I have a birthday coming up later this year, and according to custom, math, and the Netflix algorithm that is serving me a heavy dose of mid-90s action thrillers, it?s a fairly big one. It?s the type of birthday that sometimes results in an extravagant purchase, a treat-yourself moment that is often parodied and mocked. Indeed, reader, I have mocked these types of indulgences, and I still think the guy who has been happily driving a Camry for years suddenly finding his love for sports cars at the beginning of a new decade of life is a little silly. Still, I?m drawn to the idea of buying myself a special watch to mark the occasion later this year, and I?ve been thinking about what that might be. Certainly there have been a whole lot of great new releases that have caught my eye even in the very recent past, and there are longstanding, back-of-mind grails that I casually track on all the places you track such a thing. But there?s one category I absolutely will not be exploring, one that I?ve always been a little puzzled by. Of course, I?m talking about the birth year watch. 
Fact: these are all birth year Speedmasters (for somebody)

Recently I?ve come across a flurry of Instagram posts and advertisements from watch dealers hawking Rolexes and other luxury watches from the early 90s and describing them as ?birth year watches.? This is ridiculous on its face: every watch is a birth year watch, after all. And if these dealers are trying to micro target younger millen...