Case of Buyers Remorse...

[Rags]

You must have wanted a rolex at some point to purchase it. As long as your bills are paid & no one in your family needs anything then treating yourself shouldn't be a problem. Every time you look at it on your wrist you'll feel better.

[AK797]

If the watch has such a high opportunity cost for you and your family then you can sell it. However as these keep their value very well, might be an idea to wear and enjoy for a few months and then sell it for a family vacay.

[HONDABBQ]

I felt the same what after acquiring my first. I drive through a not so great part of town to get to work everyday, and I used to and still do sometimes, wow how could this 9k helped out that guy or girl. or, I could have put this 9k on my mortgage.
I talked to my friend who has been at this for 20 years or so. this was the analogies he posed to me. He said its better than spending money on a big trip as the trip is finished once you get home or you can keep the watch for 10 years, enjoy it, and sell it for what you paid. Its a Rolex, if you need fast liquid cash you can get it.

I thought about what he said and if I want or need to I can sell any of them to finish my mortgage if I wanted or need to, plus I can enjoy it for 10 years.

As long as your not jeopardizing your families future with a purchase, and all associated parties are fine with it, take the plunge and wear it, and enjoy the work put in to attain it.

[yxc145]

Originally Posted by Jedi5

My remorse has nothing to do with the watch.
I really love the watch, everything I was expecting and then some.

My remorse is from the cost.
I just can't justify the cost on myself.
Not sure if that made sense.
The cost on just one person.

I keep thinking boy, with this money the family could go on a vacation or
something along those lines.
Where the money is spent on the family and not just on me.
I feel selfish.
I hate that feeling.

I understand. This is probably your first and only luxury watch and prior to that, you probably only owned a watch that works and tells time. Does what you need. You didn't need the Rolex and just got it because you thought it would be nice to own one. I get it. It's like driving a regular car for years and that's all you really needed. One day you decide to buy a sports car that you can barely afford. You think it is too nice and just park it in the garage and admire it. And now you are thinking you shouldn't have done that.
Well! the good news is.... you won't lose (too much) money on it if you decided to sell it now. So, give it a week, wear it, and if you still have the same thought. Sell it.

[Nikrnic]

You bought the watch because you wanted it. Obviously you love and care for your family. I'm just thinking you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. It seems to me you deserve to have and enjoy it.

[ajas]

Bought mine in 2012. Ok, I had to pay lump sum at front but after 5 years it represents 4.3 Usd a day and longer I keep daily cost is less.
Ok.. I will have to add 750 usd for service next year....but I will get literally new watch back.
No regrets

[prozac51]

Send pics pls. Nothing more enjoyable than to share pics of your 'Barely Worn' sub.

On another note, hold up your sub against a cheaper watch. The weight, tactile turn of the bezel and winding should convince you it's nothing short of legendary.

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[ddaly12]

Gotta make sure your house is in order before you go buy some nice toys. Otherwise, you should feel bad, guilty, remorse, whatever. Take care of business first.

[superdog]

give it some time. that feeling goes away.

but it depends on your finances. either way, you will not take a hit on this watch. or at least not a big one. they are just going up in demand. so if you ever need the money, it won't be an issue to move it.

you live one time. and maybe you should be a little selfish.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by ddaly12

Gotta make sure your house is in order before you go buy some nice toys. Otherwise, you should feel bad, guilty, remorse, whatever. Take care of business first.

also agree with this.

but it depends on how deep you go. some would say get rid of all debt, including a mortgage before buying luxury items.

some would say a mortgage is a good way to leverage money.

the point I am trying to make is that it is all relative. but agree with ddaly. if your house is in order, based on your perspective, then keep it. if not, sell it and move on.

[Mystro]

Rolex is a luxury purchase. If you can’t accept it in that category, it will seem uncomfortable spending that kind of money on it. It’s a normal reaction you are having and sometimes buying a watch at this price point for a monumental occasion makes wearing and justifying it easier at first. I recomend wearing the watch for 2 weeks strait and make it part of your routine. Think of your Rolex purchase as the last watch you ever will need to buy and begin start making memories with it on your wrist. It’s the memories with the watch on your wrist that will ease any guilt of purchase.

[subtona]

Absolutely have had buyers remorse and it usually has passed and left only joy behind.


If you are concerned with the family being shortchanged in the deal, just commit future fun money to them. Your watch will bring you joy for the rest of your years.

[Jedi5]

All, thanks again for the insightful information and sharing your experiences when some of you were in the boat as I find myself currently.

No, this purchase in no way set my family back financially.
If it would have or I thought it would have, I would have never made such a purchase.

It's the feeling of being selfish that is bothering me.
Nothing more.

