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A Thread for Sunglasses (High End and Rarities Welcome)

MichaelR

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Congrats on the JMM Taos. Great pair of sunglasses!

I have the JMM Zephirin 47 and Jax in Noir 3. I love the blue lenses. I also do not like to see my eyes behind my lenses -- a faint outline is okay, but a clear view is a deal breaker for me. I cannot see my eyes with either of my Noir 3 blue lenses.

Can we see picture?
 

MichaelR

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I like just some of JMM sunglasses I was even thinking about picking up a pair of jagger myself but the problem with many JMM designs is they are ripping off old rare high end frames and they are giving them edgy names. It really bugs me.
Then they are just adding some extra details to the design and are charging $800+.
For $1000+ I can buy vintage Fred American Cup special edition - they are literally jewelry highly collectible sunglasses. There is less and less of them available to purchase.
 

Adroit

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Can we see picture?

JMM Jax Zephirin.jpg
 

Adroit

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I like just some of JMM sunglasses I was even thinking about picking up a pair of jagger myself but the problem with many JMM designs is they are ripping off old rare high end frames and they are giving them edgy names. It really bugs me.
Then they are just adding some extra details to the design and are charging $800+.
For $1000+ I can buy vintage Fred American Cup special edition - they are literally jewelry highly collectible sunglasses. There is less and less of them available to purchase.

"Ripping off old rare high end frames" is pretty harsh and, IMHO, not justified. Certain of JMM's frames are inspired by vintage models, as are frames manufactured by many quality designers. By "added some extra details to the design," JMM is not merely copying the prior designs, but rather, creating new frames that, while inspired by vintage models, are unique to JMM. Moreover, JMM implements certain manufacturing methods and craftsmanship -- including 10mm acetate in the two frames depicted above -- that exceed that of the vintage models. I took some time to warm up to JMM's aesthetic, but I am now sold on the brand. I have a Scarpa being delivered later today.

Respectfully, I would take a JMM frame every day of the week over a Fred America's Cup special edition, regardless of how collectible the Fred frame might be.
 

MichaelR

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.

Respectfully, I would take a JMM frame every day of the week over a Fred America's Cup special edition, regardless of how collectible the Fred frame might be.

Vintage Fred frames shouldn’t even be compared to JMM, they are on another level. That’s like comparing rolls royce mercedes benz.
But I understand it’s your opinion. Always buy what you like most.
 

Adroit

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Vintage Fred frames shouldn’t even be compared to JMM, they are on another level.

I completely agree: "they" -- meaning JMM -- is undeniably on another level.

Vintage Fred acetate:

1284782


JMM 10mm acetate:

1284779


The JMM is indeed on another level. Frankly, there is no comparison.

The delta in quality is admittedly less pronounced with respect to metal frames.

Vintage Fred:

1284769


Nice detailing.

JMM:

1284770


Importantly, the JMM frame is made from lightweight Japanese beta titanium and, therefore, superbly comfortable to wear.

IMHO, JMM by a wide margin!

To be clear, I am not knocking vintage Fred sunglasses. Many of the vintage Fred frames are very impressive in terms of construction and materials, albeit more bejeweled than I prefer.
 

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MichaelR

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I completely agree: "they" -- meaning JMM -- is undeniably on another level.

Vintage Fred acetate:

View attachment 1284782

JMM 10mm acetate:

View attachment 1284779

The JMM is indeed on another level. Frankly, there is no comparison.

The delta in quality is admittedly less pronounced with respect to metal frames.

Vintage Fred:

View attachment 1284769

Nice detailing.

JMM:

View attachment 1284770

Importantly, the JMM frame is made from lightweight Japanese beta titanium and, therefore, superbly comfortable to wear.

IMHO, JMM by a wide margin!

To be clear, I am not knocking vintage Fred sunglasses. Many of the vintage Fred frames are very impressive in terms of construction and materials, albeit more bejeweled than I prefer.

You are comparing wrong model of Fred.
Don’t get me wrong JMM are cool sunglasses. I checked some of their frames, they are nice but they are not even close to what Fred did back in the day.
 

MichaelR

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Fred Samuel was a freaking genius. His stuff is as iconic as stuff Cartier did back in the day.
Cartier did sunglasses made with turtle shell. If I remember correctly they went for a few million usd in an auction.
 

CMT1

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Revisiting this thread. I now have over six months of constant wear on my Salt. + Aether Voyage and I've fallen in love with their light weight. I can wear them all day without fatigue or needing to remove them, the optics are stellar and I love the way they look.

