Charlotte has let me loose to write my first blog. I’m normally carrying out the back office tasks required to get your frames safely to you, but I’ve been let off the leash to pen my thoughts about one of my most favourite brands, Dunhill.
I’ve been in love with Dunhill for around 20 years. And, given this may be my one and only blog I decided to further indulge myself by attempting to re-create a memorable Dunhill image.
The image above is my humble re-creation of an iconic Dunhill ad from the early 2000’s showcasing the Dunhill lambskin and cotton motorities coat. I bought this coat in 2003 and still have it today, and it's in fantastic condition. I’ve lost count of how many people have asked what brand is it?, where can I get one? etc and guess what, like our iconic range of Dunhill vintage glasses and sunglasses, it's rare and hard to acquire.
When you do manage to grab a vintage Dunhill frame you’ll quickly see what it has in common with my motorities coat. An original choice of high end materials, superb manufacturing quality, function, form and iconic styling.
Who buys our vintage Dunhill frames? What we love about our Dunhill customers is their age range. We have wearers of our original vintage Dunhill glasses from mid 20s high flyers through to seasoned gents.
Such is the style and uniqueness of Dunhill it appeals to a certain ‘club’ with an eclectic range of members from all walks of life. What binds them together is their savoir-faire, a love of style and their look which is, understated elegance.
Retrospectacle is fortunate to have probably the widest range of original vintage Dunhill frames available. I’ve handled all of them and take plenty of time cataloguing the frames, then getting them all out again and repeating the process - just because I love the feel of them.
I do have my favourites and wanted to share my fav 4 frames with you and why I love them.
Dunhill 6099 - I have a pair of these frames 60-15 in colour 42 which has dark and light grey mottle inserts. As I have a wide-ish head the Dunhill 6099 fits me really well and the 60-15 frame size is ideal. Dunhill 6099's is an slightly oversized metal frame with lacquer inserts in the chosen colour shade on the bridge and temple side. It's subtle yet distinguished and creates a great overall look. Consistent with a few Dunhill frames, I particularly like the tapering out of the lens section so it appears slightly larger at the bottom of the lens. A great thing about Dunhill glasses is they do cater for everyone including the larger headed gents which is uncommon across many brands.
Dunhill 6093 - When I first saw the 6093 it immediately took my back to my motorities coat and my love of engineering, cars and motorcycles. Maybe I’m a bit mad but when I see a 6093 my mind conjures up an image of a classic cars headlights. A couple of great features of this frame is the way the metal frame envelopes the optyl front, particularly looking down on the frame. A nice and unusual detail is the supra cord (which is really unusual and seen on a few Dunhill glasses) supporting the lower lens optyl surround into the frame, then tastefully finished off with a checkerplate metal build on the temple side. For me, it epitomises Dunhill glasses and we’ve been fortunate to curate quite a few pairs of 6093’s.
Dunhill 6089 - It’s not just because Jay-Z has worn this frame several times, but again it fits me very well and I’m torn between getting a graduated tint in this frame or my 6099’s or for that matter some 6089s. But what about 6097s (aaargh) they'd also look great tinted. The bridge is nicely positioned so it will fit most guys and will look equally cool as glasses or sunglasses. The 6089 has a nice checker-plate detail on the temple side about 4mm high and 40mm long so it’s an eye-catching feature. We have many variations of Dunhill 6089 at Retro Spectacle. Whatever frame I choose for tints, the tints will be an unusual colour. We have access to a massive range of tinted lenses!
Dunhill 6219 - Last and by no means least, this frame again takes me back to my engineering days. The temple sides have a cylindrical metal detail that reminds me of exhausts, silencers, pistons etc. The temple side has the Dunhill logo mounted on top of the cylindrical support, gold coloured at either end with a pewter coloured tubular semi circle insert (hence my earlier reference to silencers etc). I didn’t feel the frame quite suited me so I went for the 6099’s. We only have 2 Dunhill 6219's in stock so if you fancy it, grab it while you can.
That’s it from me. Hope you enjoy the read, but most importantly these iconic Dunhill glasses that will last you a lifetime!
We have many unlisted Dunhill frames so if you're interested in specific model, colour or size please do get in touch.
Cheers James