My conversion to Rolex

[ro1098s]

Hi forum, I thought you might be interested in the story of my own conversion to Rolex.

I always wanted a nice watch, so when I finished college, one day in 2007 I stopped by a shopping mall and got a Tag Heuer Carrera. I was fascinated by the beauty of the dial and also the size made me feel I was wearing something special and expensive.



When I moved to the USA I left my watch back home. I started seeing videos on YouTube about watches and found a guy that made reviews and criticisms of the whole watch industry. This guy was pretty critical about Tag and I felt stupid for owning that piece. I felt ignorant and like a wannabe, and I learned that a good watch goes beyond the case; the movement and heritage make the brand.

So I wanted to get a new watch to upgrade my collection; soon I started looking at videos and websites, and found a lot of stuff on Rolex. I knew the brand before; who doesn’t—it is everywhere-- but at first I wasn’t impressed. Then I got interested in Cartier and began looking at the Ballon Bleu and Calibre.

But one day I stopped by a Rolex dealer downtown and looked at the Submariner (2011) for the first time in person. The salesman was talking about it and the watch started working on me; he used the James Bond history to impress me, so I thought that wouldn’t be a bad buy and the brand is reputable. Still, I wasn’t totally in love with it. Another thing that stopped me was the price at 8,000 usd plus the sales tax. That is a lot of money compared to the 3,000 usd Tag Heuer.

And also the salesman told me that Rolex was planning to raise the price by 10%. So I came up with the idea of shopping outside of the state to avoid the sales tax. The closest city out of state was 1.5 hr away—not too far. I also thought of paying cash to get an extra discount, so I took cash to the out-of-town dealer, and bought my first Rolex Submariner 116610LV with 5% off and no sales tax.



I was very happy with it-- the green dial was distinctive and less common than the black one. Then I realized what a Rolex watch is: the watch felt different, very well made, they look great, so I came up with the idea to buy more and develop a collection. Not necessarily Rolex watches only; I wanted to have a mixed collection and add a Breitling Navitimer and a Cartier Ballon Bleu.

Well, I saw the Breitling in person, a nice dial, but I wasn’t sure about the quality and movement. Again this guy opened my eyes—Aluxury—who started talking about them like they were Tag Heuers, without an in-house moment and over-sized pieces.

Now I agreed with him. I saw some of the models and they looked bad, cheap; the hands were not aligned with the marks on the dial, they had a quartz movement, a poor finish for the bracelet—all that pissed me off. Not only that, the discount that the salesman offered me, without my asking for it, was 20%. Those were signs that made me think that maybe that brand was not so great.

So again I bought a Rolex, this time a Datejust II 116364, with a nice looking blue dial and Roman numbers, and I loved it.



Now, though, I began to feel like my collection was not balanced and I needed to have more to be complete; I thought about having a mix of colored dials. In fact, instead of another steel piece, I thought about gold.



What else was there in the Rolex collection: Explorer, GMT-2, Daytona and Day-Date. I didn’t like the Explorer because it looked ordinary and boring; the GMT-2 was like a Submariner with an extra 24-hr hand, the DD was too expensive because it’s made only of precious metals , and so that left only the Daytona.

In the end, I decided to get a white dial because I didn’t have that color yet. Also I wanted to get a good deal-- I read on the forum that a lot of the members got discounts as big as 20%, so that made me jealous.

I talked with my regular dealer, and they didn’t want to order that piece just then because they already had one; one with the panda dial. They offered me a big discount also for that; but I didn’t take it. I kept looking around until I found one in a local luxury mall, talked with them and negotiated the price. I got the same deal. They shipped it; when I got it I examined it more closely and found that the watch bracelet was rubbed, and there was a scratch on the back of the case, almost all the plastic was gone, there was no warranty card and the watch had a V serial number.

This had never happened before with my regular dealers; they had always sent me a brand new and current model. Apparently that watch had been there for a long time and gold is very delicate, so it must have been mishandled. I took it back and got my money back.

Well I didn’t buy any watches for a while. I decided to put my Tag Heuer up for sale. It was very hard to sell it; people offered me 1,000 usd, and ridiculous amounts like that. The pawn shop offered me the same money. But finally I sold it for 1,400 usd, not bad, but I was looking for 1,800 usd.

Now that I had got rid of my chronograph, I decided again to buy a Daytona, but not a two-tone, an SS, because gold scratches easily and also the SS version keeps its value better.

Again I went back to my regular dealer and they got my watch in two weeks, but without a discount. I was really pleased: the watch was in perfect condition, like the other two I bought from them.



Now I realize how big The Rolex brand is: luxury, high quality, name, technology and lasting value. True, the Rolex name goes beyond their limits; it is not the best one, but it has such a great reputation that the name has put it on the same level as holy trinity.

So anyone who buys a Rolex won’t be disappointed; it will keep its value and it will look great forever.

Well, that’s my story! Just a final word: If you want to buy more than one watch, buy them more or less at the same time and stick with one dealer and develop a good relationship to get the best prices.