The Watch Appreciation Thread (Reviews and Photos of Men's Timepieces by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Brei

[in stitches]



They do have some pretty interesting dial combo's for the White Gold version, but overall I've been pretty happy with my SS version.

it always has piqued my interest how popular, ans thus, hard to come by, the SS version is. some of the strap and dial combos for the WG version are truly magnificent. but there is some hold that the SS version has over people. i wonder if its just the opportunity to have the daytona at a fraction of the price. the 12k market is much larger than the 40k market. or maybe there is something else.

 

[Hampton]

 

[NonServiam]



it always has piqued my interest how popular, ans thus, hard to come by, the SS version is. some of the strap and dial combos for the WG version are truly magnificent. but there is some hold that the SS version has over people. i wonder if its just the opportunity to have the daytona at a fraction of the price. the 12k market is much larger than the 40k market. or maybe there is something else.

For the price of a WG Daytona, there are a whole lot of watches I find infinitely more interesting. The current steel Daytona is one of my favourites, and I got one while the hype was still strong. I find the white dial somewhat boring at times, though. The Zenith white dial was nicer, with the black outlined subdials instead of the current silver ones.

So I found a sympathetic AD who ordered the fabulous "racing dial" for the WG model, and installed it in my SS Daytona. Best of both worlds

(Sorry, not US based, and I am not able to procure a similiar dial or contact with my AD. For obvious reasons.)

 

[Singular]

More plexi Rolex lovin'...

 

[in stitches]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

you kopped???

For the price of a WG Daytona, there are a whole lot of watches I find infinitely more interesting. The current steel Daytona is one of my favourites, and I got one while the hype was still strong. I find the white dial somewhat boring at times, though. The Zenith white dial was nicer, with the black outlined subdials instead of the current silver ones.
So I found a sympathetic AD who ordered the fabulous "racing dial" for the WG model, and installed it in my SS Daytona. Best of both worlds
(Sorry, not US based, and I am not able to procure a similiar dial or contact with my AD. For obvious reasons.)

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

excellent modification. and yes, for 40k, i think there are many models id go with, before a WG daytona.

More plexi Rolex lovin'...

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

[Dino944]

uote:

That is the nicest Daytona I've seen. Meteorite dial?

i hear that, and its all true afaik, interestingly enough though, per oz, gold is presently more valuable than plat. OTT, the metal in the plat watch is 95% plat, whereas 18k, the actual gold in the metal is 75% gold.
im not sure. i would guess 25K if we can get it, retail is about 40K. but ill gladly take offers. serious offers feel free to PM.

Yes its interesting that gold is currently more valuable than platinum. But it would never influence me to buy WG over platinum. Gold prices are at a record, but they could drop back down to normal levels again. At one point in the late 70s early 80s gold was about $800 per oz. Then it fell and for nearly 2 decades it was in the high 300 to low 400 range.

My double red SD

Love the DR Sea-Dweller! Great watch!

it always has piqued my interest how popular, ans thus, hard to come by, the SS version is. some of the strap and dial combos for the WG version are truly magnificent. but there is some hold that the SS version has over people. i wonder if its just the opportunity to have the daytona at a fraction of the price. the 12k market is much larger than the 40k market. or maybe there is something else.

For years the Daytona was the most complicated watch one could buy from Rolex. Also, for the first roughly 25 years Daytonas were made (early 60s to late 80s) they were only available in either all steel or all gold (and the price difference was significant). When I bought my 1st steel Daytona it was $4,350 while an all gold one was around $18,000. So needless to say there were far more people that could afford all steel vs. all gold. Also it was a very undervalued watch for $4,350 (BP, Breguet, and AP RO chronos of the time cost 2-3x as much as the Daytona. So there were lots of speculators flipping them the same day for a profit. Year ago there were far fewer dial choices than there are today. Now at $12K there is no room for speculators, so the flipping isn't prevalent but its still the least expensive new Daytona you can buy. In addition, for people like me, there is not enough difference in look or enjoyment between the SS and the WG and with an MSRP of $40k there are lots of watches that might be a better over all choice.

More plexi Rolex lovin'...

A true classic. Enjoy it.

 

[in stitches]

dino, we are on the same page.

 

[dddrees]

it always has piqued my interest how popular, ans thus, hard to come by, the SS version is. some of the strap and dial combos for the WG version are truly magnificent. but there is some hold that the SS version has over people. i wonder if its just the opportunity to have the daytona at a fraction of the price. the 12k market is much larger than the 40k market. or maybe there is something else.

