My Last Year Trying

[Atlas]

Hello Dear Rolex Community,

Welp, here I am 12 years after first joining this group and it looks like I'm about to end my love affair with this brand.

I was in college when I first joined the group. I slowly learned everything there is to know about the brand while counting down the days to when I'd finally be able to put the money together and buy one after graduation.

I literally spent hours looking at all your wrist check photos and carefully staged beauty shots of all your timepieces. I would wait to see what photos Jocke would come back with every year from Baselworld. I've even been here to watch members grow older, wiser and some even move on from this life (RIP JJ). It's truly been a joy and a pleasure being a member of this forum.

Shortly after college, the difficulty in making such a pivotal purchase grew from a financial challenge into a mental one. In just a matter of a few years the process of purchasing a Sub went from finding one at an AD with relative ease to a gambit of pinning customer against customer and the most tragic part is that the game is completely manufactured. I've heard so many stories of people buying several pieces from their AD only to still be on a perpetual waitlist - it breaks my heart and brain. We all know the only bottlenecking of the supply is coming from the dealers and in doing so they've created a grey market that, out of principal, I don't want to take part of.

I know some of you will see this as me whining and it very well could be just that. A Rolex isn't something I NEED to have, but it felt like a rite (thanks Old Expat Beast) of passage for me. Unfortunately, I doesn't seem like I have that right to pass even though I have the money to pay (MSRP not grey)

In essence, this is it for me - my last year of trying. I remember commenting on a ceramic kermit mockup posted in this forum almost 10 years ago thinking, "that's the perfect watch - that's my first Rolex", and now here we are!! 12 years in the making and its here - the Cermit.

I will do everything in my power to get one AT RETAIL!! I will call every dealer on the planet (yes, even all the way in Dubai) and if I find one, I will use all of my travel points to fly to wherever I have to and make it mine, but in the case I don't - it's been a true pleasure reading your posts and looking at your wrists, that sounded weird, but you get it.

In essence, if the hour hand never touches the coronet then I'm simply not a member - just a spectator.

A :)