birthday year rolex - is this a "thing"

[sambb]

I apologize for this question, but trying to understand.

I've seen a lot of people who want to buy a watch from their birth year, or others that buy one for their kid for their birth year. I dont really understand - what is the significance of a random rolex that was assembled on a year one was born. Are people interested because they knew the workers or the person putting it together that year? Is there a personal connection to the company in the year of birth with rolex?

Thanks, i know there must be something to this, but i dont know what it is.

[springer]

There is absolutely no significance. This "birth year" phenomenon was created several years ago by dealers who were hyping birth year purchases to sell watches. As usually, the "sheep" followed.

[macrowatch]

Nah. I do believe in birth year wines though!

[EEpro]

Now, a birth year Testarossa... that would be a thing for sure.

[horseShu]

it's a thing among vintage collectors.
vintage Rolex, Omega or Seiko...

it's harmless fun. and it gives additional meaning to an otherwise ordinary vintage watch.

[Atone]

I dig it. Gets a lot of poo pooing

[vh2k]

Originally Posted by horseShu

it's a thing among vintage collectors.
vintage Rolex, Omega or Seiko...

it's harmless fun. and it gives additional meaning to an otherwise ordinary vintage watch.

Yep. It’s like...

In the year I was born, Nixon was President, gas was 36 cents a gallon, Bridge Over Troubled Water was a big hit, and this watch was made. 😜

[owl.]

It just connects the watch to you a little but more.

I don’t believe that it was created by watch dealers

Happens with cars and coins too


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[iTreelex]

There's absolutely nothing to it. People just like to be sentimental on material things like birth years and new borns and milestones, etc. I don't get it.

I prefer to just wear the watch I want and that's it.

[GGGMT]

It’s a thing of you want to play. Otherwise it is not a thing.


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[peterpl]

I've been looking for a 1985 mint GMT/Sub for ages. Very very hard to find one I am happy with and there is basically 0 chance of finding one NOS.

[bigrustypig]

It’s a useless hype thing once again.


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[sgwatchguy]

Dumb idea to me. But some like to play.

[jimcarver]

For some reason I started looking for a birth year watch, realised it just narrowed down the search and it was pointless.
I ended up buying a 36mm TT DJ that was 7 years "younger" than me, gave it to my wife in the end and told her it was her birth year (its not, she is 5 years younger) it made her happy enough. Kind of proves that its completely pointless but also some people like it.....hahaha well at least think they do.

[joli160]

Looking at my birth year watches and how these deteriorated makes me feel old.
No need to be reminded about that so I skip them

[soxfan39]

I was born in 1972 and when looking for a red sub 1680 it was fun to search for one with serial number made that year. Cool to wear a watch as old as you are.

[henrylee]

Originally Posted by springer

There is absolutely no significance. This "birth year" phenomenon was created several years ago by dealers who were hyping birth year purchases to sell watches. As usually, the "sheep" followed.

^this, well said

[jamesbondOO7]

I don’t think they were making Rolex back then

[alphadweller]

I don't see the point of a birth year watch, have zero interest.

[Onikage]

Originally Posted by springer

There is absolutely no significance. This "birth year" phenomenon was created several years ago by dealers who were hyping birth year purchases to sell watches. As usually, the "sheep" followed.

Well. I never knew that. I thought a birth year President would be cool. When I heard about this birth year item thing. Which I heard about on here.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by springer

There is absolutely no significance. This "birth year" phenomenon was created several years ago by dealers who were hyping birth year purchases to sell watches. As usually, the "sheep" followed.

Have to agree and almost impossible to get any Rolex watch made to the exact year when it was made, when sold yes, but when actually made doubtful.

[Pongster]

Yes it’s a thing. Personally am interested in a machine as old as i am. Be it car or watch.

[VonSomething]

I tried it, didn't connect with the watch. Sold it again 2 weeks later.

I get the idea if it's a watch your parents bought when you were born but buying a vintage watch that has been worn by someone else, for sentimental reasons?

[Ian Macdermott]

I am far too old for a birth year Rolex.

[VonSomething]

Originally Posted by Ian Macdermott

I am far too old for a birth year Rolex.

You never get too old, it only gets more expensive

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Ian Macdermott

I am far too old for a birth year Rolex.

