Anyone own a Rolex?

Napoleon Plural

It's the 100th anniversary of Rolex this year. Just wondered if any ajb'ers owned one, what they thought of it etc? Mainly cos I'm doing a feature on it...

Any views on Bond's move to Omega? Or are they pretty much interchangeable? I take it Omega and Rolex are affordable luxury watches, unlike others?

Nightshooter

Napoleon Plural wrote:

I take it Omega and Rolex are affordable luxury watches, unlike others?

Haven't you been reading the news? Nothing is affordable anymore...

7289

AJB's Donald Grant authored a very good article on Bond's Rolex. There are also a ton of threads devoted to the Rolex/Omega watches.

You'll find that both Rolex and Omega are well represented on the wrists of AJB members.

Congrats Rolex!

Asp9mm

Rolex are certainly widening the gap that Omega had a five year plan on closing. Unfortunately the technical and horological advancements that Rolex are making wil certainly price many people who could afford Rolex, out of reach so that Omega will be the fallback.

I've collected Rolex Subs for the last 15 years and have most from the 6538 to the Comex variations to the military versions, and I wear the Sub-Date minus the cyclops daily. I've been looking forward to buying the new ceramic bezel steel Sub which should be released in the next two years, but the prices have increased so much, I may just have to let this one go.

Omega certainly are stepping up their game, but so are Rolex, both are excellent watches, but Rolex are in terms of quality and after sales service - far superior.

Bonds move to the Planet Ocean is welcome. The Seamaster, although a beautiful watch, was just too bling and flashy, although suited Brosnans Bond to a T. Now it's back to the tool watch, which the PO certainly is, without all of the bells and whistles. A harder, basic, worthy Bondian watch for todays harder more realistic Bond.

As a die hard Fleming and Rolex fan, I need to see the Submariner or Explorer on Bonds wrist, but I am more than happy seeing the Omega Planet Ocean there. And that really is saying something.

Seahawk

I have never purchased a Rolex but own two.The first is a Rolex precision dress watch which belonged to my Great Uncle. He bequeathed it to me in his will & I still wear it as my dress watch of choice. (I think this says something about the durability of a Rolex)
My other Rolex (Which was a gift from somebody very special to me) Is a Submariner (16610) It is a very beautiful,extremely durable & extremely reliable watch. However (as I have written on another thread on this forum) it does tend to fall between two stools. It is too much of a dress watch to be a good Diver's watch & too much of a Diver's watch to be a good dress watch.
That having been said I consider it to be far more discrete (& therefore more pleasing aesthetically) than the Omega Seamaster. In addition to which I actively dislike encumbering myself with extraneous kit, & a watch which has a Helium release valve fitted as standard falls into that category in my eyes. I would, almost certainly, never have purchased a Rolex for myself but if you are considering doing so & are put off by the price think in terms of value for money.
Yes the initial outlay is very high BUT I always maintain that a £100 pair of shoes which last 10 years is a better buy than a £50 pair which only lasts for 3.
This holds true for all commodities & the Rolex is an excellent example.

Napoleon Plural

Interesting stuff guys. May I quote you on a couple of sentences? (I mean in the feature, not on the ajb board which I wouldn't need permission for... )

zig zag

I own a rolex explorerII,now I know its not jb's watch of choice, but its damm close.The omega is a good watch but it aint a patch on the rolex.

DrMaybe

I wear the special secret agent edition of a Rolex. To disguise it's identity, the first 3 letters of the brand name have been replaced with a "TIM".

Asp9mm

Napoleon Plural wrote:

Interesting stuff guys. May I quote you on a couple of sentences? (I mean in the feature, not on the ajb board which I wouldn't need permission for... )

No probs from me {[]

Lady Rose

Asp9mm wrote:

Rolex are certainly widening the gap that Omega had a five year plan on closing.

Another huge price increase helps - The words 'credit crunch' obviously dont mean much to Rolex )


I know more about Rolex than is good for me.My husband is a Rolex nut and has had all of the sports models at some time or another - he has just changed his LV Sub for a SS Daytona - and we have spent many a happy hour sourcing a watch.

He's dabbled with the occassional Datejust but always goes back to a sports model.

My personal favourites are the Sea-Dweller (which would be my choice of watch for Bond) and the LV Sub.

