Rolex Forums - Rolex Watch Forum - View Single Post - Apple vs Rolex--the post you've all been waiting for...

eltonbalch · 14 September 2017, 03:10 AM

So...on July 3 I went to the “dark side” and gave in to the Apple Watch hype. I wore it for two months straight, every day until September 2 and here is my brief take. To give some perspective, I have been collecting, buying and selling, and enjoying Swiss watches for almost 50 years and have owned a dozen Rolex watches since 1997 (I currently have four).

On the plus side, it's the missing piece in my ongoing excercise program. For the last two weeks of July and all of August I met or exceeded my daily exercise goals (690 calories per day, one hour of exercise, and standing for at least one minute twelve times a day). Exercises, heart rate, walks, etc are all saved to the iPhone health app. During that time, I lost ten pounds, moved my resting heart rate into the low 60’s, and dropped to a 34 waist from 36. For reference, I'm currently 72 and have tried to engage in regular exercise my whole adult life.

On the negative side, it is still a (relatively) unattractive piece of electronic gear and has lots of functions I will never use. I haven't reached the point where I'm too lazy to take my phone out to check emails or messages, I don't use it for music and I'm sure not going to wear an Apple Watch on one wrist and a Rolex on the other. Based on my use, I've memorized the exercise patterns so I now know what I need to do to (mostly) meet my exercise goals--I don't need an electronic nudge to remind me. For ongoing use I will likely wear it on an intermittent basis or when I exercise to save workouts and continue to measure progress.

Unfortunately, I can also see how future iterations are bad news for the mechanical Watch industry and I think this is reflected in a definite softening in sales. No one really “needs” a watch because we are surrounded by phones and tablets where the time is constantly displayed. It's not going to affect me (I'm wearing my SD 4000 right now) but I believe a real consolidation in the industry is just around the corner.

No flames please, but I'm curious to see what others think!

14 September 2017, 03:10 AM	#1
eltonbalch "TRF" Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Cambridge, NY Posts: 1,089	Apple vs Rolex--the post you've all been waiting for... So...on July 3 I went to the “dark side” and gave in to the Apple Watch hype. I wore it for two months straight, every day until September 2 and here is my brief take. To give some perspective, I have been collecting, buying and selling, and enjoying Swiss watches for almost 50 years and have owned a dozen Rolex watches since 1997 (I currently have four). On the plus side, it's the missing piece in my ongoing excercise program. For the last two weeks of July and all of August I met or exceeded my daily exercise goals (690 calories per day, one hour of exercise, and standing for at least one minute twelve times a day). Exercises, heart rate, walks, etc are all saved to the iPhone health app. During that time, I lost ten pounds, moved my resting heart rate into the low 60’s, and dropped to a 34 waist from 36. For reference, I'm currently 72 and have tried to engage in regular exercise my whole adult life. On the negative side, it is still a (relatively) unattractive piece of electronic gear and has lots of functions I will never use. I haven't reached the point where I'm too lazy to take my phone out to check emails or messages, I don't use it for music and I'm sure not going to wear an Apple Watch on one wrist and a Rolex on the other. Based on my use, I've memorized the exercise patterns so I now know what I need to do to (mostly) meet my exercise goals--I don't need an electronic nudge to remind me. For ongoing use I will likely wear it on an intermittent basis or when I exercise to save workouts and continue to measure progress. Unfortunately, I can also see how future iterations are bad news for the mechanical Watch industry and I think this is reflected in a definite softening in sales. No one really “needs” a watch because we are surrounded by phones and tablets where the time is constantly displayed. It's not going to affect me (I'm wearing my SD 4000 right now) but I believe a real consolidation in the industry is just around the corner. No flames please, but I'm curious to see what others think!