I was still planning on picking up a pair of Vuarnet glaciers, but my sunglasses vendor emailed me to say that they'd found a pair of unsold Explorer frames in their stockroom. Black with mirrored blue lenses, they were the exact model that originally put me onto the Salt + Aether collaboration so the Vuarnets will have to wait.

G2l7rW6.jpg


EAwBKZF.jpg


PgJ2KVH.jpg


vdLUpPO.jpg


WAiEHlO.jpg


JnMZEHy.jpg


cgCogjF.jpg


JpmweBU.jpg


I'm sure it's evident from the abundance of pics, but I'm really happy to have the Explorers. They are a bit sportier than the Voyage, and they are just as light. They are also surprisingly a bit more comfortable, which is something that I would have thought was impossible.

One thing of note is that some of the reviews I've seen on the Explorer lists them as having Zeiss glass lenses, and these are CR39. I guess they must have changed them after the earliest versions of the frames.

Thanks again to this thread for putting me onto Salt. !
 
Last edited:

JChong8

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I never know why this thread doesn't have more activity. I feel a lot of people under appreciate eyewear and quality optics.

I posted this to the thrift thread but I essentially found a pair of Jean Paul Gaultier sunglasses from 1990, and later found out that it was the super rare "Tupac" pair. After some eBay searching and general research...I found out that these are one of the most highly collectible and replicated JPG pair of glasses out there.

I didn't even know what they were at first but my experience with eyewear and collecting made me know I definitely found something interesting. All Jean Paul Gaultier branding was rubbed off of the glasses and the plastic areas (nose pads, temple tips) were corroded and chewed up pretty badly. One of the nose pads had a faint JPG so that was enough to put the brand to them. Lenses are prescription as well but I actually plan to restore them and get the lenses changed out.

1324180
1324181
1324183
1324184
1324185
 

Adroit

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I never know why this thread doesn't have more activity. I feel a lot of people under appreciate eyewear and quality optics.

I recently came across a blog post titled "you own 50 pairs of sneakers but only one pair of glasses." The writer noted that, when you meet someone, the first thing you notice is their face (including eyewear), followed by their clothes -- their shoes are a distant third. Yet, most people -- including here on SF -- are MUCH more focused on shoes as opposed to eyewear, and eyewear gets very little attention. I don't know why this is the case.

I posted this to the thrift thread but I essentially found a pair of Jean Paul Gaultier sunglasses from 1990, and later found out that it was the super rare "Tupac" pair.

That is a classic JPG frame -- congrats!
 

Tsujigiri

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Revisiting this thread. I now have over six months of constant wear on my Salt. + Aether Voyage and I've fallen in love with their light weight. I can wear them all day without fatigue or needing to remove them, the optics are stellar and I love the way they look.

Those are really cool with the side shields on them. I have a couple similar Salts without the shields, and I wear them pretty often because of the low weight and clear optics.

I never know why this thread doesn't have more activity. I feel a lot of people under appreciate eyewear and quality optics.

I posted this to the thrift thread but I essentially found a pair of Jean Paul Gaultier sunglasses from 1990, and later found out that it was the super rare "Tupac" pair. After some eBay searching and general research...I found out that these are one of the most highly collectible and replicated JPG pair of glasses out there.

Amazing find! And not a style that you can find very easily in a modern frame. I've had pretty good luck getting Fuse Lenses to custom cut lenses to fit frames. They seem to be cheaper than the opticians in the area. The lenses are all polycarbonate, so not the absolute best, but the polarized ones with AR coating are decent.
 

JChong8

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It’s legit great to see you are still active and contributing @Tsujigiri ! This thread was ultimately your brain child so ultimate kudos.

I was absolutely stoked to find that pair of Jean Paul Gaultier and I’ll admit that although I knew about JPG, I wasn’t fully knowledgeable about which specific frames are rare etc. It was later that I found out that this specific frame was dubbed the “Tupac” frame and all of the compatible pairs on eBay are asking over $500 or more. I got them for $3 so I am totally willing to cut a lens and convert them back to sunglasses. I did contact an optometrist and was quoted roughly $150-200 Canadian to change the lenses, but we spoke at length about the kinds of lenses and quality of the lenses etc and she definitely is looking to put top of the line lenses in them. She was talking about Trivex lenses which apparently have the clarity of glass, but are stronger than average polycarbonate so they aren’t as prone to scratching.
 

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