Not trying to start anything weird, i’m just not watch savvy.
What i know about Rolex is thay they’re Swiss, expensive and most men like Divers. Just learned about Coca coka and Batman reading the long thread.

Personally, have no use for a diver and, ignorant as i am on the subject, consider Rolex/Omega just like Coke/Pepsi, Ford/Chevrolet, etc. I’d be the Omega/BMW/Pepsi guy.

Thank you for your time. Pleasr explain as if i were 5years old. Guess i will enjoy the details.

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It is a status thing for some. In the watch world that call it "Flexing or showing off".
They are a quality watch and well built that have great designs however you can buy better watches for less money.
Several years ago you could walk in to any dealer and buy what ever you want and in some case at a discount. Then the stainless steel Daytona got very popular followed by the other stainless sports models.
Next thing you know they are selling on the grey market, in some cases for several times Msrp.
A lot of it also has to do with marketing.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 71 TRUCK,

quote:

Pleasr explain as if i were 5years old

I spy the next forum banned phrase.

Why do some people like Porsche vehicles? It’s an emotional decision more than it is a rational one. This applies to Rolex too.

Those who value tradition, aesthetics, mechanical mastery and long term collectibility tend to gravitate towards brands like Rolex and Porsche for many of the same reasons. It ignites a passion or love along with feelings of extreme satisfaction of ownership. Other people simply view these brands as a status symbol.

I have had quite a few watches over that last 20 years. Of those I have had a Rolex. It was a Yacht Master in Rolessor (Gold and stainless two tone) with a white dial. It was one of those “bucket list” or “grail” items to me. I had always said to myself from a young age, “when you get a Rolex, you “made” it”. What a foolish person I was. (It worked out well as I made more off the watches than I paid, and they gave us part of the down payment on our house.)

So I thought Rolex was the best. In the world of watches, I had them at the pinnacle. Then I learned about watches.

Rolex is a good watchmaker with an incredibly stellar marketing department. It is estimated that Rolex spends between $75m and $100m per year in advertising. Think of all the polo, horse racing, tennis, auto racing, everywhere you see the Rolex clock.

Rolex is a very high quality watch maker. They make an exceptional product with incredibly high standards. They make their own gold alloys. They really do have their shit together.
They are far, far, far from the pinnacle. They’re more like base camp. There are some unbelievable watchmakers. FP Journe, Girard Perregaux, A Lange, Breguet, the “holy trinity” Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin.

So why Rolex? Because marketing is a powerful tool and Rolex uses it better than anyone in the industry.

I figure this thread will be five pages by lunchtime.

Because Patek Philippe cost money to even dream about.

Personally mechanical watches just fascinate me. Some items like Rolex go into the category of a luxury item. It may represent personal accomplishment for some. Others may want to show off. Others just appreciate them for what they are and try to collect them.

The Rolex brand has just gained brand recognition over many decades of making quality products promoted by the company, enthusiasts, movies, tv and pop culture in general. Supply has been an issue in recent years making demand rise too.

In large part it's because they are among the finest mechanical devices someone will ever own. Note this also applies to all the other super premium watch makers. They are hugely expensive because they are mainly hand made and completely hand finished and assembled. They are actually affordable if you are willing to forego all other luxury items and things like a Vacations or invest in your early 20's and maintain that investment portfolio for 40 or 50 years.

There are plenty of watches available for less than a Rolex that I would buy long before another Rolex. I doubt I will spend the money on another watch and my priorities have changes slightly. I have three watches and they pretty much cover everything I need. Omega Seamaster white dial with both strap and bracelet, an IWC Spitfite, and a Casio MTG. Wear time is Omega 59%/IWC 39%/MTG 2%.

For the cost of a Rolex or less in what I consider comparing apples to apples, as best you can. One example would be a Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Date vs. Rolex Yachtmaster. In my opinion, the JLC is a far superior watch when it comes to the internals.

