My Rolex journey

[jcd]

I just thought I'd share this with you guys since many of you get where I'm coming from. A lot of my friends don't get the whole watch thing, let alone this little story here.

Anyway, in 1986 when I was 11 I was at the EAA air show in Oshkosh, with a pilot friend of my dad's, and a GMT just happened to catch my eye. It had the iconic (to me anyway) pepsi bezel insert. I remember asking him what it was. "That's just a Rolex." Well, for some reason it stuck with me and I wanted one. It didn't take me long to realize I wasn't going to have one as an 11 year old and I best be happy with my swatch.

Fast forward many years and that GMT has always stuck with me. I've wanted one since I first saw it. So when I got to that place in life where I could finally afford a Rolex I bought this!



I know, it's wasn't a pepsi GMT. But when searching for watches at the time (it was all new to me) I was impressed that I could get a little gold for the same or less money than a steel version. I was sold! I have learned a lot since buying that watch (like about TRF, I learned about it while researching that watch). I learned I like blue. So that lead to.....



I fell in love with the blue Sub almost immediately after joining TRF. I had to have one. I traded the GMT for the Sub and never looked back. Well......ok I looked back to the GMT with the pepsi bezel that brought me to the brand to begin with. Since I can't afford (at the moment anyway) to have more than one Rolex I decided to part ways with my Sub.

I listed it on a Sunday and it was sold by Monday, shipped on Tuesday and to the pleased new owner on Wednesday. By Thursday I was emailing DavidSW and by Friday he had a wire and on Saturday I had my new to me GMT!



Ok, so it's not a pepsi. I can take care of that though. This forum has the resources to remedy that for me, right? Right! Thanks to ommsen a bezel insert showed up in the mail last week. I waited a few days and did some research and asked members here for some support as I worked up the courage to swap out inserts. I can't remember who, but thanks to the guy who said to remove the bezel with the watch in a bag. When the click spring took flight as I removed the bezel that trick saved me.

So, to sum up my long story, here I am now.....finally with a pepsi GMT. I can't stop staring at it!



I know I rambled on a little bit there, but really I want to say thanks to TRF. Lots of people here helped me finally get my GMT. I know never say never, but I really don't see selling this one. Thanks to the members here who I've traded with and sold to and bought from and most of all to those who gave me pointers and encouragement to mess with my watch and get it to where I want it to be. I can't believe how scary that bezel swap was to me. I can't believe how simple it actually was to do!

So, thanks TRF! I look forward to hanging out with you guys for years to come!