My Submariner story

[Tri-National-Man]

Its Christmas 1977, I'm an 11 year old kid going window shopping on a freezing evening in Grenoble, France ('68 Winter Olympics held there and Killy took all the trophies and is a Rolex man too...But thats another story). I come across a luxury jewelers and it has the famous Rolex sign hanging outside. I go in and ask in my best french "un catalog Rolex s'il vous plait". I leave the shop warm and smiling clutching the latest rolex brochure. I think it may have been Roger Moore's Bond in Live and let Die that turned me on to a Rolex Submariner, I'm not sure. Fast Forward to November 21st 2008. It's a day before my marriage to my gorgeous lady. I'm picking up a brand spanking new Sub 16610 LV. It was a toss between it and the 16600 SD (my initials too). They have discontinued them and there are none available through "goldsmiths" the Rolex AD in Torquay, UK, so I opt for the LV. I also ordered a black bezel insert so that I can personalize it a little. The pics I've seen of this conversion just make me drool. Now the honest truth is that I have in my possession my long-time-dream-watch, but unable to actually wear the thing out because I bought it with the idea of keeping this amount of ££ safe from spending it on trivial stuff like bills. I'm not a big earner yet so really I can't afford to "have it". On one hand I've got my dream watch but on the other hand I'm faced with more important life choices coming up, for instance, being able to acquire some land here in south Devon. £3k+ would be handy as a down payment. I take the watch out of the box once a week or so, being careful not to damage the box, and put it on my wrist, but it still has all the case stickers on it so makes it feel slightly uncomfortable. The insert is waiting to be unwrapped and fitted to the bezel. I kinda hope I get a good job coming up (i'm a freelance DV cameraman) so that I can truly have full ownership and wearability of my dream watch.