rkny The evolution of Rolex’s... 12 December 2021, 05:58 PM
StillTrying Great abstract! Thanks for... 12 December 2021, 06:09 PM
George58 nice write up:thumbsup: 12 December 2021, 07:39 PM
Little machines I enjoyed the read ! Thank... 12 December 2021, 08:17 PM
Moondoggy Nicely done. Oh I remember... 12 December 2021, 08:30 PM
Zyfon Great insights. I still... 12 December 2021, 08:53 PM
Slow Lane The older I get (57 now) the... 13 December 2021, 01:11 AM
SaintMickey Correct. 13 December 2021, 01:14 AM
JayHantz Really enjoyed reading that,... 13 December 2021, 01:15 AM
SeaDuba I enjoyed reading your... 13 December 2021, 01:42 AM
inadeje Well written and perfectly... 13 December 2021, 02:05 AM
rkny Thanks.
It’s like people... 13 December 2021, 06:48 AM
BLNR Nairobi Enchanting read. Thank you. 14 December 2021, 12:15 PM
Moondoggy Magnificent 14 December 2021, 04:09 PM
Dirt Agreed.
There was a period... 13 December 2021, 06:57 AM
Joearch OP, nicely crafted post. Thx... 13 December 2021, 02:19 AM
nachopc Thank you for the post,... 13 December 2021, 02:52 AM
HorologicallyHappy Excellent personal synopsis... 13 December 2021, 04:42 AM
climblaw25 Well put!!
Sent from my... 13 December 2021, 08:13 AM
cjhurni Very good perspective for all... 13 December 2021, 10:12 AM
jlovda One part of your story about... 13 December 2021, 11:20 AM
rkny Love this story. 13 December 2021, 11:34 AM
arcampado Awesome post, thanks for... 13 December 2021, 11:56 AM
hambone1983 The Bulova facility in... 15 December 2021, 03:12 PM
subtona Thanks for sharing. You... 13 December 2021, 11:52 AM
rolex_DateJust I enjoyed this read, OP.... 13 December 2021, 11:56 AM
Pw92676 Valuable perspective. Thanks... 13 December 2021, 12:20 PM
kieselguhr Thanks for the good read... 13 December 2021, 01:03 PM
subprimero Thanks for the post! 13 December 2021, 03:15 PM
tpool Enjoyed this thread
... 13 December 2021, 03:45 PM
TimepieceRPP Great info and awesome post. 13 December 2021, 03:54 PM
B2 Stealth Very enjoyable read! Thx for... 14 December 2021, 03:57 AM
WBaileyii Interesting read. Thanks for... 14 December 2021, 04:23 AM
macrowatch Love the insight and writing... 14 December 2021, 04:29 AM
Oystersteel92 Born in the mid-70's and 80's... 14 December 2021, 02:33 PM
VegasBaby I would have to say that the... 14 December 2021, 04:35 AM
Moondoggy True 14 December 2021, 02:28 PM
dwelling seas thank you for the write up
... 14 December 2021, 05:24 AM
Greglaw Very accurate assessment. ... 14 December 2021, 12:37 PM
Chiboy Great post and nice thread! ... 14 December 2021, 01:14 PM
Tangier11 Thanks for posting. I agree!! 15 December 2021, 10:53 AM
Cauhauna Great post. Very curious to... 15 December 2021, 02:47 PM
indianmachine great insights and very well... 15 December 2021, 02:50 PM
RolexSimon I wonder what will be written... 15 December 2021, 02:53 PM
shaunylw The evolution of Rolex’s... 15 December 2021, 05:09 PM
rkny A great read for those... 15 December 2021, 07:40 PM
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12 December 2021, 05:58 PM | #1 |
"TRF" Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: NYC at heart
Posts: 250
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The evolution of Rolex’s idolatry.
As I peruse this board and other boards/sites, it’s fascinating to me to see what Rolex has become.
As a kid in the 1970s, I grew up pouring over magazines, instead of reading the web. Their pages were rife with Rolex ads, selling not just a watch, but the idea of a jetting setting, mountain climbing, scuba diving lifestyle. I paid attention! (Side note. My first “Rolex” was a fake gold Datejust, purchased for $35 during an 11th grade school field trip to NYC. I was so dumb and naive that I briefly wondered if it was real and perhaps stolen. It turned my wrist green.) In the ‘80s I moved to New York and got into the watch dealer/collector scene. Back then, everything was about vintage American watches. Hamilton was king. Elgin, Illinois, Waltham. If you had a Howard pocket watch, you were a true playa. There was a brief Rolex Bubbleback bubble from around 1990-95 as I recall. This went on into the mid ‘90s, until people started noticing that the Italians and Japanese were curiously and furiously, buying up all the vintage sport Rolex. Giorgio Armani insisted that every one of his runway models wear a steel Rolex down the catwalk. Suddenly, vintage sport Rolex was a hot commodity. Bolstering the interest was this new internet thing, with easily sharable photos and lore, of icons like Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Jacques Cousteau and Sean Connery, all sporting steel sport Rolexes, in front of, and behind the camera. Between the magazine ads we’d been programmed with as kids, FOMO from Italy and Japan, and the lanes forming on the information superhighway, the fever for vintage sport Rolex in America, and online globally, was born. There are no doubt more granular moments and key players than I’m privy to, and those with infinitely more knowledge as to the ingredients that helped cook up the post-millennium sport Rolex feeding frenzy. But as a casual observer, in the early oughts, I started noticing a shift, not only in which watches people were buying, but who was buying them, and why. When I first started collecting/buying/selling, a jewel encrusted gold anything watch took a major back seat to the steel staples; the Sub/SD, the 1655 Explorer, the Milgauss, and the 1016 Explorer. All the Daytonas were already overseas. No one cared about Presidents beyond their pennyweight. A bombe Datejust? That was so 1997! An Oyster Perpetual? Aww, how adorable, your first Rolex! And certainly no one could care less about your new sapphire crystal Rolex, purchased at list. Authorized dealers were lousy with them. Gray market dealers gladly sold them for 10% off list. Posting every detail of the purchase of your brand new 14060? Unheard of. I distinctly remember a watch show in the World Trade Center in 2000. There was a buzz on the floor because one dealer had a new old stock 1655 Explorer II, box and papers. The other dealers were all laughing because this guy wanted $6000 for it. Now of course, everything’s changed. A 1680 Sub that traded at $1800 in 2000 is now $18000, easily surpassing inflation. The pool of people who can afford to play the vintage game grows smaller each year. So they turn to modern Rolex. And they’re younger than their collector ancestors. And comparatively wealthier. Now the hunt isn’t as much about that perfect single red Sea Dweller, the hunt is for that elusive friendly AD who happens to have a blingy gold Sky Dweller if you call back in the next 15 minutes. The icons and lifestyle promises of early Rolex marketing have given birth to a metaverse, whereby the watch itself, and the buying experience, are the icons and lifestyle promises, respectively. People have gone from buying a Rolex because a cool guy wore one in a movie, to buying one because they can. /random thoughts |
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