Ever been embarrassed about the Rolex name?

[DiamondJack]

A friend of my wife's, who we had not seen for some time and who has been struggling a little financially, was staying over last weekend for a break and I happened to be in watch rotation mode so had a Cartier on in the morning to play golf, then changed to a Breitling for the afternoon/evening and on the Sunday morning was wearing my TT GMTIIc.

She hadn't really commented before but had clearly noticed the greater bling aspect of the TT GMT and said "Oh thats a nice watch, I prefer that to the others you were wearing yesterday. What is it? "

And I must admit this was the first time in my relatively short Rolex owning history that I have ever been a little embarrassed to actually say the word "Rolex". I knew (or at least thought) that the moment I said "Rolex", it would create some form of barrier or wealth issue, rightly or wrongly.

Had I been wearing one of my lesser known brands (at least to the general public) even though some are more expensive, I don't think I would have had the same thought process. I have only been buying Rolex since Jan 2011 .......But this was the first time that aspect of watch ownership had reared its head.

In the end I just said it was a GMT used for travelling and explained the independently moving hour hand etc and she said what a great looking watch it was .....BUT Rolex was not specifically mentioned. And clearly, I didn't say I had another batch of watches tucked away back at home

Now don't get me wrong, I am more than happy to strut around like a peacock and do enjoy some aspects of visible wealth but when answering a question from an old friend who was also having some financial difficulties, it suddenly made saying the name Rolex that much more difficult. Cartier, Breitling, Chopard, Blancpain, Omega no problem.... as they (to me) don't have that well known and publicly perceived "expensive" brand name attached to them.

Anyone else had this issue? ......Does Rolex come with a lot more social baggage????

It would also be nice to see some of your most visibly ostentatious Rolex too

And the watch that caused all of this.....