If Rolex hadn’t changed their company policies to make them an “exclusive” company, I would probably own one again. However when I go to the damn store to buy something, I want to buy it without all the bullshit games and tips and promises and purchases. That’s why I have an Omega. I went into Rolex and as I had expected they had ZERO inventory available for sale. The salesperson said a bunch of BS like there would be inventory next week and come back… bullshit.
I went five doors down at the mall and purchased the Omega. Back to the “exclusivity” shit, it actually does the opposite, I don’t want to own one of their watches because of the whole exclusivity bullshit. I get it when production is low because you can’t work because of Covid. What’s bullshit is some marketing asshole saw that as an opportunity to make them exclusive. Prices on the gray market skyrocketed during Covid. Watches in factory new condition were going for four times retail value. That’s when Rolex changed their policies and now just eeek out some watches here and there. Enough to stay filthy rich, but not enough to supply the world. Think of the monopoly DeBeers had in diamonds for decades. They could have made diamonds worthless if they flooded the market. While Rolex did have a price increase, it wasn’t like they doubled the price. I think the brand managers at Rolex take great pride that their watches sell for more money on the gray market, or used, that retail price. This is exactly what they wanted.

Now I will point out something. Rolex is a cheap ass when it comes to customer service. A small bottle of Costco water. That’s it. At Omega they gave me a double of some fairly impressive Scotch. I received a call a few days later from the boutique manager, to make sure I was happy with my purchase and that everything was as expected. I also received a Christmas card from Omega. Nothing like that from Rolex when I have made purchases in the past.

So at the end of the day, there are many brands I would purchase before I bought a Rolex. For under $20k I feel that you will get a superior watch buying from one of the watchmakers listed below when comparing to a Rolex.

Jaeger-LeCoultre
Vacheron Constantin
Omega
IWG
Breitling
Cartier
Longines
Grand Seiko

I used to have an active lifestyle.

All my other watches lasted a year or two.

My Rolex lasted 35 years and I gave it to my son.

Putting my name on a list for a new one.

My watches that leaked

Omega,
several Seikos,
Luminox, things fell off the dial,
Zodiac

My wife bought me a Rolex, end of leaking.

For me, there was one Rolex I fell in love with in the 90's, the Yachtmaster.

For me, it was just a beautiful watch that did nor scream ROLEX, at least to me.

I have followed the evolution of this watch over the past few decades.

This was a grail watch for me, but honestly never thought I would own one, as they continued to rise in price.

When my Son graduated with his Undergrad, he splurged and bought himself a Yachtmaster. I was very proud of him for saving his money and buying something we could not afford to buy him, At the same time, I was green with envy.

For our 31st wedding anniversary, my wife surprised me with a Yachtmaster. She taped me when I opened it. It is priceless, I did not know what to say.

I LOVE this watch and wear it every day.

I am not in search of my next Rolex, I have the one and only one I ever wanted.

My Son just bought a no date Sub, his second Rolex. However, he is a watch collector and also builds watches. He enjoys watches as much as I enjoy guns.

His grail watch is a AP Royal Oak.

I wanted the Yachtmaster because I think it is one of the most beautiful watches ever, not because I hope someone else likes it, or will be impressed.

Personally I don’t care for their styling. I would take an IWC pilot watch if I were to spend the money.

The Rolex name is recognized all over the world. If I was stuck in your country and needed to get back to the US and had no money but wore a Rolex, I could maybe trade it for a one way ticket. At least that's how it works in the movies.

i've worn rolex's since the mid '60's, mostly gmt's, which were nice during 40 year aviation career.

i wore one gmt/16753 for 36 years!!

The founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf originally came from the town of Kulmbach, Germany right up the road from where I lived as a child. I have always liked them just for that reason but being a watch nerd I know that there are more exclusive and more complicated higher finished watches. Almost bought one back in the 80's but ended up buying stereo equipment instead, Stupid of me, but who knew. Back then I wanted a submariner but I think now I would be inclined to buy a Skydweller. But the watch that I think is so much better and would probably buy is a Glasshutte Original PanoMaticLunar.

