Patekova,
Thanks for clarifying the black enamel. I just couldn't think of one!
You pose an interesting question on vintage versus modern. I suspect that across my collection, I own maybe 20% modern and 80% vintage. Within Rolex, I think i ended with a similar split...the majority vintage but some modern. Within JLC, on the other hand, it has tended to be the other way around with 80% being modern and just 20% vintage.
I would like to say to you that I have developed a complex design of determining the split....but I haven't. I am led with my heart. Take, for example, the 3448. For me, it represents one of (if not THE) most perfect perpetual calendar I have ever seen. For me....it is perfect. So, when adding a perpetual calendar to my Patek collection, it is defaulted to a vintage as I see it as the most beautiful variant. When it comes to world times, I see the modern exposition as more to my taste...more to what I want in a WT. Hence, there are three modern WTs in the collection. With chronographs, a similar approach is evident. I took my 5070P in 2009. Within Patek, I have not wanted another chronograph since. It encapsulates everything that I want in my chrono. On the other hand, I have built a collection of Calatravas exclusively from the 1960s and 1970s as I see that era as the most perfect period of Patek Calatravas. Everything that I admire about Calatravas is caught in watches from that era.
So, in answer to your question, in building my collection I have looked at specific types of watches that i want (ie perpetual calendar, world time, chronograph, Calatrava, split second, etc etc) and evaluated what it is that I appreciate most in the watch and from there researching specific watches (either modern or vintage) that appeal most to my heart. In some way, your words on "golden era" resonate for me as I tend to gravitate towards a specific era for a specific type of watch. In JLC divers, for example, the 1960s feel very right for me. I don't like to pigeon-hole myself as a vintage collector or as someone who buys just new. The collection evolves sometimes without any conscious factors.
I think I have done a decent job at mumble-swerving your question!