Rolex

One day I’ll get a Rolex but for now my Tissot Gentleman serves me well. IMG_8507.jpeg
 
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Nauga,
getting fuzzy
 
Jim K said:
I think you're on the wrong forum...you're looking for www.beechtalk.com :rofl:

We have a watch thread around here somewhere. I'd love to have a Rolex, but every time my airplane finds out I have a little bit of money it breaks. I did buy a gray market Oris a few years ago, but these days I'm shopping Seiko and Timex and can't even afford those.
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Your airplane is that patient?
 
RalphInCA said:
Was it one that you got on the streets of New York City?

I have always wanted to buy one off one of those street vendors.

Just for fun.
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There was a stand outside Ephesis Turkey that had a big display of "Real Fake Luxury Watches". Lots of Rolex, Tag, Breitling, and other knock-offs. A friend went to the market in Shanghai and was looking at fake Rolexes. Told the proprietor he wanted a nicer fake rolex. He was taken through a back hallway to a mafiaesque booth where they had "fake Rolexes". He bought a nice one. When he took it to have it worked on a couple of years later, he determined it wasn't fake at all. It was real. With a filed off serial number.
 
Wife bought me a Rolex GMT when I graduated from the Stanford GSB back in 1978. I told her that was too expensive so we exchanged it for an Omega Speedmaster Moon Watch. Worn it almost every day since except on trips where I might be in sketchy territory.

Wonder what the Moon Sightseeing Tourists now in orbit are wearing this trip?
 
I bought one of my sons a fake Rolex from a street vendor in NYC. It was just over the border between Little Italy and Chinatown. It was a pretty nice fake, really; no misspelled "Rolex" or obvious tells. Of course they had to use the see-through back on the Submariner so you could see the self-winding movement, and the edges were just a little too sharp for it to be a real Rolex... but overall it was really quite nice and kept time well. They were asking $40 for it, I thikn I ended up paying $25. That was in... probably 2007, I think. Maybe a little earlier. I wish I'd bought a couple more, really.
 
RalphInCA said:
Was it one that you got on the streets of New York City?

I have always wanted to buy one off one of those street vendors.

Just for fun.
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I bought a couple that way. To me a $15* fake Rolex is a better story than a real one. For my idiom, anyway.

*mid 1990's dollars.

ETA: Saw @DaleB 's post - Got mine in Chinatown.

Nauga,
worth every penny
 
My daily wear is ‘53 Elgin with a 14k gold case my father received as a graduation gift. The mineral glass crystal got broken the other night so I took it to the jewelry store to replace it with a sapphire crystal but they sent it out to have it done. I’m crossing my fingers it comes back with the radium time markers intact. I didn’t realize how often I used it until I didn’t have it, pulling my phone out to check the time. I can’t wait to get it back. I considered getting a new watch while I wait, but all the modern ones are obnoxiously big in my opinion and don’t feel correct.
 
DaleB said:
I bought one of my sons a fake Rolex from a street vendor in NYC. It was just over the border between Little Italy and Chinatown. It was a pretty nice fake, really; no misspelled "Rolex" or obvious tells. Of course they had to use the see-through back on the Submariner so you could see the self-winding movement, and the edges were just a little too sharp for it to be a real Rolex... but overall it was really quite nice and kept time well. They were asking $40 for it, I thikn I ended up paying $25. That was in... probably 2007, I think. Maybe a little earlier. I wish I'd bought a couple more, really.
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I have one of those turds. It's all covered in deep scratches and weld spatter because I wear it in the shop instead of exposing a Seiko or Casio to the abuse. :lol:
 
Got this as a kid, no idea just when or where.
 

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I've got two nice watches, Omega (date night with the wife) and Longines (for work), and a daily beater, Formex.
I'm one of those addicts with a timegrapher on my workbench.
Being prone to hitting doorknobs, I've never been tempted to buy a really expensive watch.
I also don't understand the dive watch market. Seems unlikely that a real diver would take an expensive watch along. Any Rolex-wearing divers out there?
 
