If someone wants to steal it, it means it’s luxury.
I’m just seeing this more and more, just noticing amongst my friends who are working professionals, that anyone that 1) has a professional job average society would consider “successful” and 2) is not really “into” watches (e.g., they likely would never have visited any watch community or forum in their life), usually wears a two tone Rolex datejust.
Anyone else notice this? I suppose it is like the BMW 5 series or Range Rover.
ETA:
As for the people who are commenting about how they are for duds... it's really moot, I am making a certain observation about a certain demographic... not saying I particularly prefer them... Just think it's a certain demographic watch! You can agree or disagree without your opinion on the watch itself... bc I'm commenting on the demographic.
Here is my personal take on this: in such position (where you are something like, a partner at a law firm, as one commenter noted is a frequent demographic of this phenomenon, or a bank executive, financial advisor, so on and so forth), and you don't really know about / care much about watches, but you feel like you need something that is:
- "Decently respectable", hence Rolex, a classic traditional brand
- Has a certain 'nicety' touch to it (i.e., the part-gold part comes in)
- Is fairly conservative, versatile and not too ostentatiously "bling" in their conservative opinion (i.e., the part-gold part comes in)
Seems like the "safe" choice. Or am I overthinking it?
Again, this is not about the watch, but about the demographic...
P.S. the preference for stainless, is, again, a watch person thing. We are not talking about watch people. That means none of you fall in this category, no matter your profession
It's going to run for at least 10 years, more like 13. Cheap to replace a cr2030 or whatever the cell was compared to a capacitor that costs 20-30 times more that has been sitting in storage for ages. Basicly the same thickness.
Probably not a hot take, but it's just a watch. It is not that serious, and it will not change your life.
Nerds!
In its very initial stages, it seems that getting a deal is the primary aspect of buying a watch. Retail vs grey, discounting, attempting to "win" the deal. But after a few rounds of this, it becomes painfully obvious that the price is only half the equation. The bigger factor is access. The watch you actually want, how long you're willing to wait and how much uncertainty you are okay with. Many practitioners spend months or even years chasing retail pricing when they would have been far better off to just take the watch and be on their way. Ironically the longer you leave it to buy a lot of the so-called "price advantage" has actually been eroded almost entirely.
Basically anything you buy from Teddy Baldassarre’s website is final sale. They give you 5 days to return, but if you so much as wear anything, take any plastic off, or show any minor sign of use, there’s no returns. I can understand if you’re talking about an expensive watch, but this BS return policy applies to cheap accessories and straps that cost less than $100. I mean, this type of anti-consumer return policy is unheard of in retail these days.
It’s not even a hot take, he’s simply the best, better than all the rest.
Thank you Doug hope you read this ☀️
You see it all the time online: people hyping up how BULLETPROOF or BUILT LIKE A TANK or ROBUST their favorite "tool watch" is, then you look inside and it's the exact same movement as the brand's "dress watches". So usually the only functional difference in durability between a "tool" and "dress watch" is water resistance, with that difference in water resistance never mattering for the vast majority of people wearing the watches. Telling enthusiasts that fell for the marketing this feels like telling a kid santa or the tooth fairy isn't real.
Realistically anybody that actually *needs* a watch that is guaranteed to survive harsh conditions is buying a gshock, not multi-thousand dollar jewelry that cosplays as a "tool".
We get it, you’re different because you don’t like the most popular watch company in the world. Nobody cares. There doesn’t need to be 10 different posts on this sub a week about how you think Rolex is trash and __ company is better. Just buy the watch you like and move on. It’s seriously pathetic to go through different watch subs to explore options and people just can’t help but compare themselves to Rolex. You aren’t going to sway anyone away from Rolex by doing that. If I want a submariner, I’m going to get a fucking submariner and no matter how much you exclaim __ watch is better or better value will change my mind.
Sincerely, someone that doesn’t own a Rolex and probably will never own one.
Stop trying to turn the pocket watch into a wrist watch. Proportion all off, big and goofy looking. Owning a Ferrari toy car doesn't make you a Ferrari owner.
That’s it, that’s the opinion. I don’t even think it’s a hot take, but alas
You always see GS supporters going to Rolex sub singing songs about their brand
Funny enough you never see things the other way. We Rolex owners know our watches are better and there’s no need to tell you about it. You know it and you’re insecure about it
Paying €400,- for a plastic Swatch is just as crazy as paying multiple thousands for a steel watch from a luxury brand.
Hot take: the whole “nobody cares about your watch” post in threads about Rolex is nonsense.
People absolutely judge each other based on appearance. There’s decades of psychology research showing that people form impressions about status, competence, intelligence, success, etc within seconds based on visual cues like clothing, grooming, accessories and all that.
It’s true that most people don’t know watches. Nobody is spotting your Lange from across the room. But they DO know Rolex.
If you think people don’t notice the crown and associate it with money/status/success/clout chasing, you’re kidding yourself. That’s literally why Rolex became Rolex. They’re the greatest luxury marketing company ever. That’s also why millions of fake Rolexes get sold every year. People understand what the brand signals.
