Submariner for £4k, pro's and cons

[silverback mike]

Morning all.
I've reached the grand old age of 45 and domestic sunray has decided it would be nice for me to have a Submariner for this (still 6 months away so plenty of time for research...)
I've done some searching around and seemingly £4000 is a figure that can but one of these, obviously pre owned but that's not a problem.
What's all this about ceramic and sapphire.....
Could anyone present me a noddy's guide to the Rolex submariner please.
Thanks in advance.
Mike.

[omegac]

http://hypebeast.com/2013/1/the-guide-to-buying-pr...

Lots of links on the fourth post down:

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f23/guide-submariner-...

[silverback mike]

Thank you

[GC8]

Sapphire refers to the crystal. Its a synthetic 'glass' which is extremely scratch resistant. Most watches that you encounter will have this.

Ceramic refers to the bezel material, but a watch of the newer type, with a ceramic bezel (the black bit) will have a number of others changes and theyre quite different to the pieces which preceded them.

[silverback mike]

Ah I see, thanks, I suppose it's subjective but what's the preferred option generally?

[GC8]

Well: youre always going to have a sapphire crystal realistically. Im not the best person to ask about the ceramic pieces, but in my opinion: Id like an earlier Sub which had the feel of the newer ceramic models. The bracelets are particularly improved.

This said, I also prefer the Sea Dweller to the Deep Sea, where others love the bling.

[GC8]

Now that you know this, you really need to go and look at some and compare the older and newer Subs and see which you prefer. Its a subjective choice.

[CardShark]

Just to add a bit more detail, a sapphire crystal is very scratch resistant but can be prone to chipping/cracking with a very hard knock, the alternative to sapphire would be acrylic and these would be resistant to chipping and cracking but pick up fine scratches, though these can be easily polished out. If you're going for something remotely modern it'll have a sapphire crystal anyway.

Ceramic bezels were introduced for their scratch resistance as well and they also resist fading in sunlight, if you look at older Rolex pieces you can cleary see where age takes its toll however some see this weathering as building character.

As has been said, get out there and try them on

[silverback mike]

GC8 said:

Well: youre always going to have a sapphire crystal realistically. Im not the best person to ask about the ceramic pieces, but in my opinion: Id like an earlier Sub which had the feel of the newer ceramic models. The bracelets are particularly improved.

This said, I also prefer the Sea Dweller to the Deep Sea, where others love the bling.

Thank you, comments appreciated, and yes, I'm not a fan of bling, I sold my breitling for that reason really. I'll do some trying on.

[dom9]

Maybe able to scrape into a 16600 Seadweller at that price point... I did, last year, and that was from a dealer.

Might be worth trying one of those as well as many prefer the date without the cyclops and the extra 'heft' (though it isn't too big).

[yeti]

GC8 said:

This said, I also prefer the Sea Dweller to the Deep Sea, where others love the bling.

I guess I don't understand the definition of bling - to me it means shiny, polished, jewelled, gold. Dictionary says: denoting expensive, ostentatious clothing or jewellery, or the style or materialistic attitudes associated with them.

How is a DSSD bling? Because it has a 43mm diameter? It's also quite thick, but has the ring lock system to integrate into that case and the reason for its size is ALL engineering based.

Genuine question as you're certainly not the ony one to hold that view!

[GC8]

It is principally the ostentatious and ridiculously engraved rehaut. Bling is definitely the wrong word, but it is gaudy and pointless and ruins an otherwise nice watch, in my opinion.

[Helicopter123]

I think you should get some change from £4k on a good sub. I advertised my mint 2008 sub on here for a couple of months at 4k and saw very little interest. Trade bids from 3.3k to 3.6k was all I saw.

[Spice_Weasel]

Watchfinder has a couple of classic Subs at sub-£4k (£3850 IIRC). I reckon you could get a few quid off that with a bit of haggling and cash/debit card purchase.

[yeti]

GC8 said:

It is principally the ostentatious and ridiculously engraved rehaut.

Ah OK. It's not a rehaut, it's the ring part of the ring lock system - the ROLEXROLEXROLEX rehauts on the Subs etc I find very offputting myself. I suppose they could have left it blank or painted it but the case strength is dependent on it.

There is a lot of text on it yes, but what else could they have done?

[silverback mike]

Spice_Weasel said:

Watchfinder has a couple of classic Subs at sub-£4k (£3850 IIRC). I reckon you could get a few quid off that with a bit of haggling and cash/debit card purchase.

[silverback mike]

Spice_Weasel said:

Watchfinder has a couple of classic Subs at sub-£4k (£3850 IIRC). I reckon you could get a few quid off that with a bit of haggling and cash/debit card purchase.

[audidoody]

yeti said:

the ROLEXROLEXROLEX rehauts on the Subs etc I find very offputting myself.

IF you mean the ROLEXROLEXROLEX laser etching, that is on all Rolex's made after 2010. It's supposed to be another hurdle for fakers to overcome. You can't actually see the engraving when you're wearing the watch unless you hold it close to your eye.

[yeti]

audidoody said:

IF you mean the ROLEXROLEXROLEX laser etching, that is on all Rolex's made after 2010. It's supposed to be another hurdle for fakers to overcome. You can't actually see the engraving when you're wearing the watch unless you hold it close to your eye.

I know

[Slagathore]

Could have a new one for a smidge over £4k - http://www.orologidilusso.biz/orologio-di-lusso-en...