My first Rolex was purchased today...

[faz]

Great choice. Welcome to the Rolex family.

[JimSnyder]

One of my favorite, enjoy it

[Twin1]

Congrats!

[dweller]

Originally Posted by SodiumMonkey

I've been collecting watches since I was in high school, so roughly 20-25 years now. It started with "fashion" brands like Kenneth Cole and Fossil. In the last couple of decades, I have slowly graduated up through the ranks from Kenneth Cole to Orient to Seiko to Steinhart (gasp!) to Christopher Ward to Hamilton to Frederique Constant to Oris to IWC and now finally to Rolex.

When I got into mechanical watches several years back, I was actually anti-Rolex. I viewed the brand as nothing more than an unnecessary show of wealth and something worn by people interested in that kind of display and not much else. The more my passion for fine timepieces grew, the more my opinion began to change. I started reading forums, articles, and reviews. I watched video after video. I learned about the history of the brand and the manufacturing standards and processes. Eventually I just knew that I had to have one, but which one?

The Submariner is a classic. I've owned so many watches over the years that were modeled after or blatantly copied from the Submariner. I think it has to be among the most recognizable and iconic watches of all time. Yes, a Submariner it must be. The 114060 to be exact. I'm 34 years old. I don't need that silly cyclops! And the symmetry of the no date with that ceramic bezel, just gorgeous.

But something about that just didn't sit quite right. I appreciate it when another "watch guy" notices my watch and strikes up a conversation with me about watches. But I don't want random strangers, non-watch-guys (or perhaps my wife ) noticing my "fancy Rolex." I don't like that kind of attention, and it still seems to harken back to my original perceptions of the brand.

Enter the 214270 (2016 version). Beautiful but subtle. Oh my. So I began listing some of my lower and mid-tier pieces about two weeks ago. Today I took a 2-hour "lunch" and headed over to my hometown Rolex AD. I have done a decent amount of business there on other items over the years, but never a watch as Rolex is one of only 3 brands they carry with the others being outside of my interest. So I go in not expecting much of a discount but determined to give it an honest try nonetheless. I managed to get down very close to what some of the fine sellers here offer for a new AD-warranteed piece. I justified it to myself that it was worth a couple hundred dollars in order to establish a relationship with the local guy.

I can't imagine that many of you read all of that, but I wanted to share my story as I'm obviously excited to show you my first Rolex:

Awesome and congrats. I completely agree with your perception and reason for going with the explorer.

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[dweller]

The obligatory mk1 shot

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[SodiumMonkey]

Well so much for nobody noticing the Explorer. I had a young man ask me what my watch was about an hour ago in a department store. He spotted it from a good fifteen feet away. I responded simply "it's an explorer" to which he replied "that's the new one too" after taking a couple of steps towards me to get a better look. Obviously he is some level of "watch guy" to know the difference between the Explorer models so that explains it, but I thought it was ironic that someone noticed the watch the first day I wore it.

[jdpny]

I was at a customer site yesterday wearing my EXP and in the middle of his sentence he said "That's a very nice Rolex you have!". So much for not being noticed... :-)

[KDS777]

One of the great things about Rolex is there is something for everyone.

[AdaWit711]

Congrats! Beautiful watch


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[Jim P]

I read every word! Congrats on a great watch, and having an even greater name!

[tkerrmd]

Nice!