I'm afraid for me it was a case of 'if you cant beat 'em, join 'em'. Some people are Golf widows, Football widows - Me? I'm a watch widow. Even our 11 year old can tell the difference between a Yachtmaster and an Explorer )

I have two watches myself. A Datejust, which I haven't worn for a long time and a ladies Yachtmaster which I love. I have never been tempted to go for a bigger sports modle, even though it's very in vogue at present. They just look silly on me.

I must admitt I'm not too fond of the new watches that have apeared recently.The Yachtmaster 2 leaves me cold, as does the Milgauss and the new Sea Dweller looks like Big Ben. However the ceramic GMT has grown on me.

I think no matter how hard Omega try they will never have the kudos that Rolex does.They are excellent watches and the PO is particularly nice but its like a Honda trying to emulate a BMW - great car and you know its is great value for money, but you still prefer the BMW.

Nightshooter

DrMaybe wrote:

I wear the special secret agent edition of a Rolex. To disguise it's identity, the first 3 letters of the brand name have been replaced with a "TIM".

Oh, wow! I've heard those are really expensive! Cool!
)

Seahawk

I have no problems with this. Quote away.

Loeffelholz

Nightshooter wrote:

DrMaybe wrote:

I wear the special secret agent edition of a Rolex. To disguise it's identity, the first 3 letters of the brand name have been replaced with a "TIM".

Oh, wow! I've heard those are really expensive! Cool!
)

Damn it! I thought I owned the only one!

Napoleon Plural

The prices vary a bit. Nothing less than two grand. I must admit I don't quite get it... is the movement that much better? Or are you paying for the look and the jewellery, which as you admit, varies from year to year?

LR, when Lord Rose changes his Rolex does he trade it in or sell the other one? Is like upgrading your cell phone? (All these Rolex's - you're not really called Lady Rose are you? ) )

Anyway my piece is to tie in with a 100 Rolex book by John Goldberger, it's £100, out now. Intro is rubbish, however, badly needs subbing!

Napoleon Plural

Hang on, I have another question...

Rolex bangs on about accuracy etc, but erm, I don't see the point. I mean, in the age of digital, it can't surely act as a split second timer in a race the way a digital watch can. And with access nowadays to the telly and ceefax or the internet, you can check your watch whenever. I mean, on a weekly basis. It's not like an ordinary watch is gonna lose a minute over 6 months is it?

What am I missing here? ?:)

Also, moon faces showing the phases of the moon. What's that all about? Obv will reseach this... ;%

Napoleon Plural

Oh, okay, a bit like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronograph

Lady Rose

Napoleon Plural wrote:

LR, when Lord Rose changes his Rolex does he trade it in or sell the other one? Is like upgrading your cell phone? (All these Rolex's - you're not really called Lady Rose are you? ) )

) ) I wish ... No, he usually trades/part ex's or sells them on. There's a whole community of Rolex nuts out there swapping and changing their watches regularly. Bit like a self help group, all feeding their addictions )

Mine are 'keepers', as he calls them. They were bought for special occassions so have sentimental value.

The thing that makes me laugh is that he has the gaul to ridicule my JB fandom X-(

delon64

i have a battered rolex submariner red from the 70s...though the red has worn to rust coloured lettering with time

Higgins

I am wearing Rolex GMT II (with black bezel inlay) since 25 years now.

I prefer the GMT II over the Submariner/Sea Dweller for 2 reasons:

1. Timesetting: I can easily skip the hour (DST and when travelling overseas) without stopping the watch
2. crown: When I am biking, the huge crowns tend to hurt me on my hand as they leave deep marks. The GMT is much better here with the standard crown.

I have had a lot of "watch-affairs" I have had them all: Breitling, Ebel, IWC, Patek, Corum, Audemars, Breguet, Cartier and of course Omega.

The Omega 007 LES stay unworn in my collection, the SMP, which I have been wearing for 1 year, has been stolen by a burglary. I never replaced it for good reason.
A friend of mine, who sold his Submariner to replace it with a Ti SMP came back to Rolex (like I did so often) after the bracelet of the Omega simply fell off from his wrist.

I have been updating my GMT II every 5 years but doubt, that I will go for the new model, which is too cubic in my taste, though, I like the ceramic bezel inlay. So, I think, that I'll stay with my present 2-year-old GMT for very long!

I absolutely dislike the engraved outer dial ring of the present Rolex watches, that's so non-Rolex style!

I also have a Sea Dweller, which is the ultimate diver's watch in my taste and to my opinion 007's model of choice. I don't need the helium valve, but like the fact, that it's a bit thicker than the standard Submariner, plus I like the thicker crystal and the extra depth of 3000 ft.

