The Watch Appreciation Thread - Part two (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger LeCoultre,

[TheFoo]

FWIW with a few months to mull the Moonswatch I think it was a masterstroke of branding from the group. Looking at who I see wearing speedies they are 100% above the age of 30 and 90% above the age of 40. Go figure why - maybe in Asia people don't identify with NASA so much, maybe Rolex won the marketing battle, whatever. But Rolex is vastly more demographically diverse. However look at the demographic fighting for their allocation in our local malls:

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(source)

Speedie is cool again (in my little microcosm). Maybe. At least, it shows the potential for it.

Combined, what those observations tell me isn’t that younger people aren’t interested in Omega and the Moonwatch, but that they are less likely able to afford them. As great a value as a Moonwatch is at $6K retail, it’s still a very expensive indulgence for most people and particularly those under 30.

If young people didn’t already find the Moonwatch appealing, I really doubt a collaboration with Swatch would suddenly make it cool.

 

[mebiuspower]

Long video but worth a watch. Good lesson for all of us...

 

[TheFoo]

Long video but worth a watch. Good lesson for all of us...

What are the takeaways/ key points?

 

[Scuppers]

Long video but worth a watch. Good lesson for all of us...

Eh, is it?

 

[ctp120]

Texas State Fair breakfast of champions: Fletcher’s corn dog and Pepsi.

 

[TheFoo]

Long video but worth a watch. Good lesson for all of us...

This guys is super long winder. Jeezus.

You know he f*cked himself when he tells us “and then my friend Alfredo told me he knows a guy in Italy who can get me a good deal…”

 

[Omega Male]

Average Rolex market price over the past year. (Top 30 references by sales.)

 

[Scuppers]

i’d never advocate gator/croc boot arrests… ever.

 

[Pandaros]

I'm a newbie and I'm not afraid to put myself out there on this forum and gain from all of your experience (both for fashion and general life), so I hope you don't shoot me down on for trying to arrange my thoughts on what - for me - is a big decision.

To follow up on a previous post, I went into an AD today to have a look at the Rolexes. What I really wasn't prepared for was how difficult that would be. I explained I had a budget up to 10k when asked - I'm pretty young, so the guy seemed visibly surprised. And the dealer took me round to look at other brands and any time I mentioned Rolex, he'd say I can get a colleague to show you and would divert the conversation to another watch. I think they were trying to sell me a watch that doesn't have a waiting list - he didn't show me Patek Philippe, Cartier, etc. (assuming they have waiting lists). At one point, he even told me that they don't sell Rolexes to everyone - and then he started talking about people flipping the watches on the secondary market, and that's not fair on their customers (not directed at me but maybe suspicious of me?)

Finally, after looking at and admiring a Tudor (that I may in fact prefer), I said I do want to see the Rolexes so I can make an informed decision - I practically had to force him. He called over what I guess was a senior manager and the whole atmosphere changed. It was taken from a window display case rather than in the Rolex room I walked past; the junior salesman stood to my left, casually but still carefully positioned between me and the door as I tried it on.

And this is the premier watch dealers in my city - the director from work shops there. It was a good experience in the sense that I got to try a lot of watches of different styles, and the Tudor watch was beautiful and I'm quite dazzled by it. I wasn't put under any pressure to buy. But it wasn't a positive experience, because I don't think they wanted to sell a Rolex to me. They wanted to sell me a Grand Seiko, an Omega, a Tudor, a Longines.

Is this normal? Should you have to basically force them to let you try on a Rolex? Were they trying to take advantage of me to sell me a watch they have in stock? They also told me an Oyster Perpetual has a 2 year waiting list but the DateJust is 6-8 months.

 

[TheFoo]

Long video but worth a watch. Good lesson for all of us...

Okay, that definitely didn’t require a 30 minute video.

• Guy in UK bought a Lange watch remotely from an Italian AD
• Guy brought watch to third-party appraiser in London to evaluate for insurance purposes
• Watch stopped working within first year
• Guy brought watch to Wempe in London to inspect
• Wempe sent watch to Lange HQ in Germany
• Lange HQ refused to cover repair under warranty, claiming watch had been previously tampered with
• Guy tries to chase down which intermediate party is at fault (Italian AD, Wempe in London, appraiser, Lange itself, etc.), but no one accepts responsibility
• Fortunately, guy has photos taken immediately prior to giving broken watch to Wempe showing that it hadn’t yet been tampered with when compared to photos taken by Lange HQ itself
• Wempe (the most obvious culprit in my view) refused to take responsibility but, as a courtesy, agreed to pay the repair bill

 

[Neville Southall]

Okay, that definitely didn’t require a 30 minute video.

