketplace for it’s older models. For one, it centralizes the market for their own watches, which gives them more information and more control over consumer tastes, preferences, and price points.

The move is also very forward-looking. 15 years from now and thereafter, there will be real vintage LW models on the market, meaning the brand will already have the infrastructure in place to facilitate vintage resale.

But in the end, it all comes down to passion, and the satisfaction of the brand founder seeing continued interest in his older models:

“When travelling, one of my great joys is seeing older Linde Werdelin pieces on the wrists of happy owners, pieces that I may not have seen in person in years.”