Here is the example I can share with you I guess.
From my username, I'm a huge Star Wars fan.
I'll be your resident Star Wars nerd.

At onetime, I was huge in vintage SW collectibles.
One of kinds, prototypes, all vintage from 77-90ish.

Then you have kids and I couldn't justify my hobby anymore.
I stopped collecting but kept my collection.
My collection was put away and collected dust for about 10yrs.

Last year I sold about 95% of my collection and with money bought my
wife a BMW.
Now her and kids all enjoy the vehicle.

Who knows, maybe down the road I'll sell the Sub and with the money from the sale I can do something like that again.
Treat the family to something nice!

Thanks again everyone!

[bradyb]

I have "buyer's guilt" every time I spend money on anything - needed or not. And the best way to get over it is to just buy more things. Just joking. Sort of.

[jets]

I just look at it as parking my money. I bought a Deepsea in 2009 for 8500CAD used it like a rented mule until 2015 and sold it for 8000 fast money. We were moving and I wanted to free up some captial. Basically it cost me 100 a year to enjoy a great watch hands clean.

[Casey VP-26]

Its only money, If you love the watch, Wear it and enjoy it. Good Luck.

[worldfamoussam]

I did the same thing with a Sub about six months ago, shortly after buying a Day-Date. I think I was expecting the same sugar high from the second one, and I returned it. If you're not into it and you can return it, I say do so - they'll still sell them later, and you'll have your money for something you really want.

[OgSnowflake]

Who buys their first Rolex and leaves it in the box with the stickers on for a week? You should feel terrible

[RolexDad]

Sleep on it. Then go with your gut.

Maybe give yourself a couple weeks to get used to the idea of the money being in watch-form rather than cash-form. See how you feel at that time, then either strap it on your wrist or start making moves to sell it. Either way, don't beat yourself up about it.

[VicLeChic]

I know how you feel. I've experienced buyer's remorse myself with my first Rolex, a Yacht-Master 116622 plat dial a bit more than two years ago. At the beginning I was thinking about my baby boy. This was purely emotional, not based on a rational reason. I wasn't depriving him from anything. Bills were paid, savings were slowly building up. It's just that I felt guilty of spending that sort of money on a watch. Gorgeous piece but still, felt kind of obscene and inconsiderate. It went on for a couple of months and then I started to really enjoy wearing it. I'm glad I bought it and didn't miss on the opportunity because it’s given me lots of pleasure. It's now discontinued and prices preowned have gone up significantly, higher than what I paid for it new (33% off retail).

This year I was blessed with a baby girl. That didn’t stop me from buying my second Rolex, the SD43. This time around, I didn't go through buyer's remorse. My wife did not approve the purchase at all (“what? You’ve just blown 10k on a watch?”) but I did it out of my own savings, not family's. We have a joint family account and also our own separate accounts each. Anyway, I bought the SD43 first because it's my favorite sports Rolex ever and secondly as an investment. I know it might sound ridiculous to many but I took a punt on a hunch, being an anniversary edition and all that. So it’s a safe queen for now.

My only advice if I may is take your time before you decide what to do. A few years from now you might regret having sold it. Unless you are 100% sure you don’t want it and can return or flip it at no significant loss, give it a month or two. You might feel great about it later. My 2 cents.

[JnmEaton]

You sound like a wonderfully generous person! It's a terrific attribute but I will say that if your wife is okay with the purchase then why aren't you? There are hundreds of "should I buy..." or "am I financially secure enough for a Rolex..." threads but you seems to have the inverse thinking. You are financially secure but think you should spend on others. Enjoy this gift to yourself. I too haven't bought another watch because I have my grail. I'm content. You didn't buy the $30 or $40k PM watch but the very popular SS Sub that will surely hold it's value. I would say you made a thoughtful choice and spent well. Cheers!

[yannis]

OK, so you feel bad about it but you seem to ignore one parameter. Selling the watch can more or less return the same amount you spent acquiring it back to your pocket.

So why not enjoy it for as long as you can and think over it in the longer term?

It is not like you gambled the money or spent it in cologne and booze or even on a brand new car.

You kind of placed it on an asset that is not depreciating. Plus you get the satisfaction of actually wearing the watch (well once you put it out of the box and back on your wrist again). Just think about it from this perspective man.

[rolexchilla]

Sell the watch, spend the money on a trip with your family that you and they will remember for the rest of your lives. The watch holds NO VALUE compared to your family.

[watchwatcher]

I get where you're coming from.

But...to be honest, it sounds like you didn't think it through before pulling the trigger. Not a big deal, just take some time now and put a little reflection into where you're at financially and what your goals are for your family's future. Put pencil to paper and do some number crunching.

