I’ve been at James Bond fan since I was six, quickly read through all the books, saw all the movies, played all the games.
Who can forget when this watch was used to set off explosives, laser through trains, work as your pause menu, etc.
I’ve wanted it ever since.
When I got married in 2021, my father got it for me as my wedding gift.
I’ve been blessed to be able to do well in life; and to be able to acquire a number of luxury watches, multiple Rolexes, Omegas, and more, but this one will always be my favorite.
For some context, all of my Rolex’s are currently owned are gray, however, I have switched to working with my local AD since I now have the very-hard-to-get models that I wanted already and am enjoying them while I now play the AD game.
I have a 36 mm stainless fluted/jubilee Wimbledon DJ on order with them, and my cousin was interested in a Rolex celebrate his 10 year anniversary.
He only recently got into watches through me, and we semi-recently got him an Omega Speedmaster moonwatch which he loves wearing as his daily. However, he wanted something for nice occasions and nights out, I was in the market for a two-tone Rolex.
Initially, we came to check out the Zombie, but instead he immediately fell in love with the 41 mm two tone black dial DJ.
We spent about half an hour, just talking and chatting with my sales rep and the owner of the store, and after a while, the owner said to hold on a minute and went to the back. He came back with the exact watch my cousin was looking for and told us that he had called the person. It was ordered for three times and if the person did not answer on the fourth call, my cousin could have it since he came in at the right time.
We left the store in about half an hour to 45 minutes later my cousin got the call saying the person who they ordered it for declined it, and they decided to offer it to my cousin instead of the next person on their list.
Today I went with him to go pick it up and it was a lovely experience and my cousin is over the moon. He is 6’7” and the 41mm is perfect for him.
I’m honestly not much of a fan of most two-tone watches, the only one I would really personally consider is the zombie, but this one is absolutely gorgeous, and would happily own it. The color combination also fits my cousin perfectly.
As a nice bonus, the owner told me he was bumping up my own order so I would definitely have it in time for my five year anniversary in October, and also put in an order for me for a green dial 41mm Oyster Perpetual.
All around amazing experience and I’m looking forward to working strictly with my AD for all future Rolex purchases!
I posted a few days ago about how I was potentially buying a new/unworn full set 2026 Daytona Black Dial from my grey dealer (https://www.reddit.com/r/rolex/comments/1u4g2fa/may\_be\_buying\_a\_new\_darth\_vader\_daytona\_full\_set/) and today I pulled the trigger.
Absolutely no regrets.
The black is amazing. I really never loved the Panda, I much prefer my white Speedmaster for a white-faced chrono (https://i.imgur.com/tdTxyJi.jpeg), and I just love the black Daytona and the vibe it gives off. Personal preference, but it looks so much better in person to me than the Panda does.
Funny enough, the warranty card date is my birthday, which was a nice coincidental sign for me.
I have begun building my relationship with my AD and am looking forward to continuing it, but realistically I either never would have gotten a steel Daytona from him or any other AD in my area/state/etc, or I would have had to spend hundreds of thousands and wait years.
I already have the Starbucks and Batgirl grey, because realistically I did not have a decent shot at them from an AD without having to buy things (watches/jewelry) I had no desire for. I see value in getting what I want now, even if some don't agree.
Instead of playing the game, I got what I wanted immediately and while the extra money paid over MSRP was not insignificant, I ultimately am looking to enjoy the piece now, was able to financially afford it, and am not concerned about the value of it going down significantly should I ever want to get rid of it. Yes I paid more, I understand and accept that, I'm not looking for any validation at all, it's my choice and I'm totally cool with it.
This will almost certainly be my last grey piece, as I plan to build up my relationship more with my AD (currently waiting on a near-future delivery of a 36mm Wimbledon fluted/jubilee steel DJ, and then plan to seek a few more on my list, OP color dial, maybe precious metal in future, etc), but the "unobtainable" ones that I really wanted I already have and have been enjoying.
Going forward, I look forward to sticking with my AD and seeing what comes of it, but now I can enjoy the harder-to-get pieces during that game, and it's a real win-win for me.
Here are a couple more pictures: https://imgur.com/a/05QgtQJ
Thanks to everyone for the advice from my last post!
Before I begin, I just want to thank you for taking the time to read all of this, I tried to give as much info as I can!
So for background, I (37yo, attorney and firefighter, financially comfortable) have been into watches, virtually my whole life and have been the recent past made the jump to really get into luxury watches instead of more entry level and basic stuff.
