Has the Rolex bubble finally burst? Perhaps it has

[Big Stevie]

Lord Marylebone said:

Just been skiing, and couldn’t help but notice that the beautiful Alpine ‘chalet style’ building right in the middle of Courchevel 1850 is now a sizable Rolex AD. It was always the tourist information centre since it was built.

A local was telling me that everyone is pretty annoyed that the mayor allowed Rolex to flash their cash and get him to push the beloved tourist centre into a pokey unit inside the Croisette, but apparently times are hard following covid, even if you are a resort that is overrun with the wealthy.

Rolex apparently paid €1.25m to acquire the lease, and are paying €200k per annum for the rent. It seems a heck of a lot, especially when the ski season only lasts about 5 months per year, but when the surrounding shops are Fendi, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Moncler, etc, clearly they felt they needed a big presence.

I laughed when I saw it and then mentioned to my Dad and my wife that we should go in and try to buy something, which confused them greatly as they are naturally completely unfamiliar with the concept of walking into a shop and not being allowed to buy something,

I explained briefly, could sense they didn’t believe me, so we walked in, we’re greeted by a salesmen, and I asked if I would be able to purchase a gents watch for myself. Gave a little spiel about being on holiday, had my 40th birthday recently and wanted to treat myself.

‘I’m sorry Sir, we do not have any watches available for you to purchase’

I feigned surprise, thanked the salesmen for his time, and we all walked out.

My Dad and wife are still confused about it!

Is the mayor suddenly sporting a nice new watch on his wrist that he has recently acquired, I wonder?

[pistonheadforum]

Other than a place to park money (that will hopefully increase) what reason do people purchase a Rolex for?

Is it the cache of having a brand? Does it really carry that much weight?

I mean, if you want a quality mechanical timepiece with the following:

Decent movement
High beat
Good materials - quality steel, saphire crystal (does not count for the solid gold models)
waterproof
accuracy
reliable

There are microbrands out there using decent movements (ETA, Sellita, Myota, Seiko/Orient, etc) that are a decent price, have a bit of profit on for the manufacturer but cost significantly less.

I know they are shunned purely because the are "knock offs" - interestingly recently found out the patent on the submariner was around 20years, so well expired.

To put it another more PH way - If somebody produced a Rolls Royce or McLaren "knock off" with all the same materials, same peformance and same reliability for 10% of the price would they sell well or be shunned?

[pistonheadforum]

And by the above I don't necesarliy mean to beat on Rolex as a brand.

Rolex do make good products.

But replace watches with handbags, or trainers etc and it's the same thing.

Marketing really is facinating - to me at least.

[DanL]

pistonheadforum said:

And by the above I don't necesarliy mean to beat on Rolex as a brand.

Rolex do make good products.

But replace watches with handbags, or trainers etc and it's the same thing.

Marketing really is facinating - to me at least.

I’m not a “watch person”, per se - I don’t have a collection of watches or any desire to own several. You can only wear one at a time, after all!

I’ll give you an honest answer. I bought mine because:
1. I love the look of it, and
2. It’s a Rolex.

There are plenty of other watches that look similar enough to mine and cost a lot less, so it’s obviously not just about the styling. The brand makes it a clearly recognisable “expensive” watch, and as a result a bit of flash. I wear branded clothing, I drive an (old) German car, I own a Rolex. I am a walking cliche, and a marketing man’s dream.

[Portofino]

Just my little ode to Rolex. I wore my Sub for about 2 hours yesterday. Just looked at it on the bedside drawer & it’s still going with the correct time. No other of my watches would be…..

[wisbech]

Portofino said:

Just my little ode to Rolex. I wore my Sub for about 2 hours yesterday. Just looked at it on the bedside drawer & it’s still going with the correct time. No other of my watches would be…..

You must own some poor quality watches. My Seiko SKX13 can do that, let alone the quartz watches I have.

[Portofino]

wisbech said:

Portofino said:

Just my little ode to Rolex. I wore my Sub for about 2 hours yesterday. Just looked at it on the bedside drawer & it’s still going with the correct time. No other of my watches would be…..

You must own some poor quality watches. My Seiko SKX13 can do that, let alone the quartz watches I have.

Yeah that’s definitely it….. condescending much?

[gregs656]

Portofino said:

Yeah that’s definitely it….. condescending much?

What you said does seem a bit strange though. All of my watches can do what you described.

[NDA]

pistonheadforum said:

To put it another more PH way - If somebody produced a Rolls Royce or McLaren "knock off" with all the same materials, same peformance and same reliability for 10% of the price would they sell well or be shunned?

There's a feel-good factor with brands. Knowing that a watch company has its own manufacture, or that they've been making watches for 200 years, or that something is handmade rather than machine assembled ... or whatever attribute it is that appeals.

Many brands have a discreet pleasure built into them - be that a cigar, a pen, a watch. And that cachet costs.

[okgo]

gregs656 said:

What you said does seem a bit strange though. All of my watches can do what you described.

Literally any watch.

[Buster73]

pistonheadforum said:

Other than a place to park money (that will hopefully increase) what reason do people purchase a Rolex for?

Is it the cache of having a brand? Does it really carry that much weight?

I mean, if you want a quality mechanical timepiece with the following:

Decent movement
High beat
Good materials - quality steel, saphire crystal (does not count for the solid gold models)
waterproof
accuracy
reliable

There are microbrands out there using decent movements (ETA, Sellita, Myota, Seiko/Orient, etc) that are a decent price, have a bit of profit on for the manufacturer but cost significantly less.

