pnoon, yr right. Just gotta see it from their point of view.
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Peter is always a wise man.

Look,
This subject is no different than many others.
There are different strokes for different folks.
We each have personal preferences and personal financial situations.

Interesting story of how I got mine.
My wife use to work for North American Watch Company (Movado, Corum, Piaget and Concord).
She use to buy Movados for me on employee sales. Got some of the most beautiful ones they make really cheap. An $800 watch for $150 as an example. Before she left, we bought a Concord Saratoga for me with diamonds on dial and bezel, two tone, with 18 KT gold. Beautiful watch I never wear as is kept in the bank vault so as to not have my arm cut off. $7,000 watch for $1,500. What a deal!

After a while of accumulating watches, after each and every one of them, I said to her, honey, these are all very, very nice but they are certainly not a Rolex.
For our anniversary, I was surprised one day with the Rolex.
The girl worked her butt off, saved a ton of money, put the rest on a credit card, and got me my watch.

So, for me, it is more than a Rolex. It is an ultimate gift from a life long partner who sacrificed herself to get it for me. As such, it is the nicest watch I will ever own in the world and nothing can compare to it, not even a Platinum one with diamonds on the dial, bezel and band, worth well over six figures.

A few years later, I reciprocated and got her the matching ladie's version of mine. I bet if you ask her, she feels the same about her Rolex. Took me a while to pay that one off also.
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Awesome story, Carlos :-)
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Owning a Rolex is nice, but being able to afford one is even better. We make some tooling for Rolex and have made different parts for them and many other local watch manufacturers.

Rolex is about prestige, accomplishment, to show others your status. Rolex is a wearable status symbol almost like no other globally. There tons of more expensive watches (equally sought after) like Patek and Vacheron, but the average person would not recognize them and they only hold cache for a small group of people that do not hold the same cache for Rolex.

Rolex’s can be a wise investment and their sportier models do not go out of fashion.
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:-)
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Moses,
Mine is kept almost like the day I got it, except for the decal underneath that has long faded.
When I got mine, it sold for $3,800. I don't think you can get that same one now for less than double that amount, hence making mine quite valuable, to my kids, when I die that is. I will never sell it at any price. A. not in me to do it. B. Would die at the hands of my wife.:-)
I was actually offered same I paid for it in Las Vegas in exchange for upgrading to a newer model (at new model's current cost of course). I had heard they had changed them and made the case larger and after a few martinis while in Mandalay Bay Casino, I stopped and found myself pretending I really wanted to buy a new one. That was fun for those short few minutes.
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You kept the decal on :-)

36mm cases are not as popular as they were in the 80's. The day date Daytona is saw I think was 36mm as well. I am sure they want all the money as any Rolex with real complications are big money. They make them now, but are a "catalog" watch. They may even farm out those watches to few watchsmiths to make under contract to Rolex.

Here's a picture of Daytona I am talking about.
Image

As you may already know from previous threads, I am not really a Rolex fan, but to underplay their status or investment would tarnish any credibility I may have. If you're not really into horology or don't have a large collection of fancy watches, a Rolex is good choice. It comes down to aesthetics and Rolex is the most copied watch for a reason.

Then again their investment value is because of Rolex's distribution channels. There's nothing inherent to Rolex (vs. other watches of similar price) that make their watches better. Well maybe the parts we make for them make them better, lol...
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You mean that green decal with the serial number on the back of the case was meant to be taken off?
Mine is still on to this day, 16 years later.:-)

Faded as heck, but still on there.
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Yes it is, it's more comfortable on the wrist to stainless against than vinyl. Did you take the plastic tab with string off it at least? :-)
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Still have the string too but in the box.:-)

My wife was smarter than me. She took her green label off.

Will post a photo shortly of mine.
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My green label.
What's left of it.

Just peeled it off.
What a mess to clean up.
What should I use to get the glue off?
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Still have the green label on mine as well...I've had this one for 8 years now and it's still there!
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Cleaned up the mess with a bit of soapy water.
Looks and feels better for sure.

I was afraid to wet the watch trying to take it off (scroll down)


















JUST KIDDING!!!
Mine has seen many reefs.
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You're welcome.
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Carlos, great story and I understand the Rolex prestige. But never wanted one myself. Do any of y'all ever have a problem with them? One post earlier said "doesn't keep good time but nice watch". Nice watch that doesn't keep good time? Anyway my point is that my ex worked at a jewelry store that had a watch maker certified to work on Rolex, and it was the most brought in watch with problems. My understanding is you pretty much have to wear them every day or get that automatic watch winder, other wise you will have problems.

Anyway I want a Concord watch myself, nothing to crazy under the $1000.00 mark.
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I love my two tone Concord Saratoga.
Neat looking watch. Just afraid to wear it.

As far as the Rolex, mine keeps time very well.
My wife's and my mom's do also.
My dad's on the other hand, different story.
So 3 out of 4.

I had mine serviced once due to stupidity.
I beat the crap out of my mail box post with a bat (someone hit it with a car and it fell over), trying to dig it in a bit until I got the post replaced so I could still get mail delivery, and did it with my watch on. As result, stopped working completely and had to send it in to Rolex in NY. Cost me almost $600 by the time they were done, as also replaced the crystal, hands and forget what else (hands due to glow in the dark crap fading out).

My dad serviced his once due to not working well.
My mom and wife have never serviced theirs in nearly 14-15 years.
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Rolex keep as good a time as any other watch of that caliber. As long as they have the same vibration, they should have similar accuracy until they wear. The more jeweled the watch is, the less need for oil and oil oxidizes over time. Rolex is known for accuracy and ruggedness of the movement.

You watchsmith probably saw more Rolex as there are a lot of them. Current production is 800K+ a year. So, even if they were making 300k+ 30 years ago, that millions and millions of Rolexes around the world.

All automatic watch should be serviced about 4 years. If you have a tool to remove the case back, you can play around the advancement, but if it need service, it needs service.
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Moses,
I was under the impression my watch is built as a solid case, from the top down, as opposed to via opening the back as most watches.
I thought they built the case sort of like a boat and drop things in from the top down, making it difficult for just anyone to open them without causing markings to the case as they attempt to do so.
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Adjusting a watch is always a compromise as the time will gain or retard in certain positions. When they say a watch is adjusted to seven positions, the watch is actually in a cradle a turned in seven different positions. A ticker marks above or below a center line which indicates perfect timing. No watch is going to be perfect in every position, but ones with the Turbillion escapements come the closest.
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This makes a lot of sense.
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