Vintage Eyeglasses

[mooglesrcute]

Havershaw do you have any contact info for Alex at Optical Sphere, email or phone number? Unfortunately I don't think i'll make it to LA anytime in the foreseeable future.

 

[univibe88]

Great find Havershaw!

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Yep. I kind of took a chance, because the bridge on these is smaller than what I normally wear. But on the really old Tarts, I've found that the bridge tends to be a little bigger than it's marked. My 42-24 brownsmokes that are super early Tart have a bridge that measures out to 25mm. I can comfortably go down to 22. So I was hoping, like my older brownsmokes, that the bridge would be a little bigger, and sure enough, it measures 21.

(you know they're really early Tart if there are no stamps on the arms.)

My problem is that my wife use to be an optician an knows
The fit problems people have with glasses. She amant that I buy
glasses local so I can get the proper fit.

 

[MisterGrey]

Those Johnny Depp glasses are cool, but they just look like 80s Wayfarers to me.

By no means!

A comparison:

The "Depps", like Depp's, are more rounded vs. the trapezoidal shape of the Wayfarers, which also lack the keyhole bridge. There's also a delicate slope to the sides of the Depps, descending from the protruberence where the temples join the frame, vs. the angular meeting found on the Wayfarers.

 

[havershaw]

I guess you're right, although the Wayfarers I'm thinking of don't look quite like that. A friend of mine is sort of a Wayfarer nut, though I think he has 60s and 70s ones.

But you're right, that the keyhole bridge is very unlike it. However, the two examples you've shown are closer to each other than the "Depp" is to this:

which is what Johnny Depp wears in real life (vintage Tart Arnel in Amber).

 

[havershaw]

Alex at Optical Sphere's email is opticalalex@gmail.com or you can reach him at the shop Tuesday-Sat at 323 852 9255.

and by the way, while Johnny Depp wears vintage Tarts in Amber in real life, he also wore vintage Tarts in Brownsmoke for the film Secret Window:

vintage Tart Arnel in Brownsmoke
(these look a little different from my Ambers because they have a smaller bridge - the ambers are 42/24 and the brownsmokes are 42/22.)

but yeah, comparison:

I don't know what those "Depp" glasses remind me of, but it's pretty much anything other than an Arnel.
but I'm kind of an overly picky nerd.

The Dolabany Arnold is closer:

but still not close enough for me! (see what I mean? overly picky nerd.)

 

[havershaw]

Depp in his vintage Arnels:

(vintage Borsalino in both!)

He also has a pair in black, and I think I've seen him wear a pair of repros also. His vintage ones are a little warped on his left side (your right when looking at him). I don't know if they're warped, exactly, but they kind of pull away from his face on that side. It's more noticeable in some photos I've seen than in others. The repros I've seen him wear seem to be a slightly larger size.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

So I stopped by the optical shop that I use and found a pair of frames that they carried that will work for me.
The stocked John Lennon frames and the Norwegian wood frame in Dark Tortoise should do the job for me.

John Lennon frames

With the benifit that my wife is happy that I was able to get a frame the fit my face properly.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Does anyone use clip on sunglasses with their Shuron's and Tart Arnel's. What shape and size of clip on fits best?

 

[Gil]

1940's Cortland Rimless Frames

Hello,
Carpecaligo is right, you have to have the right face to pull off round specs. I'm glad they work well for you. James Thurber looked very distinguished in them as well. I recentley bought a couple of pairs of vintage specs and finally found a pair that works for me. I started off with 1930's era American Optical Full-vue frames, but then I found a beautiful pair of Bausch and Lomb rimless Cortland Frames. They came in the original box with the owners name, prescription and date,1943. I wanted to add a picture of them, but apparently I don't have picture adding priviledges yet. Cortland frames were popular from the 20's to the 50's. When you're buying frames just be sure to know the width you need. I need at least 4 1/2 inches from hinge to hinge. Anything narrower makes it look as if I'm wearing goggles.

My biggest issue was that local optical shops wanted to act as if it were impossible to make lenses for these, as if it were some lost art, or ancient mystery. A couple of places said they could do it, but it would cost close to $400.00 to make the lenses. It was almost like buying a new car, with a salesman trying to hook me on all of these options to drive up the price (anti-glare, super duper coating, etc) The bottom line is that most shops are trying to sell you their new frames, which defeats the purpose of why you bought the vintage specs in the first place.

I finally found Eyeglasses.com on line and wrote to them. They were wonderful. You fill out the on-line order form and add your prescription information, then mail them your frames. They did a beautiful job and all for $164.00. That included an extra fee for rimless mounting, since more drilling and fitting is required. It's $30.00 cheaper to mount lenses in fully rimmed frames.

 

[brothelcreeper]

I picked these up in Barcelona, vintage dead stock.

They were originally sunglasses but had the lenses swapped out for my script once I got back.

While they might not be 100% period correct (I like to sit within the 20s-40s most days), I feel they still work perfectly with what I throw together.

Basically, I'd never seen any like them before. Fell in love with the flattened circles immediately.

 

[brothelcreeper]

Seems to me the classic 30s sun glasses (invariably called cheaters at the time; shades is later, hipster lingo) would be round, probably with the bows at midpoint rather than up top, with light colored frames and green lenses.

Seeing these reminds me of the other pair I picked up in Barcelona last year.

It was between those and the others with which I got changed into specs, though I think I made the right decision.

 

[cookie]

Seeing these reminds me of the other pair I picked up in Barcelona last year.

It was between those and the others with which I got changed into specs, though I think I made the right decision.

Those are a colossal find.The least I pay for lenses Down Under is AUD300. I suspect if your prescription was not too radical you could get the lenses from a US dispenser for around USD150 from what I have seen on the fora (see above).

 

[MisterGrey]

Finally getting the DVD of "The Tree of Life" reminded me of how much I love Brad Pitt's glasses in it. I've been seeing a lot of this type of glasses recently at optical shops and wonder if the film served to reinvigorate interest in the fade style.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

There is always an interest in the Fade style glasses frame. A lot of people discover it in movies and try it I am sure.

 

[kaiser]

Shuron Rimway eyeglasses

Hello everyone,

I will be in the need of new glasses soon and have thought about replacing my current Shuron Revalations with the Rimway model.

Are these "vintage enough" in appearance ? The ting that attracts me to them are the cable temples. I have cables on the Revalations and they are really comfortable.

Thoughts please.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I wear these myself -- they were one of the most popular styles from the mid-thirties to the postwar era, with both men and women. Mine are very sturdy, but you have to be careful with the modern polycarbonate lenses -- if you work around ammonia or household cleaning agents containing it, it can cause the drilled mounting holes to crack.

The temple pieces will wear out at the rate of one every five or six years or so, but they're easily replaced.

 

[kaiser]

Thanks Lizzie, I am going to look at having glass fitted instead of the polycarbonate lenses as I have had issues with scratches on other eyeglasses in the past. Glass lenses I am sure are more vintage than plastic as well.

 

[SteveAS]

I have Trivex in my Rimways, which is strong and avoids the problem to which Lizzie alluded, but the optics are not as good as those of my glass lenses in other frames.

 

[WideBrimm]

I've been wearing Art-Craft Rimways (with cable temples) for some twenty years now and I'm quite pleased with the style. Of course, it helps to have an optician who is experienced in working with drill-mount frames and lenses.

Thanks, Lizzie, for the tip about working with ammonia and other household cleaning agents. So far, so good, but I've never thought of that. Occasionally, I've used ordinary (clean) dishwater to clean my Rimways, with seemingly no ill effects.