My “Rolex friend” is constantly shopping/wheeling/dealing in the bootleg trade. You can do well if you know what you are doing (per him). There’s even a market for “dead” Rolexes which are used as parts. He’s seen watches that contain just enough real Rolex parts to be difficult to distinguish as a bootleg.
He’s shown me pics of watches sold as Rolexes that have minor discrepancies that give them away as fakes. Me, I just look at my phone.
Why would anyone want a fake Rolex?
If it’s so you can fool people, then… Well, see my first post in this thread. If you want the ‘look’ of a Rolex but don’t want to spend the money, then there are Seikos or Casios that look very similar to some Rolexes. They’re a fraction of the price, and you’re not being a poseur.
My friend is a Rolex aficionado. He has books about Rolexes, framed pictures of Rolexes, watch tenders, two real Rolexes and several really convincing fakes. He will happily lecture you on why the fakes are fakes. He makes just a bit over minimum wage, and has helped pay for his real Rolexes with the profits he has made buying and selling fakes. There is a thriving market for acknowledged fakes; he’ll buy one for $125 that is worth $475, for instance.
In honor of this thread I left the Apple Watch at home today and wore a Rolex Submariner to church for our Christmas program.
It looked nice and fit in well with my outfit. I do miss wearing nice watches—I have always liked them mainly for their classic good looks and the mechanical wonders that they are.
Just cause I thought you nuts might be interested, this is the one she picked. Now she’s got ME wondering if I want a nice watch. (Not really. If I did, I’d just dust off my old Seamaster DeVille!)
I’m glad your wife likes the watch, but to me, that watch looks really masculine. And for that much money, I’d expect precious metals or diamonds or some other gemstones. Six thousand bucks for stainless steel?
In reply to Dewey Finn, the Submariner I wore today is plain old SS and retails for $8500 these days. (I bought it pre owned a decade ago for about 4). If I ever sell it, I will likely recoup the entire cost.
It’s not for everybody, but if you own one, you can see the quality…maybe not eight grand worth, but the timepiece is absolutely perfect. And the stainless steel is top notch stuff; I wore it while working in the workshop or out in the yard and and it was barely ever scuffed. The crystal is sapphire and doesn’t scratch, unless you are being crazy careless with it.
And the lack of bling is desirable to many. Quality and understatement.
Well, then I’m glad I didn’t buy it for YOU! 
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Hey I have one of those! My Dad left it for me when he passed.
Let’s see that tat.
Sorry, but this made me laugh. That’s how I justify to the wife buying yet another bicycle or motorcycle: Think of all the gas money I’ll save! 
Leave it to a Russian to push diamonds.
I think it’s just an excuse to brag. A friend of mine was always going on and on about how he had a Rolex from years ago that was apparently “the last Rolex to actually be worth reselling”.
To me, Rolexes are middle-class watches. Maybe the upper end of middle class, but middle-class nonetheless. As I’ve said, I prefer the ‘working watches’ to the ‘jewelry watches’. Rolexes are made to be used. If you want to impress someone, there are other brands that are much more impressive status symbols. Rolexes are for people who are comfortable enough to have a few luxuries – like a Mercedes Benz.
The problem with Rolexes is that Yuppies decided they were the Ultimate Status Symbol™ and Rolex capitalised on that. I love my GMT Master II, but there’s no way it’s worth nine or ten kilobucks.
And, unless they have a loupe, they wouldnt be able to tell that $6400 blood diamond necklace from a $50 CZ necklace.
There are watches and cars that run more than $2mil each. And those won’t be the ‘ultimate status symbols’ either when somebody comes out with more expensive ones. But even well below that extreme, seems to be questionable to call either Rolex or Mercedes ‘middle class’. You can piss off, make feel inadequate, make automatically accuse you of ‘showing off’, a large mass of people by showing up with either of those brands. Sure, in an ‘upper upper middle class’ strata (‘the rich’ for tax purposes) those become more ordinary and don’t raise eyebrows…but that’s a small proportion of people, really only ‘middle class’ because of the US social custom that almost nobody considers themselves ‘upper class’.
In either case I’d grant the exception of people buying the cheapest examples of those brands, and by the same token grant how the makers play around with the image by offering relatively downscale models. But if somebody has an S class Mercedes or a serious (which is more like $20k+) Rolex (or couple or few of them) and didn’t upset their whole financial future to buy them, it’s debatable if they are really ‘middle class’, and therefore calls into question IMO defining the brands that way.
Come to think of it… it was about 18 months before one of the hands fell off
For me, it was just to embrace the kitsch. And for the experience… the story was worth more than the 2 watches. Did I mention the caged, guard roosters?
Before they became a middle class status symbol, Rolexes were high quality, well made tool watches. They aren’t one of the holy trinity of Swiss watchmakers (AP, VC and PP), but they still producd high quality, well made tool watches.
Watches are very rarely a good investment, but of all the watch brands, Rolex has a very retention of value. Interest in vintage rolex has exploded in recent years - have a look at the market in Daytonas in particular.
Personally, I am a big fan of Grand Seiko, and see a quality there at a much lower entry price than equivalent swiss makers. Seiko also continue to innovate as much, if not more, than most othet brands.
I think any mechanical manufacturer that develops and uses its own in house movements is worth looking at.
They are beautiful watches, I have a Seiko SNR013 which is very eye catching and interesting due to the unique movement.
