New Explorer 2 (216570)

[indycole]

As many say, I'm a long time reader and first time poster. I'm writing to share a brief story about my journey with Rolex, a new model I just picked up, and the somewhat surprising realization that I may end up wanting to spend much more on watches than I'd ever thought possible.

I was a bit of an industrious teenager and bought up my first Rolex at the age of 16. It's a 34mm Oyster Perpetual Date that I've worn as my daily wearer pretty much since then.



Over the past few years I've grown accustomed to wearing an Apple Watch and my Oyster Perpetual Date every now and then. My wife and I tend to do a lot of remote, backcountry, offroad travel and went through an experience where we were essentially stranded in the desert for long enough that our watches and phones ran out of battery and we were conserving fuel in our vehicle until help arrived so we just kept one phone charged. This sounds more dire than it actually was... we were well-prepared for this situation and were never in danger... just inconvenienced. I didn't take the Rolex on that trip but did from that point on. I also decided to search for a second watch specifically for this type of travel.

That was a little over a year ago and my research didn't necessarily start with Rolex but I've always felt a connection with the product and assumed that's where I'd end up.

One thing led to another and I decided on a Polar Explorer 2. I loved the legibility of the watch, it's low light performance, simple bezel, and GMT complication. I lucked out an a local AD (Escobar Diamonds in Campbell, CA => we had a wonderful experience... highly recommended) gave me the call just a couple weeks after I'd asked about it. I absolutely love the watch.



The only trouble (yes, trouble) is that there were several other watches that I grew to like during my search. A few versions of the Tudor Black Bay, the Omega Speedmaster Pro Moonwatch, Explorer, the Hulk, and the 43mm Sea-Dweller.

My wife's been pretty entertained by the watch shopping/buying experienced and expressed some interest in buying a classic timepiece to supplement her daily watch which is also an Apple Watch.

She, like me, immediately gravitated toward the tool watches. Initially, the debate was between the 36mm Explorer and Black Bay 58. She's the type where it's easy to tell whether she just likes something for what it is or has a connection to it. She liked those pieces well enough; while I think the Explorer is growing on her it's just not the one.

During a recent visit to an AD she moseyed to the Rolex case and spotted a Blue Submariner (she had no idea it was white gold or that it MSRPs at 4-6 times her budget). The funny thing is she asked if it came in green? The agent informed her that it does but that it's in high demand and hard to find. I laughed to myself in the moment thinking ahead to when I'd break the news to her later that they actually cost above the MSRP in the secondary market. Still, I could see her really enjoying that watch so maybe that's the one? Maybe she'd let me borrow it from time to time :)

We started to walk out and something caught her eye. She asked me if such-and-such watch would be too gaudy and asked to try it on anyway. Well, the good news is that we both knew from the moment she latched the clasp that it's the one... even if it couldn't be further away from what she was originally looking for. The bad news (budget-wise) is that it was a 40mm 18k Yellow Gold Day/Date, Fluted Bezel with a Champagne Stick Dial. She knew it'd be much more money than she wanted to pay but was still pretty shocked at the sticker... that said, I wouldn't be surprised if she talks herself into it over time. Or, maybe she'll warm up to the Explorer, lol.