do you think rolex is losing its appeal?

[triton]

went for the talk @ tempus by dr bernard cheong. in his presentation. he mentioned that rolex produces about 850k watches a year.

for these couple of months, been visting my AD about twice a month. each time im there, i see that there is stock for explorer II. about several years back, there is hardly any stock available. it is such a different scenario now.

it seems that these days, supply is greater than demand. is it why the buying price for resale value explorer II is getting lower?

these days, it seems that the younger generation aka the 20s and 30s are more tech savy and with the booming internet sharing of information, rolex does not seem to be the watch to get for status symbol. in the past, people who are currently in their 50s and 60s get rolex to show that they have reach a certain monetary status. most chinese towkays will get rolex and mercedes.

these days, the mercedes has evolved. they are incorprating newer gadets such as parktronics, GPS, bluetooth as additional features in the cars. however, has rolex done the same like producing perpetual calendar, power reserve? over the years, functionality watches are restricted to chronograph, Day date and date just, water resistant and the bling.

how come they revive the milgauss? is it because, they too realise that they losing market share? they no longer capturing the young aka 20s and 30s market share? the turn-o-graph, arty design of the daytona, more choices of dials for the air king. are these the signs showing they are changing/expanding their collection to attempt to capture the younger market?

[keltzar]

possibly.

But if the new yachtmaster II is anything to go by... they need a new design department.

The Exp II is now considered an old model. If you look at some of the new ones e.g. GMT-2 116710, these are still in short supply.

rolex has always been a more conservative company than most. If you are talking about stuff like perpetual calenders... arent these watches also reputed to be finicky i.e. less reliable?

if there is one thing rolex needs to do more of... is to find themes to relate to for the younger generation.

[minusplus]

Does it matter?

More importantly, I think one should go out and get a rolex because he genuinely likes the watch and wants to own it. It really doesn't matter whether it appeals to the younger ones or not.

[triton]

Does it matter?

it does in a way. why? u like rolex, that is why buy it. however, thru the years, if it loses its appeal and the brands becomes oblivion, would you not feel the heartache?

[kermit e froggy]

Losing appeal???

IMO, Rolex still has the market out there but may not be a very impressive watch to look at when other makers surpass the standard or a new watch trend comes into a different level.

It's has to be a watch mechanical nut to appreciate when Rolex has perfect their simple mechanism to highest level, be it in deep water or high altitude. Any objections?

To be honest with all, the watch can be of any brand anyone owns but the value of the watch lies in how far and how much it has put onto the wrist of ours. Personally, I appreciate one of the forum member's Dad who uses his SD for commerial diving which I believe the watch has alot to tell.

[keltzar]

I think the best compliment was paid by Frank Muller, who said that he thought rolex watches were great value for money ... reasonable prices for the quality they offer.

It's different strokes to different people i suppose. For what rolex costs, other options include high end omega, Panerai and some IWC.

But somehow, for me I still gravitate to the rolex ... and some of my other "wanted' models by IWC and Omega are still languishing on the "to buy" list.

[triton]

does it matter to you if rolex is machine made rather than hand made?

producing about 850 000 a year. that is close to 70 000 pieces a month using machines. does it matter to you?

[profjohn]

No it doesn't. Check out Vogard watches (vogard.com). The watchmaker himself will contact you if you submit a request for information and you get to tell the watchmaker if you want any thing personalised onto it like engravings etc. The complications are all in-house developed by Michael Vogt but I doubt if they're 100% machine made. His watches are a little pricier than Rolex, at £4-5000.


Here in the UK, it seems like the younger generation of professionals gravitate to other brands like Rado and Omega. One senior lecturer in my department in his 30s told me straight to my face that Rolex is not for young people like us. I've just started my academic career in a provincial English university so I'm not expected to have 'arrived there' yet. Personally, I think I went for Rolex because of it's popularity in Singapore culture. I do feel that the demand for Rolex in Europe is still exceeding supplies as there's no discount given at all.

[ohlins]

rolex movements are assembled by hand............of cos machines and robots are used at other stages.....



what makes u think other brands are fully handmade...?....