737steve said:
I also don't understand the dive watch market. Seems unlikely that a real diver would take an expensive watch along. Any Rolex-wearing divers out there?
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I'll take a stab at that last one... Back before cell phones, people actually used to have to wear watches to know what time it was. And, marketing people being marketing people, a "waterproof" watch in 1980 meant that if you were wearing the watch inside the house, while it was raining outside the house, the watch would stay dry. But if you wore it in the rain? It would get wet inside. So in order to get some basic modicum of water resistance, you had to buy a "dive watch". Because marketing people lie more than a spy under duress or a drunk teenager caught by their parents.
 
There was actually a time when divers wore dive watches. All of us. If diving recreationally, you needed to know if you were staying within the no-decompression limits, and if doing dives a bit more sporting, you needed to time your decompression stops. There were no Rolex wearers in my circle, but the Bulova dive watch was pretty popular. I'm sure I went through at least two of them.

The advent of the dive computer brought a rapid end to the era of dive watches on actual divers. Having time and depth and deco calculations and water temp and a bunch of other things displayed on a single unit that turned on automatically on descent was just too convenient. No more getting part way through a dive and realizing you had forgotten to set the rotating bezel on your watch when you first submerged, and so had no idea of your dive time and deco obligation.
 
Very interesting. I've only used scuba gear once in a lake under the monitoring of an instructor. Decompression concerns were minimal. I stayed in water I could stand up in!
The sense of freedom and relaxation were amazing. I completely understand the attraction to the sport.
A few years ago my wife and I stayed in the Knightsbridge area of London for a week. There was a Rolex dealer right around the corner. As with all the high-end watch shops, there was a menacing presence at the door to judge your worthiness of entry. I didn't take the test.
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I know a guy who traded his Rolex for an engagement ring. Not sure what happened to the ring when they broke up.
 
I bought a Foolex from a buddy on a trip to Lebanon back when Beirut could be sporting. On the flight out, I was bragging about how real it looked. When we got up to altitude, the crystal popped off and shot up in the air 2 feet.

I always wanted a submariner, but TBH electric watches are superior tech. I like Luminox.

Lately I've been doing a lot of of hiking, and have discovered the merits of an altimeter GPS watch. Unfortunately it exposes me to yet more ways for Garmin to extort subscription fees, but so far I have found workarounds.
 
My late first wife gave me a Rolex to commemorate my first solo on 7/11/81. We were poor back then, but she worked for a jeweler and got a great deal. Used it as my daily wear and dive watch for many years, but for the last 25 or so just wear it on special occasions. Still keeps time to within a couple of seconds per day.

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GaryM said:
There was actually a time when divers wore dive watches. All of us. If diving recreationally, you needed to know if you were staying within the no-decompression limits, and if doing dives a bit more sporting, you needed to time your decompression stops. There were no Rolex wearers in my circle, but the Bulova dive watch was pretty popular. I'm sure I went through at least two of them.
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I always used a digital dive watch, most recently a G-Shock, but one of my old dive buddies used his Rolex. It seemed much too risky to me. It's necessary to remove a watch to pull a wetsuit on and off, and that takes a chance on a scuba tank falling on it, the watch going overboard, etc. There's also a risk of the latch popping open and the watch coming off during a dive.

I knew several folks who dove with a Seiko automatic, and they replaced the metal bracelet with a velcro band (much safer). Casio has made an excellent dive watch for many years ( https://www.casio.com/us/watches/casio/product.MDV-106-1AV/ ) that's a real bargain at $85, if you're looking for an analog watch.

GaryM said:
The advent of the dive computer brought a rapid end to the era of dive watches on actual divers.
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Well, sorta. I have a dive computer that I use, but I'll often back it up with a watch and carry a dive table with me, especially on a deco dive. For a typical OW non-decompression dive, I'll do a safety stop at 15' regardless, and if the computer craps out I'm still pretty safe, but on a planned deco, like a cave dive wearing double 100s, I'm not going to chance a blown deco schedule. If the computer dies, I'll fall back to tables and watch and do a worst-case decompression.
 
I have a Daytona that I haven’t looked at in ages, dont even know if it will still run. My EcoDrive titanium is jist fine for everyday and was a good value.
 
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