Quote:
Originally Posted by sportsfan0704
It may sound trivial but I no longer see the medium santos as worth the price at 6800. If you add tax, you’re up to around 7,500 and while the 8 year warranty is nice, you can get a Rolex for that price in better proportions. Bonus value for used. The santos is an icon, albeit an imperfect one because while the no date option on the medium size is preferable, it is also too small for a lot of people at 35mm. The dimensions of the larger model don’t work for everyone either, and the date is a turn off for some.
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Having owned a White OP39 (and a Hulk for that matter), I don't see how much Rolex and Cartier have that much to do with each other than roughly being the same price (though the Santos does occupy a similar space in my current collection). Value and feature level wise, I think a Santos Medium and a OP36 are roughly equivalent to each other and not that different in size. (similarly since Rolex upsized the OP39 to 41mm, it would be that way for the large Santos). Rolex has a nicer movement and is a fairly refined but a somewhat generic Rolex, though the colored dials make it less so. The Santos is arguably more nicely finished and interesting in design, with the benefit of a nice strap switch system. It's also a nice bit dressier.
Don't get me wrong, I loved owning/wearing my OP39 in white, but it wasn't exactly the most dynamic watch design.
It certainly be nicer if the medium Santos was a bit closer in price, but I don't think a +~$1k price difference is going to keep somebody from buying a Santos over an OP if they like it better. Plus as Dino notes, you can actually get one without being somebody special.
I do think the size gap between the Medium and the Large is a bit too much. I was worried about the Large being too big on me originally and lamenting that the dark dial options weren't present on the Medium, but after trying both sizes on, it was clear the Medium was more "too small" for me than the Large was "too big" for me.
While I think a Santos that was somewhere in between the Medium and Large in size would work for a lot of people, I do think it's important to remember that not every watch can be everything to all people and sometimes choices just have to get made. That's not a good thing or a bad thing, it just is what it is sometimes.