If, at the end of the day, the money doesn't make sense for a watch, then dump it and move on. Best of luck,

[rgwarden]

Really interesting and honest thread. I suffered from this a bit with the BLNR (particularly when they started going past RRP!) so as soon as someone offered me more than I paid for it I bit their (Watchfinder) hand off.
Interestingly though I flipped it for cash + a 16570 and have none of the same ‘guilt’ about this watch. Perhaps it’s just ‘what level we’re all comfortable with’ and that level differs for all of us. Some people want a collection of Pateks and if they can afford them that’s fine by me, but the fact that I baulked at £6+K on my wrist suggests I couldn’t really relax wearing one.


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[Tangier11]

I understand your thought process. If the purchase of a luxury item like this takes away or prevents something you or your family needs, then sell the watch and be done with it. However, if you can afford it I would not sweat it at all and enjoy the watch. Like someone else said I can justify it like this. Compared to a LOT of other purchases a good portion of your money is still there, it is just simply on your wrist instead of cash form. If you want or need to sell it chances are you will get the majority of your money back. Not many things you can say that about. I am in the car business and I have used this analogy before. Take a premium car like say a Mercedes S Class. You would spend around $100K for a new S550. In 10 years you will be lucky to get $20K for this car. (This is based on what a used 2007 is selling for now.) Vs a Rolex, even if you bought a not that sought after one I can pretty much promise you that you will have FAR less loss. FAR LESS!!

[yhzdude]

Originally Posted by VicLeChic

I know how you feel. I've experienced buyer's remorse myself with my first Rolex, a Yacht-Master 116622 plat dial a bit more than two years ago. At the beginning I was thinking about my baby boy. This was purely emotional, not based on a rational reason. I wasn't depriving him from anything. Bills were paid, savings were slowly building up. It's just that I felt guilty of spending that sort of money on a watch. Gorgeous piece but still, felt kind of obscene and inconsiderate. It went on for a couple of months and then I started to really enjoy wearing it. I'm glad I bought it and didn't miss on the opportunity because it’s given me lots of pleasure. It's now discontinued and prices preowned have gone up significantly, higher than what I paid for it new (33% off retail).

This year I was blessed with a baby girl. That didn’t stop me from buying my second Rolex, the SD43. This time around, I didn't go through buyer's remorse. My wife did not approve the purchase at all (“what? You’ve just blown 10k on a watch?”) but I did it out of my own savings, not family's. We have a joint family account and also our own separate accounts each. Anyway, I bought the SD43 first because it's my favorite sports Rolex ever and secondly as an investment. I know it might sound ridiculous to many but I took a punt on a hunch, being an anniversary edition and all that. So it’s a safe queen for now.

My only advice if I may is take your time before you decide what to do. A few years from now you might regret having sold it. Unless you are 100% sure you don’t want it and can return or flip it at no significant loss, give it a month or two. You might feel great about it later. My 2 cents.

Haha sounds like my story..got an SD43...my wife does not know about yet.she is against it had the watch for a couple of weeks and wore it 3 times...
Gonna break the news at some point..I am.scared

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[SpeedyTuomas]

I personally think it's a fool proof choice, but if you don't like it - it should be easy to flip. Not everything works for everyone.

[Buckeye4life]

Originally Posted by Jedi5

My remorse has nothing to do with the watch.
I really love the watch, everything I was expecting and then some.

My remorse is from the cost.
I just can't justify the cost on myself.
Not sure if that made sense.
The cost on just one person.

I keep thinking boy, with this money the family could go on a vacation or
something along those lines.
Where the money is spent on the family and not just on me.
I feel selfish.
I hate that feeling.

I bought my Rolex and then went on a family cruise paid for by my father-in-law. It made me feel the way you're describing. My wife told me not to worry because it will be me taking my family on vacation when I'm his age. The point is, life is cyclical. When you're young, drive a sports car, buy nice watches, etc. because as you get older you'll spend more and more money on your kids. Then when your kids are fully established and independent, they'll spend all their money on you! I don't know how old you are, but wherever you are in life, enjoy it while you can and pay it forward when you can!

[OpusXIII]

If the acquisition and purchase price of such a beautiful timepiece bothers you to the extent that you feel you are unworthy, then I would suggest parting ways with it. At the end of the day, it's just a watch. If you feel your monies are better (or best) spent on your family, then there's your answer.

I would also say that so long as your family is well taken care of, the mortgage is paid (or paid off), bellies are full, lights are on, and you have a bit of a nest egg set aside for a rainy (non-Rolex) day, then you should have no reservations upon owning a well deserved, fine timepiece such as the Submariner. It's a classic. A timeless classic.

Those who work hard in life (be they blue collar or white collar) deserve a little splurge on themselves every now and again. So long as those you love are not doing or going without, then I say rock the Rolex.