DayDate II

[RobbieG]

I was at my AD yesterday and looked at another one closely in yellow gold. My God, what an utter failure. Even seeing it in the case is annoying. The bulbous shape of the case, the out of proportion fluted bezel are bad enough. But the bracelet? I mean what are they thinking. The exact same bracelet with only a larger endlink? Come on Rolex. You have to be kidding when that is what you call a new design. The one I saw had Romans and they even recycled the same indices from the smaller watch which actually make them harder, not easier to read. Just dreadful. And my friend the AD said they are a total flop sales wise too. They are not appealing to his youth market and only being grabbed by collectors who already have several other Rolex watches just looking for something to buy to pass the time. If you haven't really looked at these things, go to your AD and grab one, then grab a 36MM one in the same configuration and compare them - seeing what Rolex did which was to just make a new case and end link and recycle everything else. So lame. Why anyone would patronize such a cop out - especially at those inflated prices is beyond me.

[DemonSlayer]

Robbie, I haven't seen one in the flesh, but I have similar feelings to you on this one. The recent trend has been to oversize everything, if sales do flop for this model, I hope Rolex learn their lesson that the idea to oversize such a classic watch was a total disaster. The DD will always be the 36mm model, no matter what Rolex try to do with it. It's such a iconic watch, and has been a symbol of Rolex for many years now, there was no need to tamper with it, I'm sure it's selling in high numbers still (along with the DJ).

[RobbieG]

Yeah I am of that opinion too, although that wasn't really what I was after here. It sort of goes beyond a size opinion or loyalty to the original. I just think it is obviously a pi*s poor cop-out design not bothering to even scale up the parts of the watch to fit the new size. So lame. And yes, my guy did confirm what you say though also. He was recently at Rolex in Switzerland and a memeber of management there said they will never stop making the DJ or DD in their current forms. Bread and butter for them. Rolex won't reveal percenteges but they did manage to tell him that the original DD and DJ's are by FAR the best sellers in the line and they are just trying to add value by expansion with the bigger watches. But make no mistake, the DDII is a flop at the sales level. They just aren't selling like Rolex thought they would with the size craze. It was a critical error really. Rolex assumed that people who want a big watch will not buy another one and were sort of waiting for Rolex to make one. The truth is that it isn't just the size. People aren't stupid. They may love the traditional Rolex model but they can clearly see that the other alternative brands for larger watches are just doing a better job at designing big watches. IMO it is because a BIG and ELEGANT watch is an oxymoron. The big watches that are drawing the attention and selling today are the sporty ones - or at least more cutting edge designs. Rolex should have at least known they weren't going to get away with slapping the same dial, hands, indices, bracelet, etc. in a big out of proportion case, call it a new design and get away with it. The point being that anyone who doesn't like the original DD because of its size isn't going to jump on this without a thought just because it is larger when there are so many other choices out there - hence the low run rate on these...

Robbie, I haven't seen one in the flesh, but I have similar feelings to you on this one. The recent trend has been to oversize everything, if sales do flop for this model, I hope Rolex learn their lesson that the idea to oversize such a classic watch was a total disaster. The DD will always be the 36mm model, no matter what Rolex try to do with it. It's such a iconic watch, and has been a symbol of Rolex for many years now, there was no need to tamper with it, I'm sure it's selling in high numbers still (along with the DJ).

[jnkay]

Yeah I am of that opinion too, although that wasn't really what I was after here. It sort of goes beyond a size opinion or loyalty to the original. I just think it is obviously a pi*s poor cop-out design not bothering to even scale up the parts of the watch to fit the new size. So lame. And yes, my guy did confirm what you say though also. He was recently at Rolex in Switzerland and a memeber of management there said they will never stop making the DJ or DD in their current forms. Bread and butter for them. Rolex won't reveal percenteges but they did manage to tell him that the original DD and DJ's are by FAR the best sellers in the line and they are just trying to add value by expansion with the bigger watches. But make no mistake, the DDII is a flop at the sales level. They just aren't selling like Rolex thought they would with the size craze. It was a critical error really. Rolex assumed that people who want a big watch will not buy another one and were sort of waiting for Rolex to make one. The truth is that it isn't just the size. People aren't stupid. They may love the traditional Rolex model but they can clearly see that the other alternative brands for larger watches are just doing a better job at designing big watches. IMO it is because a BIG and ELEGANT watch is an oxymoron. The big watches that are drawing the attention and selling today are the sporty ones - or at least more cutting edge designs. Rolex should have at least known they weren't going to get away with slapping the same dial, hands, indices, bracelet, etc. in a big out of proportion case, call it a new design and get away with it. The point being that anyone who doesn't like the original DD because of its size isn't going to jump on this without a thought just because it is larger when there are so many other choices out there - hence the low run rate on these...

Agree. I was excited about the DDII until I saw one in the flesh. It just doesn't work. All the elegance and proportion of the original are lost.