Should Rolex make Subs more rare

[50L]

in my country the wait is 5-6 years. seems pretty rare to me! belgium europe

[minute_man]

Originally Posted by 50L

in my country the wait is 5-6 years. seems pretty rare to me! belgium europe

Welcome to the forum.

5-6 years from an AD vs readily available from a grey...

You might want to rethink your definition of rarity.

Congrats on your new Submariner, we would be more interested seeing some pictures, for our viewing pleasure, than hearing about the route of acquisition.

And on the original question, the Sub is a dime a dozen and has always been, in the watch enthusiasts circle. Rolex should keep churning out as many as they see fit. Like they've always done. Medium rare for me, please.

[Driver8]

As others have said countless times, there is no such thing as a "rare" modern Rolex watch (as long as you are talking about the standard catalogue pieces).

Rolex make VAST numbers of watches a year (~1m) which is more than any other luxury watch brand. Just because every man and his dog seems to feel they just HAVE to own Rolexes these days doesn't make them rare. There are literally millions of Subs out there, and at any one time there are thousands for sale on C24 and other platforms.

Do I think Rolex should make less to make them more rare? No. Why would we want them to be more rare? Sounds to me like the OP is thinking about the dreaded "investment" and "future value" again.

As someone else said in this thread, it's all very much an "NFT mentality" these days, when really we should be more concerned about true watch fans being able to buy and enjoy wearing the pieces they like.

[DLRIDES]

I’ve never understood the whole “Subs are everywhere”, “Subs are common”, “Everybody has a Submariner”, etc. This may be somewhat true in the watch community, or possibly in certain social circles, but not mass public environments. Except at a watch gathering, I have only noticed two Submariners, and maybe five Rolex in total through the past ten years.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by DLRIDES

I’ve never understood the whole “Subs are everywhere”, “Subs are common”, “Everybody has a Submariner”, etc. This may be somewhat true in the watch community, or possibly in certain social circles, but not mass public environments. Except at a watch gathering, I have only noticed two Submariners, and maybe five Rolex in total through the past ten years.

Same here Don

I guess we hang out with....


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[APPRF]

Originally Posted by omar-rye

I think there’s less 16610LV’s in the world than Hulks…and the flat 4 MK1 with the y serial is definitely rarer than the Hulk

I doubt it. The Hulks were unwanted for the first 6 years of their production and not many were produced, even when it became popular ADs were not getting much compared to black Sub. Regarding flat 4 I agree, I forgot about that, but still it's just a different font on the bezel and all Subs at the same production time had the flat 4. I mean all black, TT, and gold Subs.

[DLRIDES]

Originally Posted by brandrea

Same here Don

I guess we hang out with....


Attachment 1333371

Probably a bit of truth ……………….

[Rufoad]

Originally Posted by Seamaster59

So they aren't so common?

No need to increase production...

For many members on this Forum, they are fairly Pedestrian & yet, still in high demand.

[zengineer]

Originally Posted by Seamaster59

So they aren't so common?

They tried making them uglier for a decade or so but it didn't even wag the needle.

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[GB-man]

Should bmw make the 3 series more rare?

[adawil2002]

Originally Posted by GB-man

Should bmw make the 3 series more rare?

BMW did with the horrid Beaver Tooth grills.

Rolex has only one ugly watch the Yacht Master II due to the enormous bezel type. Birds of a feather.

I have aged out of the target market.

[zengineer]

Originally Posted by GB-man

Should bmw make the 3 series more rare?

But then what would the poor people drive?

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[Krash]

Originally Posted by DLRIDES

I’ve never understood the whole “Subs are everywhere”, “Subs are common”, “Everybody has a Submariner”, etc. This may be somewhat true in the watch community, or possibly in certain social circles, but not mass public environments. Except at a watch gathering, I have only noticed two Submariners, and maybe five Rolex in total through the past ten years.

Yes, I never understood it either. There are 8 billion people on this planet. I’m guessing the amount of people with a Submariner is a fraction of 1 percent.

However, TRF subscribers undoubtedly live a much more privileged life than the average human being, so we’re far more likely to see other Submariners in our daily adventures.

Bottom line: It’s okay to live in a bubble, but it’s something you should at least be cognizant of.


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[rolexpatek363]

Originally Posted by Devildog

Because in the UK in 1999/2000/2001 Subs were sitting in many ADs windows.

Not in my experience, and my guide dog agrees.

[Tools]

Sure... They're so common that we get excited when we actually see one in-the-wild once a month or so.

