A simple question...

[automatico]

Why are looney toon rolex freaks paying $15 or $20 thousand bucks for average 5512/13, 1680 after they sat idly by when the same watches (with less wear and tear) were for sale for $2 to $5 thousand bucks a few years ago? 

[Nanuq]

I'll take "People with more money than sense" for $1,000 Alex.

 

[jmb]

Nanuq's answer was a bit more diplomatic than the thought that came to my mind..

[justlounging]

Waiting for that bubble to pop.

[JoeyB]

In 1984 I had a customer who had an employee buy a brand new genuine Rolex Submariner. I wasn't aware of Rolex at the time. He paid $600.00 usd. We laughed at him and told him he was nuts to pay that much for a watch. In 1998 I looked at 16710 GMT at the Rolex store in Waikiki. It was $4,000.00 usd. Today a new GMT is over $9.000.00 usd. A commodity will sell for as much as someone will pay. Regardless how nuts I still think they are. 

[Nanuq]

@JoeyB in 1972 this was $175 cash.

[JoeyB]

In 1972 I was in the service making about $325/month. Truck drivers Teamster union was making $3.94/hour. A beer was 25¢. A 'good time' with a professional lady was $10. 

[Timelord]

2 hours ago, JoeyB said:

In 1972  "....".""...

A 'good time' with a professional lady was $10. 

 

You may be pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised that some prices don't change!  In some cases where supply exceeds demand, the prices go even further down!!!.   The law of supply and demand!

[JoeyB]

At least some 50,000 soldiers and the local town had a population of about 80,000. Likely less than 500 ladies of the evening, I'd think supply and demand was about right. Given the soldeier's age and activity levels, time for the ladies was not much of a factor. 

[cheld]

13 hours ago, JoeyB said:

In 1972 I was in the service making about $325/month. Truck drivers Teamster union was making $3.94/hour. A beer was 25¢. A 'good time' with a professional lady was $10. 

 

'72 was 5 months after Nixon "closed the gold window" and unleashed the inflation beast at the Federal Reserve, who could now create money without any assets to back it.

[Mendota Explorer]

In 2002 I was looking at buying myself a new Rolex for my 30th birthday. The Explorer 1 was about $2,700 and the 16610 sub was around $3,300.

 

I talked myself out of the sub because it was "too big" and I didn't buy the Explorer because the night before I was going to go buy it I read a scathing review on Timezone. A respected watch expert reviewed the watch and movement and said at most it was worth $500. I passed and went on with my life.

 

Turned out that the watch expert had been paid by another company to bash the Rolex and he wrote a false review. He apologized and was banned from Timezone.

 

All of these years later and I still want both watches, but not at today's inflated prices. Something has to give.

 

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[JoeyB]

Truth be told, what is a gen Rolex really worth? We build replicas all the time with movements just as good and just as accurate most for well under for under $1000 usd. The name on the dial and people wanting that name makes the price so much higher. 

[Nanuq]

Someone here put it perfectly many years ago: 

 

a Rolex is the world's most expensive $500 watch.

 

[508-Fanatic]

5 hours ago, Nanuq said:

Someone here put it perfectly many years ago: 

 

a Rolex is the world's most expensive $500 watch.

 

 

No that's Richard Mille! 

[Mike on a bike]

But when all is said and done it's a Rolex, have to give them credit they know how to market their product.

[automatico]

MOAB:

"But when all is said and done it's a Rolex, have to give them credit they know how to market their product."

 

Rolex made the watch and the J. Walter Thompson Company made them famous.

 

WATCHING THE STATUS SYMBOL...

"On a first date,"  wrote Dugald Jellie in the Sydney Morning Herald,  "a girl once told me you could tell the quality of a man by the quality of his shoes and watch.  At the time, I was wearing black R.M. Williams boots.  And a Rolex on my wrist.  Mind you, it was a 100 per cent faux Rolex, picked up in Hong Kong for about $7.  That's the sort of bloke I am; a fake, a phony who straps on a $7 watch.  But hey, it told the time.  Which is what a watch is all about, plus a whole lot more."

 

Australian watch retailer Greg Alexander (as told to Dugald Jellie of the Sydney Morning Herald)  "It's a sales and promotion and public perception phenomenon.  They're good-quality watches (rolex), but they're no better quality than any number of other brands that sell for much less."

 

JB:

"Truth be told, what is a gen Rolex really worth?  We build replicas all the time with movements just as good and just as accurate most for well under for under $1000 usd."

 

True.

 

Is a 5512/13/1680 etc back from rolex service in a replacement 444 case with a new Luminova dial/hands, replacement bezel assembly/crystal and rlx serviced 1570 still 100% genuine?

That's a real good question.

Imho it's a 'referb' or 'parts watch'.  Not 'original' and not 'worth' much more in reality than similar guts with a 'refinished' Vn dial installed in a high grade 'Ruby' etc aftmkt case.  In other words it is a 'Frankenstein' like we put together even if the replacement parts came from rsc.  It might pass as 'genuine' to many but it is not 'original'.

 

One $$ saving step down from a Frankenstein:

A carefully assembled 'MBK' etc case with fresh ETA and 'refinished' dial is just as good and almost no one can tell the difference...but it ain't gen-u-ine at all.