Back in the day (60's,70's and early 80's) Daytona's weren't that popular. However something changed. Rolex made fewer of them, the SS Daytona became harder to get, Jewelers could only get a few every year, they grew in popularity, and soon there were waiting lists. Thus those who bought more at their Jeweler were those who went to the top of the list. Like already said you could pay MSRP and walk out of the store and resell it for a very handsome profit if that was your wish.

However with the combination of the economic downturn,the cost being quite a bit higher, it appears as the boom years maybe over. However jewlers can still only get so many SS Daytona's every year and there are still some areas were it is pretty difficult to get a SS Daytona. However to this day I have yet to see a brand new SS Daytona being displayed in a Jewelers display case. They are usually kept in the back in the safe. The same cannot be said for the Gold or SS Daytona's. The Gold ones cost much more and are much easier to get because Rolex doesn't limit Jewlers ability to get these and not that many people can afford them. The TT which cost more than the SS aren't as popular and are pretty easy to get as well.

Patek also does the same thing with their 5711 Nautilus and Aquanaut. Patek does not over produce these watches and they are not as easy to get as a number of their other watches in the 20,000 to 100,000 price range. You would actually would find it much easier to buy one of their 85,000 watches. For them it makes a lot of sense. By doing so they don't cheapen the brand buy making it so easy to get a Patek (cost wise) and they keep some of their less expensive watches special.

 

[dddrees]

Duplicate post.

 

[NonServiam]



However to this day I have yet to see a brand new SS Daytona being displayed in a Jewelers display case. They are usually kept in the back in the safe.

I don't know about the US, haven't been there in a couple of years. But here in northern Europe I often see SS Daytonas in the windows nowadays.

 

[in stitches]



Back in the day (60's,70's and early 80's) Daytona's weren't that popular. However something changed. Rolex made fewer of them, the SS Daytona became harder to get, Jewelers could only get a few every year, they grew in popularity, and soon there were waiting lists. Thus those who bought more at their Jeweler were those who went to the top of the list. Like already said you could pay MSRP and walk out of the store and resell it for a very handsome profit if that was your wish.

However with the combination of the economic downturn,the cost being quite a bit higher, it appears as the boom years maybe over. However jewlers can still only get so many SS Daytona's every year and there are still some areas were it is pretty difficult to get a SS Daytona. However to this day I have yet to see a brand new SS Daytona being displayed in a Jewelers display case. They are usually kept in the back in the safe. The same cannot be said for the Gold or SS Daytona's. The Gold ones cost much more and are much easier to get because Rolex doesn't limit Jewlers ability to get these and not that many people can afford them. The TT which cost more than the SS aren't as popular and are pretty easy to get as well.

Patek also does the same thing with their 5711 Nautilus and Aquanaut. Patek does not over produce these watches and they are not as easy to get as a number of their other watches in the 20,000 to 100,000 price range. You would actually would find it much easier to buy one of their 85,000 watches. For them it makes a lot of sense. By doing so they don't cheapen the brand buy making it so easy to get a Patek (cost wise) and they keep some of their less expensive watches special.

imo, the limited offer on the SS daytonas, is a brilliant ove by rolex, and i dont see them changing.

 

[Find Finn]



Beautiful, I prefer the size and second hand one the original though.

 

[Dino944]

Back in the day (60's,70's and early 80's) Daytona's weren't that popular. However something changed. Rolex made fewer of them, the SS Daytona became harder to get, Jewelers could only get a few every year, they grew in popularity, and soon there were waiting lists. Thus those who bought more at their Jeweler were those who went to the top of the list. Like already said you could pay MSRP and walk out of the store and resell it for a very handsome profit if that was your wish.

However with the combination of the economic downturn,the cost being quite a bit higher, it appears as the boom years maybe over. However jewlers can still only get so many SS Daytona's every year and there are still some areas were it is pretty difficult to get a SS Daytona. However to this day I have yet to see a brand new SS Daytona being displayed in a Jewelers display case. They are usually kept in the back in the safe. The same cannot be said for the Gold or SS Daytona's. The Gold ones cost much more and are much easier to get because Rolex doesn't limit Jewlers ability to get these and not that many people can afford them. The TT which cost more than the SS aren't as popular and are pretty easy to get as well.

