Should Rolex be worried, long term?

[10klakes]

Originally Posted by Cwillis0001

Well you're right that it's about status and being able to show it. Of course, it's about status right now, today. That doesn't necessarily mean it'll be a status symbol twenty or thirty years from now. Think of some of the status symbols from the past and it's almost laughable how out of vogue they are now. Pianos in the living room, new encyclopedia sets every year, time shares, fine china, etc etc etc.



You say that mechanical watches are "in." That's definitely true but it's worth noting that if something has the ability to be "in", it also has the ability to be "out." Of course, only time will tell.

I do not disagree that mechanical watches could go out of style.

But.... displaying wealth, wearing luxury goods, and telling time, all are here to stay. How one chooses to do any of the above can change.

As long as Rolex can maintain their brand status, it won’t be a fad, it will always mean something to someone to be wearing a Rolex.

[Speedbird-1]

This beautiful piece, was probably the Rolex Daytona of it's day.
Unfortunately, the manufacturers, failed to see the future for timekeeping and
invest in the new, portable timepieces.

[Speedbird-1]

Or, did they?

[peterskinner]

Easy to forget that fashions change. At some point, few people may be interested in mechanical watches. We just can’t know.

[dchernikoff]

Originally Posted by Cwillis0001

Well you're right that it's about status and being able to show it. Of course, it's about status right now, today. That doesn't necessarily mean it'll be a status symbol twenty or thirty years from now. Think of some of the status symbols from the past and it's almost laughable how out of vogue they are now. Pianos in the living room, new encyclopedia sets every year, time shares, fine china, etc etc etc.
...

Uh oh. I have a piano in my living room, two time shares (now called "vacation ownership"), and two sets of fine china. And two Rolexes. It's official, I'm a dinosaur!!!

Funny thing is, I own all those "status symbols" not to show off but because I use them! I play piano, I like to go on vacation, and I like fine mechanical watches. The China is on my wife, though, I could get rid of that in a heartbeat!

-Dan

[dtwer]

Originally Posted by Cwillis0001

A 25 or 30K motorcycle that in the vast majority of cases is no one's primary mode of transportation and gets ridden maybe a thousand miles a year? I would certainly call that a discretionary bordering on luxury purchase. And like Rolex it has a pretty die hard yet quickly aging clientele in a lot of cases. Also like Rolex, a lot of Harley buyers were motivated by big name recognition and the promise of "holding value" on the secondary market.

I would have to say the comparison of Harley Davidson and Rolex is akin to comparing apple to orange.

Do you know the main drivers that contribute to Harley Davidson's current ability (or inability) to draw in new buyers?

Bear in mind. The fact that motorcycle is a machine that gets ridden a thousand miles a year is hardly the reason for Harley Davidson's declining sales. BMW, Ducati, Triumph, KTM, and Indian are all posting steady growth in motorcycle sales.

[Cwillis0001]

Originally Posted by dtwer

Do you know the main drivers that contribute to Harley Davidson's current ability (or inability) to draw in new buyers?

Bear in mind. The fact that motorcycle is a machine that gets ridden a thousand miles a year is hardly the reason for Harley Davidson's declining sales. BMW, Ducati, Triumph, KTM, and Indian are all posting steady growth in motorcycle sales.

Out of all the reasons, of which there are many, I think the main one is that many of the current generation equates Harley with aging pretentious Dbags who are stockbrokers all week and dress up like pirates during weekend poker runs. In short, it's an image problem. The European brands are doing a lot better because they didn't choose to put all their eggs in the high end nostalgia basket and have actually changed with the times over the last few decades. Adapt or die. Harley used to be an aspirational brand. Now, not so much.

I'm a Triumph guy, for the record.

[rhallmcp]

I always joke that my apple watch ended up costing me over $16,000!

Simply put, i stopped wearing watches years ago, but i bought an apple watch a few years ago... since i didnt mind wearing watches again, then along came a few Rolex's.

[SeaAndSky]

Of course. I love wrist watches but they are becoming more of an anachronism to be sure.

[jrgannon]

I think tastes will change and mechanical watches will eventually be less desirable to younger generations. Similar to what happened to pocket watches

[Tavli3]

The Apple watch and Rolex will coexist just fine. Rolex is a piece of jewelry as much as it is a time piece. So Rolex at some point in the future may go from the preferred all day everyday time piece to the time piece when I go out to dinner, club, show etc.

Lots of my friends where Apple's because they're big golfers and the golf feature is pretty cool. They also like to keep track of how many steps they do each day. I don't play golf and I walk 5-6 miles every day so I don't have to count steps.

But as another poster mentioned when and not if Apple develops advanced medical features into the watch such as cholesterol, blood pressure monitoring and EKGs to name a few, I will be a buyer and wearer of an Apple watch.

Doesn't mean my Rolexes become foster childs, they just have to share their bedroom.