• Guy in UK bought a Lange watch remotely from an Italian AD
• Guy brought watch to third-party appraiser in London to evaluate for insurance purposes
• Watch stopped working within first year
• Guy brought watch to Wempe in London to inspect
• Wempe sent watch to Lange HQ in Germany
• Lange HQ refused to cover repair under warranty, claiming watch had been previously tampered with
• Guy tries to chase down which intermediate party is at fault (Italian AD, Wempe in London, appraiser, Lange itself, etc.), but no one accepts responsibility
• But guy has photos taken immediately prior to giving broken watch to Wempe showing that it hadn’t yet been tampered with when compared to photos taken by Lange HQ itself
• Wempe (the most obvious culprit in my view) refused to take responsibility but, as a courtesy, agreed to pay the repair bill

All I read was “don’t buy Lange.”

 

[mebiuspower]

I'm a newbie and I'm not afraid to put myself out there on this forum and gain from all of your experience (both for fashion and general life), so I hope you don't shoot me down on for trying to arrange my thoughts on what - for me - is a big decision.

To follow up on a previous post, I went into an AD today to have a look at the Rolexes. What I really wasn't prepared for was how difficult that would be. I explained I had a budget up to 10k when asked - I'm pretty young, so the guy seemed visibly surprised. And the dealer took me round to look at other brands and any time I mentioned Rolex, he'd say I can get a colleague to show you and would divert the conversation to another watch. I think they were trying to sell me a watch that doesn't have a waiting list - he didn't show me Patek Philippe, Cartier, etc. (assuming they have waiting lists). At one point, he even told me that they don't sell Rolexes to everyone - and then he started talking about people flipping the watches on the secondary market, and that's not fair on their customers (not directed at me but maybe suspicious of me?)

Finally, after looking at and admiring a Tudor (that I may in fact prefer), I said I do want to see the Rolexes so I can make an informed decision - I practically had to force him. He called over what I guess was a senior manager and the whole atmosphere changed. It was taken from a window display case rather than in the Rolex room I walked past; the junior salesman stood to my left, casually but still carefully positioned between me and the door as I tried it on.

And this is the premier watch dealers in my city - the director from work shops there. It was a good experience in the sense that I got to try a lot of watches of different styles, and the Tudor watch was beautiful and I'm quite dazzled by it. I wasn't put under any pressure to buy. But it wasn't a positive experience, because I don't think they wanted to sell a Rolex to me. They wanted to sell me a Grand Seiko, an Omega, a Tudor, a Longines.

Is this normal? Should you have to basically force them to let you try on a Rolex? Were they trying to take advantage of me to sell me a watch they have in stock? They also told me an Oyster Perpetual has a 2 year waiting list but the DateJust is 6-8 months.

You have to look at it from the perspective of the AD. As a business, do they want to add another name to their loooong waiting list when they can probably tell you're a newbie and steer you to something that they have in stock? Sorry to say, but they probably get a lot of phone calls and random walk-ins for Rolex...

 

[Scuppers]

All I read was “don’t buy Lange.”

SNAP

 

[TheFoo]

All I read was “don’t buy Lange.”

Not a great showing by them, no. Essentially, they saw the gasket was loose, and then claimed the watch was “tampered” with, to the point where they disavowed any responsibility for its mechanical failure. Irrespective of whether Wempe opened the watch, it sounds an awful lot like Lange looking to get out of covering the watch.

 

[Pandaros]

You have to look at it from the perspective of the AD. As a business, do they want to add another name to their loooong waiting list when they can probably tell you're a newbie and steer you to something that they have in stock? Sorry to say, but they probably get a lot of phone calls and random walk-ins for Rolex...

How do you even start then?

Do you need to just tell them "This is what I want and I've made my mind up; let me figure out the model and size and put me on the list" -- or else they'll just seize on any hesitation as an opportunity to steer you to another brand? Or do they have to want to put you on the waiting list?

I'm half-thinking about buying the Tudor watch and then getting them to put me on the wait list for a Rolex - because I kind of want both... I didn't expect to leave feeling that way. And can you be smart: can you say, "Look, this Tudor watch is in stock everywhere. I like it and I'm going to buy it. But I also want a Rolex. I'll buy the Tudor from you, but I want to be moved up in the wait list to no more than a year?"