Cannot understand why unless you are over a hundred plus years old as during the Rolex early period many different types of watches were made, and Rolex did not have complete control over their movement factory, they were only a minority shareholder. The full name of the company tells the story "Aegler, Société Anonyme,Horologies D Excellence Fabrique des Montres Rolex & Gruen Guild A.," this means, in translation, Aegler incorporated, manufacturer of Rolex & Gruen Guild A Watches. At this time ownership of the factory was split between three parties, Herman Aegler (movements), (Hans Wilsdorf of Rolex) and the Gruen brothers, Frederick Gruen and George Gruen.Now Aegler manufactured movements for both companies, who then sold the completed watches in their respective territories; Wilsdorf of Rolex, throughout Europe, Asia and the British Empire; whilst the Gruen brothers sold in the US only. This arrangement worked well until Rolex acquired the patent for the the Oyster case; now they had something new and special which they wished to sell all over the world, not just in their limited territory. However the three way partnership prohibited Rolex from selling their products with Aegler movement in the Gruen brothers' territory (and vice-versa). So Hans of Rolex being a very clever and shrewd man, took a sideways move and fitted their new Oyster cases with a movement from FHF (Fontmelon)factory just down the road from Gruen and then tried to find a US distributor. They came across the firm of Abercrombie and Fitch,this was then a store specialising in sportsman's' equipment; whether you wanted to go elephant shooting in Africa, fishing for salmon or trout in Scotland, Abercrombie and Fitch was the place you went for all your equipment. Everything from fishing rods to double barrelled shotguns could be found under their roof. As the sportsman's store they seemed the ideal place to sell the first oyster watches, which were already building a reputation as the sportsman's watch. It may have seemed the ideal place but it did not work out that way, firstly because Rolex sold the cheaper down-market version of their watches in a high end store, and also because Abercrombie & Fitch did not advertise the watch sufficiently. These Abercrombie & Fitch watches are probably the rarest of all the cushion oysters, in all my life I have only ever seen one; it was signed "Abercrombie and Fitch (Seafarer) on the dial and the case and movement were signed Oyster Watch Company.The case was quite badly pitted because then they were made from a base metal, a chromed zinc material that did not last very long,a bit like the relationship between Rolex and Abercrombie & Fitch.Now they went on to become the USA distributor for The Swiss Heuer watches, probably more of a sportsman's watch to speak of, being mainly chronograph watches.

After a couple of years in the desert Rolex decided to give the US market another try. This was after they had been approached by Zell Brothers, a jewellery store chain in the Pacific North West of the USA, headquartered in Seattle. Zell had seen the great success of Rolex in Canada, and in Vancouver in particular (Seattle and Vancouver are only about 150km apart). They asked to be made the exclusive importer for Rolex in the Pacific North West, and Rolex eager to get a US foot hold accepted their proposal. The strange thing is that, despite the Canadian success either Zell or Rolex decided not to use the famed "Oyster" name but substituted the name Turtle Timer, (IMHO undoubtedly Zell) Once again these were non-Aegler (non-Rolex) movements, so as not to disturb the three way relationship with Gruen. Zell were much more successful than Abercrombie/Fitch had been, but can hardly be described as having made a major market breakthrough. I have seen around 5 or 6 pictures of these watches and because they were made when Rolex was using real stainless steel the cases looked to have lasted much better than the A&F ones ever did. But Zells had two major problems as far as Rolex were concerned; firstly they were a regional not national chain and their insistence on using their own Turtle Timer name and not Oyster meant that Rolex would never reap the benefit of any of the new oyster case success.Now in these early days of Rolex only about 1 in 5 had the name Rolex on the Dial,the rest were blank dials when they left the factory.But after the arrival of the oyster case most of the oyster cased ones did have the name Rolex on the dial,but still only a few companies were still allowed,to put there names on the dial like Goldsmiths,Asprey, Bucherer plus a few more.Tiffany were the final store retailers name to ever to be seen on a Rolex dial, and now any genuine Tiffany named Rolex bring very high prices indeed.

Zell Rolex Turtle Timer.



Now most of these problems were solved when Rolex gained the right to enter the US market themselves when the Gruen brothers left the board of Aegler in mid 30s selling their shares to the two remaining parties; their place on the board of the company was taken by Emil Borer who really invented the oyster case,and who was Herman Aegler's brother in law, the technical director of Rolex, and much more significantly the man who supposedly invented the Perpetual movement for the company.Now this new movement was the first one from Aegler (Rolex), that was not made available to Gruen, and so gave Rolex a unique advantage when they were able to take advantage of their new found ability to enter the US market; which they did just as the US entered WW11, around 1942.

And now the only current company for whom Rolex will "co-brand" a watch is COMEX; an acronym made up of the letters from the company's full name COmpagnie Maritime d'EXpertise. COMEX as everyone now knows are the world's leaders in the provision of diving services to exploration companies all over the globe. It was in November 1967 that A. Zilbach, a Rolex technician who had worked in close collaboration with COMEX received the Swiss patent number 492,246 for a helium escape valve,shared with Doxa to rush it though. This was the result of experiments carried out with early 5513 Submariners which had been fitted with prototypes of this escape valve.These watches were used by COMEX divers for over 2 years without any problems and so the decision was made to produce a standard watch with this feature; it was, of course, the SD. The largest bulk purchaser of these watches was and is COMEX; every diver who works for the company is issued with one and to prevent the watches from being "misplaced" Rolex print the name of the company on the dial of every watch. COMEX themselves also engrave the rear of the watch with their name and a unique serial number. These watches now have become incredibly collectible because they are the ONLY Rolex watch still being produced with another name on the dial.It is somewhat ironic that after almost 90 years of some different retailers' names on some Rolex dials. The only one left is a company who do did not ever sell watches,and thats Comex.
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[brandrea]

I tried it, but it wasn’t for me.

[PizzaAndCheesecake]

I was born on 29th December so I wasn’t exactly around for much of my birth year

[Podmornica]

Never understood this as well. Purchasing a NOS with stamped DOB on the card/paper might have more sense if you are into all that.

Purchasing a beaten watch from just a DOB year with someones else dings and memories never sound like a cool idea.

[calatravato]

Significant for some, meaningless for others. Just like this hobby-some people may think paying $50k for a Perpetual Calendar is a bargain, others may think it’s a ripoff paying 5 figures for something an Apple Watch does for three figures. All in the eye of the beholder.