The Fork In The Road...Long

[Beaumont Miller II]

Clay's lucky and most fortunate purchase of his new 16600 and the interesting threads it has led to has got me thinking about this fork in the road that at some point many of us will come upon. For the most part we all share the same passion for vintage Rolex watches or we wouldn't on the same path to begin with. However there will be times when we will have to choose the path to the left or to the right.

Please allow me to illustrate:

You are searching for a birth year vintage Rolex watch from 1968. A purchase that you have been considering for a while and have set aside the allotted money throughout the year for the purchase. Finally you have nailed it down to two choices...the metaphorical fork in the road.

Choice Number 1: You talk to the gentleman on the phone off and on for a week getting to know him better because he isn't a dealer and you want to make sure you can trust him. During your conversations with him, he lets you know that he is very meticulous and careful with everything he purchases. He takes care of his watches just like his Mercedes Benz...he follows the all the routine scheduled maintenance on both. In fact, he took his watch to the Rolex AD for routine service every two years. He has every single invoice from the AD. He followed their every suggestion/request at every service...because after all they are the experts. He starts reading from the invoice and tells you that at different times the crown, hands, and bezel/insert have been replaced along with the bracelet because it was stretched out, and he likes everything to look new. The dial is original. Each time they sent it back to him he was so pleased because they polished it like new just like they day he bought it. He is firm on his price because after all according to him it looks "brand new" and is keeping perfect time. The watch comes with box and papers.

Choice Number 2: You talk to the gentleman on the phone off and on for a week to make sure you can trust him. During your conversations with him, he tells you that he bought the watch when he graduated from college as a present to himself. He tells you, I'm the kind of guy that never throws anything out...I save everything. He wore it every day for 20 years, and it kept good enough time for him...so he figured why get it serviced...its a Rolex they are made to run forever...right? One day he was on vacation and the bracelet broke. Rather than fix his broken watch, he decided to treat himself to another new one. When he got home he took the watch with the broken band and put it in an old sock in his drawer and forgot about it until recently when he found it. He says it winds ok but is keeping terrible time. He laughs as he tells you, man that old watch is dirty. He is firm on price because as he says, "I really don't need the money". The watch comes with box and papers.

The price for both watches is the same and is at the limit of your budget for the purchase.

It would be interesting to hear which one of these watches would be more appealing to some of you and why. For me I can tell you that this vintage Rolex passion is somewhat of a journey and I have come to this metaphoric fork many times, with the exception of the original owner part. The choice I made back then would not be the same as it would be now. A wise friend and counsel of mine told me that over time a collection kind of evolves and can grow in different directions...I suspect that he may have been talking about the different paths we choose.