I have a number of Omegas (Seamasters, Speedmaster, etc), and as of now two Rolexes: a Starbucks and a Batgirl, both 2026 models and both from Grey dealers.
I have no regrets about going gray for the two Rolexes I currently have. I got the watches I wanted without having to wait and without having to buy anything I didn’t want, and time is money for me, and I did not overpay considering what I could ultimately sell them for if I ever wanted to (not that I ever plan to..), so I look at it more as in converting money into a physical object I can enjoy vs just “spending” it.
When it comes to ADs, I have begun the process of building that relationship as well. My local AD is a very locally-well-known and respected multigenerational family jeweler, and I have been in there many times over the last few months and gotten to know both the sales rep that I deal with as well as the owner.
They ordered me a watch that I want, which is the 36mm Wimbledon datejust (jubilee/fluted) and I’m just waiting on that to come in.
I also was able to bring them business, such as my cousin, who recently bought a two-tone Datejust 41 that was available because one of their customers had ordered it and ended up not picking it up. This was last week, and the owner was very happy with that and let me know that he was making sure my DJ I ordered would be in for my 5th wedding anniversary in a couple of months, so things are looking good there.
The owner told me that in the future, if there are any other models, I want they would work with me to be able to make sure that it can happen, unless it happens to be that I want a Daytona in steel.
When it comes to the Daytona, however, he was honest with me, and said that the reality of me ever getting one from them would be very difficult if not probably impossible. The few that he gets are offered exclusively to customers that have been with him for generations and have spent tons of money over many years as basically a “reward,” Anai don’t be grudge him for that because that’s typically how it’s done. Any other A.D. that I have visited has also explained to me. It’s just not going to happen.
The grey dealer that I got my Batgirl from is one that I had a great experience with and that I trust, and that has a physical location that I can drive to easily. My experience with him was excellent for the Batgirl and I love the watch.
He has a black dial (“Darth Vader”) Daytona in his stock. It’s the one pictured here. It’s a January 2026 warranty card, full set, new and unworn. He’s offering it to me for $32,000 out the door pricing (no tax/etc).
I recently sold my shares in a prominent NYC slyscraper I had an interest in. So in the next few months, I will be getting a very decent amount of money in addition to what I already have, and wanted to celebrate that with the Grail Daytona.
Regarding the dial color, while the panda is always incredible, I already have a white dial, Speedmaster chronograph, which I love, and while I understand, it’s not the same as a panda Daytona, I really enjoy that watch as my white dial chronograph of my collection. Moreover, the new reference black dial Daytona has really grown on me and I actually like it more than the panda and find it to be both beautiful, but also sleek and evil looking if that makes sense (In a good way), so I certainly don’t mind saving the money by not getting the panda.
I guess my question comes down to this: is buying the Daytona at $32,000 a big mistake, or is it reasonable, considering all the above circumstances?
I don’t really see a situation where I will ever be offered this watch at an AD. Well, it’s a lot of money, spending it won’t really affect my daily life in any way, it is a significant chunk of change, but it is not money that I can’t afford to spend. Even so, I don’t want to waste money, but it is my belief that the prices of these watches are not really going to go down much in the foreseeable future, and I really don’t intend to get rid of it, but if I ever wanted to or had to, I would make at least the majority of my investment back.
My thought is that I buy this watch grey from my trusted dealer, and after that I continue building my relationship with my A.D. until some point in the future where I can potentially maybe get a precious metal Datejust or some other cupboard and model other than the steel Daytona by getting things that I like when they come around.
Would love to hear all your guys thoughts here, thanks so much!
In the time I have been waiting for my 36 DateJust Wimbledon order to be allocated to me by my AD, I have now bought two Rolexes grey.
I love my Starbucks, but I also have always loved the Batgirl and just got tired of hearing ADs tell me how long I would have to wait. When I caught myself legitimately, considering buying jewelry, I did not want or need in order to try and speed up the process, I knew going grey again was the answer.
Absolutely no regrets, April 2026 warranty card, full set, watch still had every sticker on it. Paid $20k out the door in order to enjoy something now instead of having to wait years for a possibility. For me, time is money.
Now I can sit back, enjoy my watches, and patiently wait for my Wimbledon to show up at the AD!
Flew to Miami to be a groomsman at my buddy’s wedding, and got a chance to see how the Starbucks works all dressed up. Not disappointed.