And honestly, a lot of the “nobody cares” stuff feels like rationalization from people who paid huge gray market premiums or spent years sucking up to an AD for a steel sports watch.
Because if you truly didn’t care what people thought, why not buy one of the countless brands making equally good or better watches that nobody recognizes?
You picked the one brand everybody knows.
It’s the same thing rep buyers say too: “I just like the design.” BS. You bought the one with the crown on it for a reason. Go buy a San Martin or Steinhart if thats really true.
And to be clear, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with caring about status. It’s normal human behavior. Luxury brands exist for a reason. People buy the newest iPhone, the cool car, the fancy handbags, the designer clothes, etc because humans care how they are perceived by other people. Thats just reality.
I guarantee almost every reply to this post is gonna be some version of “well I really don’t care what people think.” Ok maybe your Gandhi and you’ve transcended normal human psychology. But decades of published research says your probably in the minority.
Rolex makes fantastic watches. But pretending the social/status aspect plays zero role in the appeal is cope.
I know that most of you won't care, but I'll post this anyway because I think it's still interesting information.
As many of you already know, the Royal Pop Swatch x AP is a $150 Swatch SISTEM 51 movement with factory 3D printed AP Royal Oak casing.
An AP on the outside, with the cheapest Swatch swiss mechanical movement on the inside (as advertised when they first introduced this movement in Baselworld). A hermetically sealed movement made mostly of plastic, designed never to be serviced, only replaced if it breaks.
Basically, a Swatch that looks like a Royal Oak.
Back in 2008 and again in 2011, AP made a watch with Chanel, the J12 Calibre 3125.
The AP 3120, their Royal Oak movement, put inside a ceramic Chanel aesthetic.
Literally, and ironically, the polar opposite of the Royal Pop - a watch that looked like Chanel, but behaved like a Royal Oak.
In fact, Chanel wanted so badly for this AP to look like a Chanel, that for the exhibition display on the back, they took AP's classic 3120 22k yellow gold rotor and actually covered up the gold with black rhodium (and then chiseled it a bit) - to fit the Chanel aesthetic.
They almost wanted the AP to look Chanel more badly than the Swatch wanted the Swatch to look like an AP! After all, the limited edition AP collab watch is virtually indistinguishable with the Chanel 12 Caliber 12.1 available today.
I’ve been looking at Rolex for a while now and it just hit me, they’re kinda boring-looking. If it was a $500 watch you wouldn’t buy it.
If you step back from the hype of manufactured scarcity, just by looks alone, most Rolex watches are boring. The OP and Datejust are plain, they lack any pop or have too much pop. The GMTs all have black dials and people go nuts over a little color on the bezel. Look at all the other watches and what they’re doing compared to Rolex. I can hear you Rolex lovers already. Yes their movements are phenomenal, yes their bracelets are buttery smooth, but just looking at them, I can’t find one I’m just excited about.
If someone told you that you could have any Rolex and its value was zero and no one would notice your watch and you couldn’t resell it, basically take away monetary value and brand recognition, they’re boring watches. Amazing movement and excellent bracelet, but their dials and design lack creativity.
For me, when I look at my watch, I want a beautiful dial. I’m not a Rolex hater by any means, they’re fantastic watches! But the looks? It’d be nice to see more colorful or more interesting designs, maybe make a different colored Explorer I or a different colored Datejust. It can’t be just me, right?
Man, I’m gonna catch hell for this I just know it. Brace for impact!
Be gentle.
Would love to know if this is authentic? How can you tell?
If you're going to have screws on the bezel and faces of each bracelet link, at least do it right and make sure they're aligned. This isn't a lot to ask for a watch that starts above $5/7K depending on the model. This is an eyesore on the same level as the screws on the hublot big bang models, but for some reason the santos gets a pass. I don't understand why AP is seemingly the only company that can align bezel screws to have them not look like crap.
Edit: Some commenters have pointed out that the AP uses bolts rather than screws and that aligning screws is super duper hard to do. Still looks sloppy
Expensive, fragile, form over substance, inaccurate.
Mechanical movements aren't horology they are more related to jewelry, conspicuous consumption, veblen goods and marketing than the dedication to the measurement of time. Quartz and synced movements are where it is at.
They're the kind of watch that belongs to the kind of person who, if they ever got money, they'd go grab a mcmansion in a homogenous suburb with a giant glass foyer and park a white super duty next to porche cayenne or an escalade in front of the 2 car garage.
They would put pillars at the end of the driveway.
They'd get books by the foot to fill out a den because they don't actually read enough to know what goes on book shelves but want that image.
They'd get a dry bar in the basement and stock poor man's idea of expensive liquor for when they host their only visitor, their brother and get "whatever you'd recommend" from a cigar shop because they just want the image.
They'd get a golden doodle or whatever is currently trendy and make sure to mention it's AKC certified in every conversation.
The kind to take the family to Disney at peak season because "it's just what you do" then complain non stop that it's busy and there's too many people.
And if they ever did get that kind of money they'd sell the alpinist and get a green and gold speedmaster and 2 tone daytona and reference their AD as often as possible.
But thankfully for the world, they'll never actually get there because they have too much student loan debt and are woefully under employed.
