Monday, May 17, 2010

Vintage watches in Bangkok

The time for vintage watch hunting may not be the best thing to do in Bangkok nowadays with the Red-shirts and military creating unrest on the streets.

But the truth is that Bangkok and Thailand is one of the biggest and best places for watch hunting. The Thais has an interest in keeping those old and vintage timepieces running and some of the world’s biggest collectors are from Thailand.

I’m off course not least speaking of Prasart Vidhayapat who has a collection worth 100 million Bath (about 2 million dollar). One of his most famous watches is the Saddam Golden Coin watch, with the image of the late Iraqi dictator. It was made by the Swiss watchmaker Corum. It has been confirmed the watch was produced as a one-off in 1982 and is worth an estimated 385,000 baht.


There are a few shops hidden away in Bangkok that can be found with a bit of patience and luck. First of is MBK, one of the biggest shopping malls in Bangkok that sells almost anything. Here you can find a few places that specialize in vintage Rolex watches. I often do not stop here as I think that they can be a bit expensive and I really not that interested in Rolex watches.

There is one small shop in the back of floor 4, I think, that is worth checking out. It is in one of the corners past the clothes shops by the entrance of the hotel that is attached to MBK. I only been there once when it was closed, but I will check it again on my next trip.


Then we have of course the Jatujak weekend market. This place is huge! Drink lots of water so that you don’t get dehydrated. The market has a few interesting places near the book section. If you look hard enough you can make finds here but mostly the watches are a bit too expensive.

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