Patek also does the same thing with their 5711 Nautilus and Aquanaut. Patek does not over produce these watches and they are not as easy to get as a number of their other watches in the 20,000 to 100,000 price range. You would actually would find it much easier to buy one of their 85,000 watches. For them it makes a lot of sense. By doing so they don't cheapen the brand buy making it so easy to get a Patek (cost wise) and they keep some of their less expensive watches special.

In the 1960s', 70's and up through the mid 80's most dealers couldn't give away Daytonas. In 1984 it also seemed the Sub and GMT were the top of the line SS watches as they had MSRPs of around $1,350 and a Daytona was only $1,100. Daytonas were often sold at very large discounts. The original Daytonas were manual wind and the steel models were not certified chronometers. Those were 2 issues that back in the day hurt its sales as most people thought of Rolex as being synonomous with automatic movements and some people thought a certified chronometer means more than it does today. Many people say the Italian collectors were the first to start to become interested in manual wind Daytonas. Some people have said it was the result of people seeing Paul Newman wearing a manual wind Daytona, in a film. Not sure how true that is as I've never seen footage of him wearing one in a film, although there are several pix of Mr. Newman wearing different Daytonas over the years in his personal life and as a race car driver. In any event, I think the second generation Daytona, which had an automatic movement truly changed the Daytona market and it quickly became one of the most sought after watches. Rolex also increased its price beyond that of Subs and GMTs. When I first became interested in the early 90s they had a list price of around $3,850 (Subs and GMTs were around $2,850). Supply seemed very limited as they were only getting a limited number of movements from Zenith, and they seemed to prefer to put them in the newly released two tone models, or the all gold models since the profit margin was much higher on those pieces. I believe the shortage of the then new automatic Daytona caused people to go back and buy manual wind models, which eventually surpassed the value of the automatic watches. The market on Daytonas definitely became softer with the economy colapsing around 2008 and prices of SS Daytonas hitting $9,500.

 

[Dino944]

I don't know about the US, haven't been there in a couple of years. But here in northern Europe I often see SS Daytonas in the windows nowadays.

When I first started shopping for Daytonas, in the mid 90s they were really tough to get. Back then you would only see them in a dealer's window if the dealer was selling them at twice the MSRP or they were pre-owned. Some dealers had 2-5 year wait lists. Some wouldn't take your name unless you were one of their established "Good customers."

I once bought a new one from an AD's window, that was back in 1996. The dealer didn't have a wait list and only sold them on a first come first served basis. I called 1 day after it arrived at the shop. When I saw it, it was sitting in the store's window...it went home with me that day.

Most times in the US, even in this soft economy, if a dealer has one its usually sitting in a safe in the back.

 

[dddrees]

In the 1960s', 70's and up through the mid 80's most dealers couldn't give away Daytonas. In 1984 it also seemed the Sub and GMT were the top of the line SS watches as they had MSRPs of around $1,350 and a Daytona was only $1,100. Daytonas were often sold at very large discounts. The original Daytonas were manual wind and the steel models were not certified chronometers. Those were 2 issues that back in the day hurt its sales as most people thought of Rolex as being synonomous with automatic movements and some people thought a certified chronometer means more than it does today. Many people say the Italian collectors were the first to start to become interested in manual wind Daytonas. Some people have said it was the result of people seeing Paul Newman wearing a manual wind Daytona, in a film. Not sure how true that is as I've never seen footage of him wearing one in a film, although there are several pix of Mr. Newman wearing different Daytonas over the years in his personal life and as a race car driver. In any event, I think the second generation Daytona, which had an automatic movement truly changed the Daytona market and it quickly became one of the most sought after watches. Rolex also increased its price beyond that of Subs and GMTs. When I first became interested in the early 90s they had a list price of around $3,850 (Subs and GMTs were around $2,850). Supply seemed very limited as they were only getting a limited number of movements from Zenith, and they seemed to prefer to put them in the newly released two tone models, or the all gold models since the profit margin was much higher on those pieces. I believe the shortage of the then new automatic Daytona caused people to go back and buy manual wind models, which eventually surpassed the value of the automatic watches. The market on Daytonas definitely became softer with the economy colapsing around 2008 and prices of SS Daytonas hitting $9,500.

All good info Dino, and I've seen most of this somewhere else as well.

Not to mention some of those same Daytona's they could never give away are now commanding some very high prices in the collectors market today.