[triton]

rolex movements are assembled by hand............of cos machines and robots are used at other stages.....



what makes u think other brands are fully handmade...?....

interesting excerpt you have.

i ask does it matter to you if rolex is machine made rather than hand made? i did not say other brands are fully handmade.

[ohlins]

it's not interesting at all......it can be found in all rolex catalogs.....

and your question is meaningless cos rolex is not machine made.....

[triton]

it depends on how one define machine made. cheers

[Watch-connoisseur]

You’ll certainly hear no objections from me regarding criticisms as to the price of Rolex watches. When I started collecting watches many years ago, the idea of purchasing one, let alone several Rolex watches just didn’t seem feasible, or make sense.

It seemed there were always other choices to consider that were less expensive. However, as the years went on, I realised how wrong am I. Rolex is more than just a watch and has a place in watch history. They virtually invented the modern day wristwatch, the water resistant case, and the self-winding mechanism among other innovations and contributions.

They also produce more COSC certified watches than any other watch maker, and have done so for many years. Rolex is one of the FEW watch houses that produces their own movements.

In fact, Rolex meticulously controls the production of nearly every last part, in every last component that are used in their watches. It’s one of the reasons why their watches cost more, and one of the things that makes Rolex so special.

RESALE – You never know when a financial disaster will hit. The nice thing about buying a Rolex is, they can be sold quickly and at minimal loss.

Over the years, ROLEX has become famous for 'over-engineering' their watches. They've exposed them to the most outrageous of conditions, dating back to the first oyster which braved the english channel, the EXPLORER conquered MT. Everest, the experimental submariner tested to a record depth of 3150m and in Year 1960, broke its own record to 11000m in depth and last but not least, Milgauss warded off massive electro-magnetic fields.

Rolex watches have broken the sound barrier and even experienced the zero-gravity of space.

Founder of rolex company, Hans wilsdorf was only 24 when he partner with Alfred james davis in 1905 with the name Wilsdorf & Davis Ltd. It wasn't until 1915, Wilsdorf & Davis Ltd was offically renamed : The Rolex Watch Company Ltd.

Over the years, rolex continued to improve the design and test their watch, the history of rolex is so rich and colourful that it makes it so special just by wearing the watch.

If there's is one watch that you can only afford, just go for the ROLEX and you won't look back. Cheers

[siambee]

well say Watch-connoisseur bro, guess many of us here owns at least 1 or more rolex, and guess the ans is clears.

[minusplus]

You’ll certainly hear no objections from me regarding criticisms as to the price of Rolex watches. When I started collecting watches many years ago, the idea of purchasing one, let alone several Rolex watches just didn’t seem feasible, or make sense.

It seemed there were always other choices to consider that were less expensive. However, as the years went on, I realised how wrong am I. Rolex is more than just a watch and has a place in watch history. They virtually invented the modern day wristwatch, the water resistant case, and the self-winding mechanism among other innovations and contributions.

They also produce more COSC certified watches than any other watch maker, and have done so for many years. Rolex is one of the FEW watch houses that produces their own movements.

In fact, Rolex meticulously controls the production of nearly every last part, in every last component that are used in their watches. It’s one of the reasons why their watches cost more, and one of the things that makes Rolex so special.

RESALE – You never know when a financial disaster will hit. The nice thing about buying a Rolex is, they can be sold quickly and at minimal loss.

Over the years, ROLEX has become famous for 'over-engineering' their watches. They've exposed them to the most outrageous of conditions, dating back to the first oyster which braved the english channel, the EXPLORER conquered MT. Everest, the experimental submariner tested to a record depth of 3150m and in Year 1960, broke its own record to 11000m in depth and last but not least, Milgauss warded off massive electro-magnetic fields.

Rolex watches have broken the sound barrier and even experienced the zero-gravity of space.

Founder of rolex company, Hans wilsdorf was only 24 when he partner with Alfred james davis in 1905 with the name Wilsdorf & Davis Ltd. It wasn't until 1915, Wilsdorf & Davis Ltd was offically renamed : The Rolex Watch Company Ltd.

Over the years, rolex continued to improve the design and test their watch, the history of rolex is so rich and colourful that it makes it so special just by wearing the watch.

If there's is one watch that you can only afford, just go for the ROLEX and you won't look back. Cheers

Think I read this article somewhere... Looks similar...