My First...

[DKRanger22]

So I can't begin to explain how difficult it is to hang around this forum for 3+ years without actually buying a Rolex. Talk about an exercise in patience and restraint

Like many of us, my passion for watches began at a young age. My first actual watch was a gold-plated Mickey Mouse watch purchased for me by my parents on a trip to Disney World. As I grew older, my collection included a handful of other quartz watches and G-Shocks - typical of any young teenage boy's collection. As I began to learn more about watches, I yearned to have something "better", but quickly learned how expensive this hobby could become. My focus began to shift away from watches to other things - namely cars and girls - as is the case for most 15 year old boys. If only I could go back in time and tell myself what a bargain watches are compared to women and cars... . At this point, I stop wearing watches and take on other interests.

Fast forward a decade, and I meet a pretty gal who soon became my girlfriend. As a couple, our weekends usually included a trip to the local shopping mall where I would pass the time looking at watches in the department stores while my girlfriend tried on clothes. She quietly took notice of the watches that I was drawn to - usually anything with a blue face. Later that year at Christmas time, she surprised me with a blue dial quartz Seiko that I had admired a few months prior. As soon as I strapped it onto my wrist, my passion for watches was instantly reborn. I would spend countless hours researching various brands on the internet. Inevitably, my search would always somehow end up back at Rolex.com.

A few years later, I proposed to my watch-enabling girlfriend. On our wedding day, as I was waiting for the service to begin behind the altar in the sacristy, her brother sat down next to me and passed along a present from my bride-to-be. I opened the box and found an Invicta Sub clone. She wanted so badly to buy me a Rolex for our wedding day, but with the cost of the wedding, finances didn't allow it at the time. I was truly amazed at the thoughtfulness behind her kind gesture.

Now as a happily married couple, we still find ourselves enjoying the occasional weekend shopping excursions to the same mall that we frequented seven years ago when we first began to date. As I'm looking at the same watch cases in the same department stores, my wife says to me, "Why don't you just get your Rolex?". With the green light now in-hand, I begin to narrow down my selection.

Ideally, I really want two watches; a robust sport model as well as a more casual/dressy piece to round things out. For now, I just need to pick one. I had my sights set on either a blue dial Yachtmaster, a TT Sub or a blue Black Bay for the sport watch, and either a DJII or Skyfall Aqua Terra for the dressy piece ( I know, 5 watches is really narrowing things down, right?) I figured that I would wait for Basel to see if anything new would catch my attention before making a decision. Then, I laid eyes on the new, blue Tudor Pelagos which changed everything. I became instantly smitten and had to have one. With the watch not being released until July and in reality, not being readily available for months thereafter, I decided that the Pelagos would be my sporty, tool watch purchased later in the year and I shifted focus to obtain the casual/dressy piece now.

I reached out to the usual suspects of TRF trusted sellers. I also posted a WTB thread, which is how I came in contact with BriBoxer (aka Brian). Brian made me an offer that I couldn't refuse, and after coming to terms, I initiated a wire transfer around 5:00 PM Thursday afternoon. Much to my surprise, Brian arranged to have the watch shipped next-day delivery from California, and it was in my possession a short 16 hours later by 9:30 am Friday morning. Brian's service was incredible, and he is truly a class-act. I look forward to working with him again for the next one. Ok - enough chit-chat. Time for some pictures

I can't sneak anything past these two clowns...






Little bugger kept making off with the tags...







This has been a long but worthwhile journey, and I wouldn't have gotten here without the love and support of my beautiful wife, to whom I owe many thanks. Thank you also to Brian for you help with such a smooth transaction. And lastly, thanks to everyone here on TRF for making this such a great place to share this wonderful hobby. Cheers everyone - enjoy this beautiful weekend