Final Incoming (36mm Steel Explorer) - Summer Rolex Sprint Complete

[SoylentGreenChi]

The summer has been a journey. When the new 36mm Explorer was released in April, I started looking for it - and, well - had to learn a lot about the current state of the Rolex market. This forum was an essential tool for that learning (thank you, folks!).

While waiting for the Explorer, I discovered that I love the 36mm Datejust, and bought a blue dial, then a Wimbledon, and finally a silver dial. Yesterday, I got the call for the Explorer, which rounds out the summer buying, and I now have four Rolexes as the core of my watch collection.

Thank you for all the great advice and collegiality on the forum. Super appreciate it. Good luck to everyone looking for their grail watch!









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[zab]

Congrats! Really looks great on your wrist. Enjoy in good health. Lovely collection, I have the silver DJ 36 with fluted bezel and oyster bracelet and love it.

[Seddyspaghetti]

Congrats

[cjhurni]

Congrats man, beautiful collection. Where are the stands from?

[dannyp]

Congrats, quite a pickup there! Rest of the collection is pretty awesome, too. Me thinks you now need an OP36 in green to round it out;).

[PepsiBezel]

Congratulations! You definitely have a type.

[kieselguhr]

Congratulations!

[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by cjhurni

Congrats man, beautiful collection. Where are the stands from?

Thanks! The stands are from Estimoart on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/EstimoArt

[blackedge]

OP - would be great to see a side by side wrist shot of the explorer and the silver DJ.. (thinking of the same duo)

Big congrats aswell.

[jhross98]

what a great collection. amazingly, i basically did the same thing this summer. i ended up with the 36mm explorer, a 36mm blue DJ on oyster (smooth bezel), a silver DJ on jubilee (smooth bezel), and a blue 3-6-9 36mm OP.

i have a huge vintage collection but its basically impossible not to put one of these on every day

[JoseR]

Congrats and enjoy..

[Jmaster]

Are your blue and Wimbledon looks smaller. Is that just the angle of the picture? Also how does the 36DJ compares to the Explorer? I heard the Explorer is more vintage size and slight smaller than the 36mm DJ. How do they wear?

[2001jesper]

Congrats - Take a little time to enjoy them as well, before you prepare for the winter sprint

[dannyp]

Originally Posted by Jmaster

Are your blue and Wimbledon looks smaller. Is that just the angle of the picture? Also how does the 36DJ compares to the Explorer? I heard the Explorer is more vintage size and slight smaller than the 36mm DJ. How do they wear?

I haven't compared side-by-side, but I believe that the dials are the same diameter and the bezels the same width but the lugs taper in more on the Explorer, giving the impression of a smaller watch. However, both should measure the same diameter at the same points on the watch.

As far as the sizes in the OP's picture, I think it's angle, with those two set further back. Couldn't be smaller, as there's no Wimbledon 31 (next size down).

[Wahlberg]

Congrats!

Did you buy them all at the same AD?

[JakeK]

Wow, great collection! Congrats on the Explorer!!

[winst]

Nice - congratulations!

[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by Wahlberg

Congrats!

Did you buy them all at the same AD?

Two different ADs: one here in downtown Chicago (Rolex Boutique on Michigan), the other in Milwaukee (Schwanke-Kasten).

When I started my search for the Explorer in May, I contacted basically all of the ADs between Indianapolis and Milwaukee. I said I was interested in the Explorer 36 in steel, and any DateJust 36 in steel.

About half of the ADs responded immediately and said they were not looking for new clients. Another half said to come in and say hello, which is what I did.

Ultimately, two AD’s came through for me, with each getting me two watches each. I can’t say enough good things about the Rolex Boutique on Michigan Ave and Schwanke-Kasten in Milwaukee - great folks, straight shooters, professional, patient, etc.

In terms of following up with the AD’s, I sent a friendly (short, light) e-mail to them about once a month, which is what one of them told me to do. It seemed to work. I tried to signal that my interest was still active, while simultaneously not being a pest.


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[jonf]

Congrats! And... nice collection!

[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by jhross98

what a great collection. amazingly, i basically did the same thing this summer. i ended up with the 36mm explorer, a 36mm blue DJ on oyster (smooth bezel), a silver DJ on jubilee (smooth bezel), and a blue 3-6-9 36mm OP.

i have a huge vintage collection but its basically impossible not to put one of these on every day

Cool, congrats! I absolutely love that blue 3-6-9 36mm OP. Great pickup.

BTW, Boston is my hometown, I’m new to Chicago. I miss eating lobster rolls at Belle Isle Seafood. So good. Go Pats!


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[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by blackedge

OP - would be great to see a side by side wrist shot of the explorer and the silver DJ.. (thinking of the same duo)

Big congrats aswell.

