Vintage Sunglasses

[Mike1973]

Presenting: my (new) vintage RAF MkVIII sunglasses.

I am

Looking good there Spitfire!

I had a pair about 10 years ago but gave them to a good friend, and have been looking for a replacement pair on and off since.... Until now! Just won these on ebay!

Slightly different to yours? They are '22G/1398 TYPE G MEDIUM'. I wonder how long the Raf used them for? I imagine right through the '50's and maybe into the '60's? No clue in the serial number. I have a small and narrow head though, and medium may be too big for me. Will post pic up when they arrive.

 

[Mike1973]

After a bit of googling, some RAF sunglasses homework...

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1124897

"These are a pair of very rare 1970's RAF pilots issue sunglasses. In WW2 the Mk VIII glasses were standard issue, they looked very similar to the B&L 'Randolph' glasses used by the Americans. In The 1980's the RAF resissued very similar glasses (The Mk 14) which had standard arms. However, these are the glasses they superceeded, the 'Type G'. These have more rounded lenses and the 'Sprung' arms. These were favoured by the fast-Jet pilots as the did not tend to slip off during high speed activities. Phantom pilots used these and, even though they were superceeded, the Tornado pilots hunted high and low for TYpe G's over the newer issued ones.2"

And from another link, I think these are the later Mk 14's referred to above...

(The case says Type G but I think the case and the shades are not a match)

 

[cookie]

Awesome heart like shaped lenses...:eusa_clap

 

[Talbot]

I have just picked up a pair of Wilson Sunglasses. Tortoise shell frames and green lenses. They are a bit wide at the ears and need to be bought in.

I have seen somewhere here, but can't for the life of me remember where, instructions on how to soften the plastic so it can be bent without damage.

Heat gun, hot water? All suggestions welcome, or point me in the right direction.

Many thanks

Talbot

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I used to wear Aviators all the time until my favorite pair broke, now I wear them now and then, but can usually be found in a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers.

 

[DanielJones]

Found these bad boys on ebay. I dig on the bridge treatment.

The other two frames I'll probably donate to those in need that can't afford eyeglass frames. If they are prescription maybe there is the odd chance that they can work for someone. [huh]

Cheers!

Dan

 

[JoePreppyPauper]

Clubmaster's

I think your sunglasses were a variation of Ray-Ban Clubmasters. Tom Hanks popularized them in Nothing in Common (1986) and they continued to be popular into the early 1990s. The Clubmaster, and especially the Ray-Ban Wayfarers have become popular again with the Generation Y/Millennials who are digging anything 1980s.

I bought a pair updated with slightly smaller lenses in the early 2000s as Transitions glasses/sunglasses and resurrected them as sunglasses a few years ago. I may even have them converted to Transitions lenses again, the next time I need glasses. I love them!

 

[cookie]

I have just picked up a pair of Wilson Sunglasses. Tortoise shell frames and green lenses. They are a bit wide at the ears and need to be bought in.

I have seen somewhere here, but can't for the life of me remember where, instructions on how to soften the plastic so it can be bent without damage.

Heat gun, hot water? All suggestions welcome, or point me in the right direction.

Many thanks

Talbot

Optometrists use a hot air gadget. Better to get them to alter your glasses.

Seriously nice!....

 

[Jerekson]

Found these bad boys on ebay. I dig on the bridge treatment.

The other two frames I'll probably donate to those in need that can't afford eyeglass frames. If they are prescription maybe there is the odd chance that they can work for someone. [huh]

Cheers!

Dan

The dark lens pair look oddly familiar...

 

[Edward]

I have seen somewhere here, but can't for the life of me remember where, instructions on how to soften the plastic so it can be bent without damage.

Heat gun, hot water? All suggestions welcome, or point me in the right direction.

I've worn glasses since I was ten - If memory serves, my first pair were acquired in late 84. They were the NHS glasses of the time (free, as I recall - later, my first pair of paid-for glasses were a navy blue Aviator style frame that I thought were so cool back then, but couldn't even look at nowadays without being reminded of Jonathan King (yuk!)). They would have looked something like this:

The opticians used to size them a little better to stay on your head by increasing the bend of the temple ear pieces. This was done by first heating them with a heat-gun tool - I suspect a decent hairdryer could have the same effect. I have also heard of folks using a candle to achieve the same effect, though this seems somewhat riskier to me. [huh] Boiling water might also be an option, though again less potential for control, I'd have thought, than the heat gun option.