I'm a utilitarian guy, I work with my hands, and I destroy watches. I need something that can hold up to the same degree of abuse that I regularly put myself through. I can appreciate a nice mechanical watch (hate the idea of a smart watch, and don't really like digital), but don't see any reason to strap something to my wrist that costs more than my cars (yeah, I buy kinda cheap cars, too...and break watches working on them!).

I was going through about a Timex Expedition per year until I discovered the Momentum Steelix after my last Timex broke while I was at the academy. I got one on sale for $55, and it lasted me 8 years of working on vehicles, gardening, renovating houses, and rolling around on the asphalt fighting with people. Finally, the crystal got chipped enough that it started leaking while I was tubing a river in Michigan, and that watch was done.

I started looking around for a replacement, and realized that this watch does everything I need. It keeps good time, has a simple uncluttered face with numbers, the date, illumination so I can read it in the dark, a second hand for timing field sobriety tests, and the offset knob is nice to keep it from digging into my wrist. I ended up buying another one, this time spending a bit more to get a sapphire crystal that will hopefully be more robust than the original. If it breaks, I'll be sad, but at least I won't be financially ruined.

Before the age of quartz watches, there were a fairly small number of watch manufacturers who built watches that were simultaneously a) rugged and b) very accurate. Rolex was one of them, and consequently became what the cool kids doing cool things wore. Good quality, and very good marketing.

Even though most people who bought GMT Masters weren't aviators and didn't "need" the 24-hour/GMT complication, and most people who wore Explorers weren't going to scale Everest, they were still what the cool kids who WERE doing those thing were wearing. You could buy that no-date Submariner and feel just like "Bond... James Bond."

These days the argument that you need an ultra-accurate watch-- and thus, a COSC-papered Rolex-- is a non-argument because my COSC automatics still vary by a few seconds over the course of a few days, as is the "I need a rugged watch" because my G-Shock does both, better. But it's still cool to wear a mechanical device that beats 28000 times per hour and remains THAT accurate over a week. If you appreciate machines and history, it's a power combination.

It's just like anything else people value. You can spend a lot of money on it, or not. Personally, I think 2k is the point I just can't go over for a watch.

Rolex makes a few iconic models that everyone recognizes (Pepsi/Coke GMT, Sub, Paul Newman Daytona, etc.). When you see an old air-cooled 911, you don't mistake it for anything else, even though there are some other makes and models that try to look like it. If you like some of those Rolex originals, you can either buy the real thing or get another brand that makes a similar one, and then still always want the real thing.

I like my IWCs more than my Rolexes. They cost less, and look and run better. But there are a few Rolex models I have always wanted and don't want some other brand's version of those watches. So I worked and saved up to be able to get the real thing.

It’s the marketing. Ever since I grew up Rolex has Ben the go to brand, James Bond wore one, the fast car racing advertises them, and the scarcity sells them.

My favorite look is the simple black dial Submariner. I don’t dive anymore but I like the look

I inherited my grandfather’s Rolex a rare 1530. (It’s a mechanical watch in Rolex’s quartz body)

He wore it from the day he got it until he died and my little brother wore it for years, I don’t wear it often because it’s value is more than I can replace. I usually wear a cheap citizen or my GSAR because I tend to destroy things.

I admired Rolex watches for about 20 years before I purchased one (basic Submariner stainless). A friend purchased remaining stock of a store in bankruptcy, including several Rolex watches, and found himself overextended, allowed me to purchase the Sub for just over half of MSRP.

Wore it for 18 years while working as a cop, then on construction sites building houses, etc. It took everything I could throw at it, but was ready for new crystal, new bracelet, servicing. Rolex service center quoted more than I paid for the watch. I sold it to a dealer, made about 60% profit, bought a new Seiko.

Comparing the Rolex to some other quality watches (Bulova Accutron, Seiko) I have owned showed the Rolex was not as accurate, always requiring adjustment for correct time twice per month. Others needed correction only a couple of times per year.

Now retired and getting along just fine with a Casio quartz stainless that requires adjustment only for daylight savings time (twice per year), purchased on sale for less than $50 nearly 3 years ago and hasn't needed a battery yet.

Rolex makes a fine watch, but it requires a large investment in return for the status symbol.