My topic is not about Rolex qualities. Rolex is a good brand that makes good watches.

Many of their watches are dull (women's watches particulary), some are tacky (all the gold and two tones), some are rather sexy and well balanced (the non ceramic submariners & Gmt, explorer 2).

The all know that they hold their value and that they can last more than 100 years. That they are overpriced like ANY other luxury watches. May be they are less overpriced that some others (Patek, Breguet, Blancpain...).

We also all know that buying a new car is stupid and that cars in big cities that have a good subway network like Paris or London are totaly useless and that only low class people think that a car is an exterior sign or wealth and power and so dream about expensive cars. And that you will lose no money on a new Rolex after 5 years while you will lose at least 50% on a new car. That a high end watch is a better purchase than an high end car in term of cost, maintenance and resell value.

My topic is about people who buy a Rolex.

Most people on Rolex forums seem to be tasteless = check the pics of people in the link to see what I mean.

When I look at Rolex watch in a department store in Paris (Galleries Lafayette particulary and Printemps), all the people who buy or try a Rolex are tacky chinese tourists dressed and behaving like low class people, vulgar blond frogs women with working class nouveaux riches trying to look respectable by wearing a Rolex.

These people obviously have no taste for clothes, no knowledge in watches, few culture and are not very intelligent (if they were, they wouldn't buy a new Rolex in a department store but a second hand one or a new one on grey market, wouldn't they ?)

So if they wear a Rolex, I wonder if I shouldn't stop for my own sake.

Last edited by Naslafu (2011-01-27 17:36:40)

Last edited by Naslafu (2011-01-27 23:21:56)

Pssst! Wanna' buy a watch, a 1969 Explorer I for a mere 7,250Euros:

http://www.awco.nl/index.php?taal=1&id=1745&spec=2

There's one born every minute.

I think the Oyster case is a classic clean design.   Which can be spoiled by stuff like a date bubble, or weird faces, or diamonds and other shit.

That said, I don't wear mine anymore because it's embarrassing.  I'm not sure why, exactly.  But it is.

That said, never had a prob. with maintenance, 'cept once.  A few years after I bought it, I stopped wearing it regularly.  And the watch guy said that without regular use, it gets fucked up.  That doesn't sound right to me, but there was his logic.  Or lack thereof. 

I had one of the first Swatches too.  I just saw an example going for an extremely sick amount of dough not too long ago...

There used to be a point of view that a gentleman does not need a watch because he is never pressed for time! That's nice, economical reasoning and, of course, adopting it avoids all tackiness.

My grandfather (passed away in 1991) owned 2 Rolexes & LOVED them.  When he got promoted as an executive at RCA designing the Aegis defense system, it was the 1st & only treat he got for himself.  The classic Blue & red beveled GMT.  Back then, no one really had any idea about Rolexes, so he was NOT wearing it as a status symbol.  He wore it for himself, as a symbol that he had accomplished some of his goals--- and motivation to keep striving for new ones.

When he retired, he was presented with the gold Presidential Rolex.  It may have been his proudest moment (aside from family-related things).  Again, it had nothing to to with "status" or "flash", but with having earned the respect of his peers.  At the time, Rolex meant something... especially when you were given one as a gift.

I wear that GMT now, and whenever I look at it, I think of him & how much he was loved & respected by his family & peers.

Last edited by Alexandre Orlov (2011-02-17 07:24:32)

Bump for this thread, as I've been in the market for vintage Rolex Explorer, or a Tudor Ranger. Sadly, still outside of my price range and I will need to keep on saving and also cannot find a decent Ranger with proven provinence.

I've been doing some research on the official Rolex Forum and I can say with some authority, that it is populated by a mixture of trailer trash misfits, Submariner fetishists and men with the slimmest and most feeble wrists imaginable. Any positive posting of the historic Air-King is immediately denounced as a watch that is too small and effete and then much praise is poured over the ubiquitous Submariner. These are not the people I would want to be representatives of the demographic the elite brand is striving for, or are they? They're not really interested in the heritage and the calibrations only the bling aspects and that the size must be gigantic. The bigger the better.

And perhaps Rolex have been listening to these people and the reason Rolex have enlarged the classic and timeless Explorer I from Ian Flemings favourite 36mm face to a pointless 39mm. Why or why?  Just totally pointless and does not keep with its heritage.

Its a shame really, as the Oyster case is a design classic and is extremely durable and hard wearing. You can still get vintage Rolexes officially serviced and they come back with internals running like brand new, of course, the 895GBP service costs for a Daytona and Submariner are taking the piss of the gullible.

I don't know, I still desire a vintage Explorer and even a subdued Air-King, or Day Date is a design classic, but the impression of most modern Rolexes and their demographic as exposed from the official Forum is not one I would like associated with telling the time on my wrist.

I think its time Rolex rebranded and reengineered themselves back to a watches associated with spies, scientists, mountaineers, adventurers, etc and not celebrities and other riff-raff.

Last edited by 4F Hepcat (2011-08-28 03:36:32)