Many watch fans know and love Seiko MOD watches. There are several specialists out there making stunning Prospex/SKX or NH35 powered watches with a variety of beautiful dials, bezels and hands. It’s a cult thing that is definitely growing fast and it isn’t unusual to see some Seiko MOD dive models on eBay for over £700. Yep, not a genuine new Seiko, a refurbished, pre-owned model for 700 notes.

So we wondered, will the same process work its way through the older Swiss watches available online? Then we stumbled on Vinmov watches in Hungary and they are doing some very cool stuff. In fact the thing we love about Vinmov is that they’re showing off classic Swiss movements that thave been tucked away behind steel casebacks for the last 40-60 years.

So you can but a stunning Omega Vinmov, with a see-thru caseback showing the 552 or 471 series automatic movements, in all their copper-rose glory. If you love watches then you probably admire classic Omega movements for their exceptional reliability and durability. Plus they often look pretty good, and that cannot be said of some later Omega automatic movements. The watches come in 40mm cases mostly, which is an ideal way to rehome vintage movements we reckon and give them a more modern appeal, rather than the original 34-37mm case sizes that many 60s/70s Swiss watches favoured.

The dials are almost all punchy black plates with orange or red accents, plus a hefty black bezel set with dive minute numbers. Some, like the blue Zenith with stars on the dial and yellow accents, don’t really do it for us. They look a little too 1970s hotel carpet. The hands are new and the lume is bright too, which is something you don’t get on the older 60s/70s Swiss dress watches in the main.

But Vinmov has a wide range of designs and we love some of their Omega, Longines, Buren and there’s a gold coloured Favre Leuba that really hits the spot in our eyes. You get a manufacturer warranty with these vintage MOD watches, which is an advantage over buying old watches on eBay, as generally you have 14 days refund time, and then you own it – problems n all. We like what Vinmov are doing here, giving new life to older Swiss movements that may well be salvaged from unpopular Presentation watch cases, or simply a case and dial that has degraded over time.

If you want to build your own MOD watch then Vinmov also have plenty of older, and very clean, vintage movements for sale on their own. Prices for complete watches start at about £250.

The circular economy never looked so good. More here.