Advice on buying a Rolex

[g4ry13]

I'm in the market for a fairly decent watch now. I'll first start off by stating that i'm not buying it purely from an investment perspective. I'd just like for it to still be worth somewhere in the region of what I paid for it rather than being worth the value of a hunk of metal a few years down the line.

I know some obvious things when buying second hand such as don't buy without papers and get it with the box. That's preferable to have obviously. I do rather prefer the idea to buy it new instead of second hand. I need some advice from those who know a bit better about this.

1.) Should I buy new or second hand?
2.) Is the company Watchfinder any good?
3.) Are certain layouts on the face more desirable than others? eg. Roman Numerals, Arabic, lines?
4.) Is the Air-King still made or do I have to buy second hand?

I firstly saw this one with the Arabic numbers. It was priced up as £5,000. I was offered £200 off, I know I could have probably got more off it. It's all Steel - is it (a) Not very desirable and going to lose a lot of value? and (b) a lot of money to be spending on a watch which is Steel? Should I really expect to get much off the RRP in the usual shops eg. Goldsmiths / Selfridges / Fraser Hart etc. when it does come to



I was looking in Watchfinder, (not sure if I can post links) and saw the Rolex Air-King, a few caught my eye. Some fairly old and others newer. I have no idea if they're a good buy or know much about these models.

I think this was fairly similar to the £5k one in terms of appearance. No papers which I know isn't good and it's 7 years old approximately and I think it's a level below the Datejust.



Another Air-King I had my eye on. 9 years old and no papers. It seems like a lot of money?



To put it into perspective: here's a DateJust with roman numerals. They claim the RRP is £4450. I was looking at DateJust II for a shade under £5k, reasonable? Should I expect to be able to get this sort of money still for it after 8 years?



Can one really buy watches from a place like Watchfinder, own it for a few years and then sell it for the price it was purchased at or a profit? Or is it a case of 'it depends' - I deviate though as I was mainly interested in the £5k watch or looking into the Air-King model.

Thanks for any advice.

[g4ry13]

Thanks for all of the useful information so far

I was quite surprised to hear that Steel ones are actually desirable. I know a solid gold Rolex oozes tacky, but the metal is valuable at least. Unlike Steel which isn't exactly anything particularly valuable. I was also surprised to hear about the numbers, I thought it'd be considered 'too fashion' and not as desirable as something more 'classic'.

I don't have massive wrists so I think I could go up to about 36mm or a little bigger before it starts to look a bit too 'blingy'.

As noted; any watch I buy will be one I like first and foremost. If it's worth close to what I paid for it somewhere down the line then even better.

Does anyone have any experience with Watchfinder? Are those retail prices really realistic? It says RRP for the watch is £4,450. In the shop it was listed as £5,000 new and they offered me £200 off straight away. Is it really likely i'll be able to get them down to around £4,500 for the watch?

What are the disadvantages in buying an older Rolex? I assume it is similar to buying anything with moving parts in that it will wear out and the older it is the less valuable it becomes (unless it is limited in supply). The reason I ask is they have the one I was looking at <1 year old and never worn for £3,950. Then they have one which is 12 years old and only £600 less! Different colour dials, the same setup nevertheless. I actually rather like the black face with white / silver numerals.

I do prefer the idea of a new one. In the back of my mind if I buy second hand one, i'd want to have it opened up and get it checked out and even then I personally wouldn't know what to look for except anything obvious such as 'made in Japan' and quartz movements. I doubt they would open it for me either as it's sealed properly.





Can you actually buy an Air-King brand new these days? I couldn't really see them on the Rolex website and most places it seems to be second hand. Or are they known under a different name?

Edited by g4ry13 on Tuesday 21st April 23:27

[g4ry13]

Bit of a bump.

I picked this up last week, Hopefully it's not too blingy.

Edited by g4ry13 on Tuesday 28th July 00:03

[g4ry13]

SPS said:

Funny I do like some watches - some Tags (own several) - Oris (own three) etc but have always disliked Rolex.
It could be the whole branding issue - a bit like Breitling too I suppose. I find these more a fashion statement (or lack of)/ look at me proposition that anything else.
But have to admit that they appear to be exceptional time pieces.
So not knocking the product as much as the perceived image.

I always felt that Rolex's were a bit flashy (thinking of those tacky gold ones with lots of diamonds) and being bought by lottery winners. I had a look around and noticed that some were pretty modest looking and they're meant to be very well engineered. Truth is I liked it more than other watches I had seen.

I'm sure to anyone that notices i'll be 'that cock' because i'm wearing a Rolex. I certainly don't go out of my way to bring it to people's attention.