I will soon get a 2008 Submariner-non-Date for my private 007 collection. A very good friend on the board arranged an incredible deal on this watch, so, I have not been able to resist.

Besides the Rolexes, I am having a Bedat & Co.
[img][/img]http://www.bondtoys.de/ebaybilder/bedat 4.bmp

watch as an elegant watch (which is a cherished present from my wife as the first one - a personal gift from Christian Bedat- has been stolen at the mentioned burglary) and a golden Vacheron manual Chronograph


with an incredible movement as a collector's piece.

Sorry, when I am getting started at watches, my threads tend to be long

Napoleon Plural

Excellent stuff Bondtoys, good reading!

It's true that Omega is a fair bit cheaper across the board than Rolex then?

I spoke to James Dowling, co-author of a fine book on the history of Rolex, today and he described their Geneva HQ as something like Fort Knox.

He said that the UK people pronounce Omega with the emphasis on the O while in the US it's Omeega, as Danny says it in CR.

Higgins

{[] infact, it IS Fort Knox.

I have been visiting Vacheron around 15 years ago. Their entire manufacture has been in a building 1 block away from Rolex HQ.

What was significant to me was, the 2 top levels have been entire Vacheron, the lower 7 levels have been Rolex emballages (boxes)

Napoleon Plural

Sorry Bondtoys, what do you mean? Are the boxes just full of Rolex's? What is Vacheron? ?:)

Higgins

Vacheron is the Geneva based watch company Vacheron Constantin.

And I have just been trying to draw an idea of, how big Rolex is:

Alone their boxes warehouse is 3.5 times bigger than an entire small watch company.

Napoleon Plural

Ah, right you are!

Your English is better than my German! ;%

Lady Rose

Bondtoys wrote:

I have had a lot of "watch-affairs" I have had them all: Breitling, Ebel, IWC, Patek, Corum, Audemars, Breguet, Cartier and of course Omega.

You've mentioned several of my favoutire makes
Bondtoys. Audemars,Cartier and Patek but my real favourite there is IWC.

I think their designs are so clean and timeless. A much underrated brand. My IWC of choice is the 'Spitfire', 3717



My husband had one for a while and I was very sad to see it go.He gets bored very quickly with his watches so we tend to have quite a high turnover..

I also like the Mark XV




I would prefer to see Bond back in Rolex but failing that I think IWC would be a great brand for him.

Higgins

Talking about IWC watches, Lady Rose:
I agree that the 2 mentioned watches are nice, but to my opinion, there are better variants:

The Mark XV has the ETA base movement, I'd prefer the long gone Mark XII with the JlC movement though.

And I have this thing for black ceramic, so, I'd prefer the black variants ot the IWC Flieger Chrono.

I used to own a Mark XIV and a standard st. Steel Flieger Chrono, but got fastly bored and sold both of them.

And I am afraid, the same thing would be with a black one....

Lady Rose

I'm afraid my knowledge of watches is very limited, I cant even begin to get into a converstaion about movements.I only know what looks nice ) ( very shallow I know .. )

Has anyone here ever been to Basel for the show? My husband talks about going every year - I wondered if its worth the trip..

Higgins

I have been there several times. it's great, but as a normal consumer, you'll get not much more than window-shopping.

And hotel prices are astronomic, the only occasion to make $$ for Basel once a year.... )

Napoleon Plural

I've read Donald Grant's piece and very good it is too. However, he says that Bond's Rolex in the books is unspecified. Does that mean it's not necessarily a Rolex Oyster Perpetual? Because the name is always linked... I don't have the books with me, but the watch is mentioned in OHMSS, used as a knuckle duster. Any eagle eyed fans know which other Fleming novels mention it? And is the 'Oyster Perpetual' mentioned?


In Henry Chancellor's fine book on the novels, there's a pic of a Rolex Oyster Perpetual, and a jokey missive from Fleming, but no other reference...

Seahawk

Bond does wear a Rolex Oyster Perpetual in the books, but the precise model is never specified.
(Some believe, from Fleming's descriptions that it is an early military model)
The association with the Submariner comes from the films, Rolex were disinclined to give EON any watches on loan & the watch was (rightly) a very low budgeting priority.
This was circumvented by Cubby Broccoli lending his own watch to Connery.
The watch happened to be a Submariner & the association stuck.

Asp9mm

One of Flemings personal Rolex watches was on display at the IWM, and it was an Explorer.