I know they are shunned purely because the are "knock offs" - interestingly recently found out the patent on the submariner was around 20years, so well expired.

To put it another more PH way - If somebody produced a Rolls Royce or McLaren "knock off" with all the same materials, same peformance and same reliability for 10% of the price would they sell well or be shunned?

Bought my sub non date 23 years ago because I’d always liked the look of it.

Expanded my collection of other Rolex models for the same reason .

[raceboy]

I remember reading an article in EVO magazine about 2001ish, it was the stereotypical watch piece, and one of the watches talked about was the Daytona, read into it a bit more, it was a waiting list watch back then, but you got one if you won Le Mans, the wait was less than the time it'd take me win so my name went down, along with a deposit back then, about 3 years later I got 'the call' and I've had it since.

[ben5575]

That was an excellent article and led me on to an expensive obsession with vintage watches. IIRC, Daytona's were around £4,600 new and £5,500 grey at the time.

Can't find the article anywhere online though, so if anyone on here remembers it/has a copy/can point me to the issue number

[troc]

gregs656 said:

Portofino said:

Yeah that’s definitely it….. condescending much?

What you said does seem a bit strange though. All of my watches can do what you described.

Indeed, my £20 Casio keeps pretty accurate time, my £700 Garmin is as accurate as the internet and my £lots JLC is at least as accurate as any Rolex.

Rolex aren’t any more accurate than any other properly manufactured and regulated quality watch. And certainly not as accurate as a smart watch or g-shock or something.

[Essarell]

troc said:

gregs656 said:

Portofino said:

Yeah that’s definitely it….. condescending much?

What you said does seem a bit strange though. All of my watches can do what you described.

Indeed, my £20 Casio keeps pretty accurate time, my £700 Garmin is as accurate as the internet and my £lots JLC is at least as accurate as any Rolex.

Rolex aren’t any more accurate than any other properly manufactured and regulated quality watch. And certainly not as accurate as a smart watch or g-shock or something.

Anyone wearing a Rolex (or similar brand) for the timekeeping accuracy? I thought that argument went down with the Titanic, the sports models are usefully tough but surely 99.9% of us wear a Rolex for there looks ?

[Jasey_]

Essarell said:

troc said:

gregs656 said:

Portofino said:

Yeah that’s definitely it….. condescending much?

What you said does seem a bit strange though. All of my watches can do what you described.

Indeed, my £20 Casio keeps pretty accurate time, my £700 Garmin is as accurate as the internet and my £lots JLC is at least as accurate as any Rolex.

Rolex aren’t any more accurate than any other properly manufactured and regulated quality watch. And certainly not as accurate as a smart watch or g-shock or something.

Anyone wearing a Rolex (or similar brand) for the timekeeping accuracy? I thought that argument went down with the Titanic, the sports models are usefully tough but surely 99.9% of us wear a Rolex for there looks ?

Plenty of watches look like a Rolex too .

We wear them simply because we can .

[Louis Balfour]

Essarell said:

troc said:

gregs656 said:

Portofino said:

Yeah that’s definitely it….. condescending much?

What you said does seem a bit strange though. All of my watches can do what you described.

Indeed, my £20 Casio keeps pretty accurate time, my £700 Garmin is as accurate as the internet and my £lots JLC is at least as accurate as any Rolex.

Rolex aren’t any more accurate than any other properly manufactured and regulated quality watch. And certainly not as accurate as a smart watch or g-shock or something.

Anyone wearing a Rolex (or similar brand) for the timekeeping accuracy? I thought that argument went down with the Titanic, the sports models are usefully tough but surely 99.9% of us wear a Rolex for there looks ?

Rolexes used to be a bit ropey with the timekeeping. A watchmaker on here once explained why, it was something to do with how they were regulated. Watches with ETA movements at the time had a single screw, and could be made fiercely accurate, whilst Rolex required more effort. Going back further, Rolex used to recommend using positional variations to regulate their watches overnight.

Later models have been improved.

BUT, in a world full of magnets, most mechanical watches end up magnetised, which invariably changes how they run anyway. Sometimes it's barely noticeable, sometimes it is significant, and sometimes they are actually more accurate with a bit of magnetism.

You don't really own a mechanical watch today, in pursuit of timekeeping excellence. Not unless you're terminally obsessed anyway.

[Barchettaman]

Portofino said:

Just my little ode to Rolex. I wore my Sub for about 2 hours yesterday. Just looked at it on the bedside drawer & it’s still going with the correct time. No other of my watches would be…..

Are we all due a whoosh parrot here?

[Buster73]

ben5575 said:

That was an excellent article and led me on to an expensive obsession with vintage watches. IIRC, Daytona's were around £4,600 new and £5,500 grey at the time.

Can't find the article anywhere online though, so if anyone on here remembers it/has a copy/can point me to the issue number

Paid £3670 for my Daytona in 2003 , which was rrp back in the day, suprisingly enough no discount was negotiable.

Still got the price sticker on the box.

[BigBen]

Barchettaman said:

Portofino said:

Just my little ode to Rolex. I wore my Sub for about 2 hours yesterday. Just looked at it on the bedside drawer & it’s still going with the correct time. No other of my watches would be…..

Are we all due a whoosh parrot here?

Isn't the point being made that after only two hours of wear the automatic winder was good enough to keep it going until the next day. That sounds pretty good to me.