(awkward) encounters with Rolex wearers

[mattmc1973]

Originally Posted by KeobNepo

There is this phenomenon almost each time I encounter a fellow Rolex wearer. The measure of the awkwardness that is caused depends on the duration of the encounter.
The most of us here notice another guy wearing a Rolex quite easily. Sometimes you have to look a little harder to determine the type/model of the watch. The thing is that for some reason you try to look without the other guy noticing it. The funny thing is that most of the time the other is doing exactly the same.

Especially during meetings, when the encounter is for a longer period of time, this becomes a 'thing'. You try to catch the other guy glance at your watch, while the other guy tries to catch you.
It's like you are winning if you catch the other guy looking at yours, and you lose when you are caught.

Also, when you establish the type/model of the other guy, there is this kind of silent competition going on about whose watch is more rare or expensive than the other's.

It's really exceptional, at least from my experience, that you just mention the watch and talk about it. It almost never happens.

I was just wondering if you guys have the same experience and if you deal with it differently.

Once I was in a meeting at work, and wearing my Omega. A guy sitting next to me at the conference room table kept glancing down at my watch the whole meeting. I hadn't met him before, he was from a different team. After the meeting he says "nice Aqua Terra". He was wearing an Explorer I, and we started chatting about watches. Ever since whenever I see him at work, or in the last year, via instant message, we chat about watches. He was just appreciating there was someone else in the room with an appreciation for automatic watches, and we've talked a lot about it since. So yeah, it's a thing.