[Chewbacca]

An 8 year wait is appropriate

[Driver8]

It seems people are not understanding the concept of 'rarity' very well. I'm not sure if anyone has said they see Subs everywhere (because obviously that's complete nonsense), but in the grand scheme of watches alone, Subs (and indeed many other Rolexes) are not objectively rare items when it comes to absolute numbers.

OK so there's 8bn people on the planet. If there are, for example, 8m Submariners out there, then yes it means that only 1 in every 1000 people has one (assuming, for the sake of simplicity that no-one owns more than one). Does that make it rare? In terms of numbers of watches per head of population, then yes it is. But if for example the next most popular watch (let's just assume it's the Omega Seamaster for example) only has 800,000 pieces out there, it means that only 1 in every 10,000 people own one. By it's very definition, this means that of those two watches, the Seamaster is 10x more rare than the Sub... because there are 10x the number of Subs out there.

Rolex currently makes ~1m watches in total per year, and they've been making a version of the Sub since the '50's, so there are a lot of Subs out there. In contrast it's understood that Patek for example, have only made around 1m watches in total since they were formed in 1839. Therefore, relatively speaking, Pateks are vastly more rare than Rolexes.

So yes I will agree that it's fair to say that ALL wristwatches ever made are rare in relation to the global population as a whole. But, in terms of watches alone, the likes of the Sub are undoubtedly one of the least rare luxury watches on the planet.

Incidentally this isn't bashing the Sub as I own one myself and I absolutely adore it; it's just simple facts guys.

[omar-rye]

Originally Posted by DLRIDES

I’ve never understood the whole “Subs are everywhere”, “Subs are common”, “Everybody has a Submariner”, etc. This may be somewhat true in the watch community, or possibly in certain social circles, but not mass public environments. Except at a watch gathering, I have only noticed two Submariners, and maybe five Rolex in total through the past ten years.

Exactly. I’m the only one with a Sub in my village

[Krash]

Originally Posted by Driver8

It seems people are not understanding the concept of 'rarity' very well. I'm not sure if anyone has said they see Subs everywhere (because obviously that's complete nonsense), but in the grand scheme of watches alone, Subs (and indeed many other Rolexes) are not objectively rare items when it comes to absolute numbers.

OK so there's 8bn people on the planet. If there are, for example, 8m Submariners out there, then yes it means that only 1 in every 1000 people has one (assuming, for the sake of simplicity that no-one owns more than one). Does that make it rare? In terms of numbers of watches per head of population, then yes it is. But if for example the next most popular watch (let's just assume it's the Omega Seamaster for example) only has 800,000 pieces out there, it means that only 1 in every 10,000 people own one. By it's very definition, this means that of those two watches, the Seamaster is 10x more rare than the Sub... because there are 10x the number of Subs out there.

Rolex currently makes ~1m watches in total per year, and they've been making a version of the Sub since the '50's, so there are a lot of Subs out there. In contrast it's understood that Patek for example, have only made around 1m watches in total since they were formed in 1839. Therefore, relatively speaking, Pateks are vastly more rare than Rolexes.

So yes I will agree that it's fair to say that ALL wristwatches ever made are rare in relation to the global population as a whole. But, in terms of watches alone, the likes of the Sub are undoubtedly one of the least rare luxury watches on the planet.

Incidentally this isn't bashing the Sub as I own one myself and I absolutely adore it; it's just simple facts guys.

You can make an argument that platinum is not rare either if you compare it to tantalum. Either way, both are rare metals. The Submariner and Seamaster aren’t watches that the average person wears.


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[JoeJoeBobo]

Yes….release one of each reference a year should make ‘em rare enough for ya.

[WilsdorfNDavis]

That'd be like Honda stopping production of Accords or Corollas...

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by WilsdorfNDavis

That'd be like Honda stopping production of Accords or Corollas...

Or the Super Cub

[JRell]

Bite your tongue.

[gwozhog]

Get a seadweller if you want an uncommon sub

[WilsdorfNDavis]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

Or the Super Cub

That's a cool collab!

[jets]

Goes against the whole idea of making money by selling goods.

[mfm22]

No.

[Jackie Daytona]

No.

[Rebel]

No.

[daveo5]

I have my 14060M no-date from 2009, bought new from an AD. It’s in for its first service. I’m wearing a seldom seen Patek model Neptune, not a rarity. A rare watch model is one with six pieces or less of the same. Look at Patek’s ultra-complication models. One maybe two or three made. That’s rare. The Sub will never be rare.


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