You got it. Apologies these are not higher quality, but I think you can get a sense of the proportions in these photos. In person, the Explorer is slightly (very slightly) smaller in appearance compared to the 36mm Datejust.







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[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by Jmaster

Are your blue and Wimbledon looks smaller. Is that just the angle of the picture? Also how does the 36DJ compares to the Explorer? I heard the Explorer is more vintage size and slight smaller than the 36mm DJ. How do they wear?

Just the angle of the picture, with the blue and Wimbledon dials in the backrow. The Datejusts are all the same size (and I can swap out their bracelets, etc.)

The Explorer does appear slightly smaller on the wrist, but as DannyP notes, that could be the taper in the Explorer bracelet.


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[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by 2001jesper

Congrats - Take a little time to enjoy them as well, before you prepare for the winter sprint

Yes, I definitely need to take a breather, as the summer sprint went beyond Rolex! Here are the other 5 watches I picked up this summer. (Researching watches was basically all I did the past four months - it was a lunatic obsession, which this forum meaningfully contributed to.)


Other than an AP Royal Oak 37mm which is on its way/allocated to me and - down the line - an A. Lange and Sohne (1815 up/down) this should be it for the rest of my life. This is my 50th birthday year, and I wanted to build a watch collection I could enjoy for (hopefully) the next 30-40 years. It was a controlled spending frenzy this summer, which I intend to rapidly slow down so I can enjoy these watches.

-Cartier Santos (Medium)
-Zenith El Primero A385
-Glashutte SeaQ
-Grand Seiko 231
-Breguet Marine 5817

[Wahlberg]

Is that the green SeaQ? I love how diverse those 5 watches are. Well chosen.

How are you liking the Grand Seiko?

[SaddleSC]

Originally Posted by SoylentGreenChi

Yes, I definitely need to take a breather, as the summer sprint went beyond Rolex! Here are the other 5 watches I picked up this summer. (Researching watches was basically all I did the past four months - it was a lunatic obsession, which this forum meaningfully contributed to.)


Other than an AP Royal Oak 37mm which is on its way/allocated to me and - down the line - an A. Lange and Sohne (1815 up/down) this should be it for the rest of my life. This is my 50th birthday year, and I wanted to build a watch collection I could enjoy for (hopefully) the next 30-40 years. It was a controlled spending frenzy this summer, which I intend to rapidly slow down so I can enjoy these watches.

-Cartier Santos (Medium)
-Zenith El Primero A385
-Glashutte SeaQ
-Grand Seiko 231
-Breguet Marine 5817

How do you like the Santos Medium? Any wrist shots of that one? What is your wrist size? I really like that watch...on my list for sure!

[zab]

I hate to be an enabler, but you might enjoy a submariner. Dial size is the same as Datejust 36 and should fit on your wrist.

[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by Wahlberg

Is that the green SeaQ? I love how diverse those 5 watches are. Well chosen.

How are you liking the Grand Seiko?

Thank you!

Yes, that is the green dial SeaQ. I wanted to try Glashutte for a long time, and I have not been disappointed. The SeaQ bracelet is among the best I own - right up there with the Oyster, my favorite bracelet.

The Grand Seiko is a joy: beautiful, simple dial, manual wind, I love listening to this movement. Despite the huge price difference, I honestly prefer the Grand Seiko 231 to a Patek Calatrava 5196G.

[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by zab

I hate to be an enabler, but you might enjoy a submariner. Dial size is the same as Datejust 36 and should fit on your wrist.

Oh god, don’t give me any ideas . . .one slight push and I’ll be chasing a day date, a submariner, and a Daytona (I love them all). I need to stay away from this forum, y’all are bad influences. :)

[SoylentGreenChi]

Originally Posted by SaddleSC

How do you like the Santos Medium? Any wrist shots of that one? What is your wrist size? I really like that watch...on my list for sure!

I like it a lot. Before this summer, I did not know much about Cartier and, on first glance, it was not a style I thought would like. But as I learned more, and saw it more, it became more and more appealing.

What I like:

-The hint of blue on the dials and crown
-The fact that you get two free services as part of the purchase price
-That you get TWO extra bracelets as part of the purchase (a brown leather one that comes with the Santos, and then you can choose an alligator one in a color of your choice)
-The quick adjusting steel bracelet that makes it easy to make size changes on your own



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[dannyp]

Originally Posted by SoylentGreenChi

Oh god, don’t give me any ideas . . .one slight push and I’ll be chasing a day date, a submariner, and a Daytona (I love them all). I need to stay away from this forum, y’all are bad influences. :)

So this wouldn't be the time to mention that, walking through Old Orchard yesterday and saw that CDP had a WG/silver DD36 in the case? Got it, I'll keep that to myself.