Since my last contribution to this thread, I have acquired a number of pairs of frames. This includes:

- 1 pr original B&L Ray Ban Clubmasters, black
- 1pr original B&L Ray Ban Clubmasters, tortoise
- 2prs US-sourced copies of above (one each colour); not on a par quality wise, but nevertheless much better than the average cheapy (e.g. they have quality metal hinges, not the usual moulded plastic type)
- 1 pair American Optical Clubmaster-style sunglasses, believed 1950s. Much smaller lenses than the Clubmasters, but still plenty wearable for me.
- 1 pair original B&L Ray Ban Wayfarer, black
- 1 pair Malaysian Wayfarer counterfeits, new
- 1 pair 80s deadstock Wayfarer style, purple lenses

These all seem rather an indulgence as I require prescription lenses. For the guts of 20 years I didn't so much as possess a new pair of sunglasses, as I wore my prescription lenses all the time, and had also discovered photochromic lenses. Once I started to wear contact lenses on occasion, however, I found it advantageous to have a couple of pairs of sunglasses to hand. The main buying binge came hen it looked like my eyesight was stabilising and that I could therefore be a candidate for laser-eye treatment. In the last couple of years, however, my eyesight has actually started to improve, meaning there is no point in going under the laser in at least the medium term. I am in the process now of having my first pairs of Shuron Ronsir Zyls lensed up, with photochromic lenses. I will however be hanging on to the sunglasses I have above (some more modern, eraparound pairs will be shed as no longer suited to my wardrobe), as experience has shown me that sometimes the darkest extent of the photochromics isn't enough. When in very bright sunlight, contacts plus a dark pair of shades can be preferable.

For those looking to spend a bit on quality vintage style sunglasses, I can't recommend Shuron enough. They have a superb range of styles that would cover the full range of period interests in these parts - aside from the Ronsirs, there are also the aviator-style MacArthurs (as I recall, Shuron's site lays claim to the company having provided the General's originals), and several 30s and earlier style frames that would make excellent sunglasses. Shuron have a full lab onsite, so if you have your prescription (or don't need one), they can sort out your lenses as well.

 

[Grant Fan]

here they are they have a late 40's early 50's flare them so that floats my boat. They are brand new from Old Navy surprisingly, I also got them in this fabulous clearish pink, they came in all sorts of other colors too, but these ones are in my favorite color .

 

[MisterGrey]

I've worn glasses since I was ten - If memory serves, my first pair were acquired in late 84. They were the NHS glasses of the time (free, as I recall - later, my first pair of paid-for glasses were a navy blue Aviator style frame that I thought were so cool back then, but couldn't even look at nowadays without being reminded of Jonathan King (yuk!)).

I think everyone who wears glasses from a young age goes through this-- the sudden realization one day that you used to wear absolutely ridiculous eyeglasses. The humorist David Sedaris even has an essay about it.

I, like you, spent my adolescence under the impression that aviator eyeglasses were fashionable (which, I still believe, they are, if you lived through the 70s). Apparently this was part of a trend in the early 2000s, at least at my high school; looking through my yearbook during a recent move, I discovered that most of the guys who wore glasses the year I graduated were wearing aviators as well.

I finally broke free of them at the end of my Freshman year of college, when a friend of mine and her husband took me to the optometrist and demonstrated that there were other styles available-- ones that didn't cause my classmates to compare me to Jeffrey Dahmer.

 

[Edward]

:lol: I wondered what the US equivalent of Jonathan King would be... Dahmer... heh.

I moved on to a different style about two years after that pair Funnily enough, since I was about 14 I've never been keen on Aviator sunglasses, though I had discovered Wayfarers by then, so... I know exaclty what you mean about the "I used to wear that??" element of glasses.... Much like clothes, spectacle styles can go in and out of fashion. They are, IMO, so much a part of one's face that they can have a similarly cringe-inducing effect as a once-fashionable but now badly daed hairstyle. The main trend I see in my glasses was the lenses getting progressively smaller and smaller over time, though my latest, my first pair of Shuron Ronsir Zyls, currently being lensed up, will buck that trend by gonig back to a larger lense once more.

 

[strider_ani]

I also, just got a pair of Wayfarer 2 Sunglass for my 18th Bday. I love 'em and I wear 'em whenever I wear my fedora. Love the looks people give me when I'm around in the city. XD

Will get a pic of me wearing them when I upload a picture.

 

[Grant Fan]

I also, just got a pair of Wayfarer 2 Sunglass for my 18th Bday. I love 'em and I wear 'em whenever I wear my fedora. Love the looks people give me when I'm around in the city. XD

Will get a pic of me wearing them when I upload a picture.

Those are great... mine are a teal knock offs of them

 

[strider_ani]

Here we go:

 

[Edward]

Those work well with the hat, Strider... add a sharp sports jacket in place of the leather, and that would be a very '50s jazz musician' look, IMO.

 

[Edward]

Those are great... mine are a teal knock off of them

I love yours - there's something both very period and uber-feminine about that colour on you. Looks great against your colouring.

 

[Grant Fan]

I love yours - there's something both very period and uber-feminine about that colour on you. Looks great against your colouring.

Thanks. I saw the teal and couldn't resist, they looked so vintage and since they were new and inexpensive I won't feel bad if I misplace them.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

My first pair of wire rimmed glasses came my senior year in High School in '71. I was too timid for John Lennon specs at the time so I opted for conservative RayBan aviator (rectangular frames), not unlike what newsman Frank McGee wore at the time.

I had horrible vision from age twelve on, and didn't get lasik until a couple of years ago. I wore the same RayBan prescription classic aviators for over twenty years. (The original clear lens rectangles were torn asunder by a lawnmower decades ago!)

With my new clear vision I'm a sunglass hound, buying new ones wherever I see ones that strike my fancy. I is a miracle that I can see 20/20 distance and what a joy to wear different shades every day of the week!

-dixon cannon