Vintage Watch Reference & Calibre Guides

Tempus Europa is a vintage watch reference run from Spain by a collector who buys these watches, restores them and photographs the movements himself. The pages here name exact references, set out what a watchmaker checks before money changes hands, and say plainly when a calibre is unremarkable — the site was built to answer the questions we were asking ourselves. Four sections are in English so far, plus a daily game that needs no language at all. The rest of the site is in Spanish.

Live Tempus Europa's picks The Watch Radar The watches genuinely worth bidding on right now at Catawiki, chosen one at a time with a collector's eye. The list changes as auctions open and close, so it is never the same twice. → 188 references Reference archive Watch Reference Library 188 reference pages across 33 brands, vintage and modern: what each reference actually is, how it changed over its run, and what to check on one before you buy it. → Service manuals Calibre archive Movement Guides 135 calibre pages from eight makers: specifications, the history behind each movement, what a watchmaker looks for when one comes across the bench — and the original service manuals as PDFs. → Bench Workshop guides How to work on a vintage watch Nine guides from the bench: opening a case, lifting the hands off without marking the dial, fitting an acrylic crystal, when to polish and when never — and how to tell a real Rolex from a fake. → Free The seller's guide Sell your watch at auction A step-by-step guide to selling at international auction: what it really costs, the photographs that raise the price and the mistakes that sink it. Send us a few photos on WhatsApp and we will tell you what you have, and what it is worth, for free. →

Movement guides by maker

Omega Rolex Seiko Longines ETA Zenith Universal Genève Valjoux

Eight makers, 135 calibres. Each maker's page lists every movement we have documented, with the service manual attached where the factory published one.