Originally Posted by jmjm
I disagree, young fellow. You must be a second or third generation Asian.
No one would buy a Rolex and not know the significance of owning one. They may not know much about the model numbers of the movements, and the difference between a Z or M series, but they know exactly what a Rolex is and why they got one. It is not necessarily as shallow as you might put it.
Looking into Asian history, Western culture was the symbol of the future. As for Korea, our parents' generation lived and survived through the first and second World War, and also the Korean War. They still retell the stories of eating plant roots like Scarlet O'Hara, running away from the communists, relying on the Americans to leave them a pack of GI issue leftovers now and then. As a symbol of hope and everything good, were things that came from Europe and America. The iconic hero such as General McArthur were images of everything that were beyond the senseless and meaningless life that they grew up with. Owing an Rolex is not a simple matter of "making it" because no one is dumb enough to think that working 365 days is "making it". Owning a Rolex is somehow symbolizing that "American Dream" that our 1st generation parents came to this country with, with nothing more that the clothes on their backs and $50 in their pockets. I have uncles who came to this country as a foreign students, going to a college, working part time in the laundromat, eating cans of "Dogfood" to "make it". From a life like that, only one motivation helped them survive, as like the Vikings, they had "burned their ships" upon entering this country. Besides God of course, the sole motivation that kept them going was the hope of being a "business" owner in America, whether it be a dry-cleaner, liquor store, a market, a transmission store, janitorial services, anything as long as they could call it their own. I think they deserve credit to strong enough to survive in a country where they have no families, and don't even speak the language.
I remember growing up in Korea, admiring my dad's watch whose brand name was "Orient". Back in those days, all watches were mechanical. The status symbol for a "Salary man" (A term used in Japan and Korea which has long been faded away) was of course Seiko. But even in those days, the Rolls Royce of watches were of course a Rolex, that only diplomats and presidents of large companies had access to. Even then, they knew what a ROLEX was. Just like the origins of the name of ROLEX itself, it was the Rolls Royce of all watches. (ROLLS ROYCE + TIMEX)
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