A question about Rolex collectors and collections.

[Langley]

Don't know if anyone has asked this before but, here goes ...

Clearly, there seems to be a trend toward collecting watches in recent years -- a trend that appears to be pretty much exclusive to men. From what I understand, in past decades, many men owned one, maybe two watches. Lately, however, it is not unusual for a man to own 4 or 5 or more. (Just look at the composition of this board. Mostly men, right ? Lots of people with multiple watches.) Why is this ? Do men have more of an obsession with time than women ? Is it a subconscious exhibition of our fears of our own mortality ?

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Langley

Don't know if anyone has asked this before but, here goes ...

Clearly, there seems to be a trend toward collecting watches in recent years -- a trend that appears to be pretty much exclusive to men. From what I understand, in past decades, many men owned one, maybe two watches. Lately, however, it is not unusual for a man to own 4 or 5 or more. (Just look at the composition of this board. Mostly men, right ? Lots of people with multiple watches.) Why is this ? Do men have more of an obsession with time than women ? Is it a subconscious exhibition of our fears of our own mortality ?

Well it's certainly "cheaper" to collect watches rather than women. On the bright side, some watches do have a good resale value too!!

[s7horton]

I don't think I would take this site as a good example. For the simple fact that this site is full of fanatical people (myself included) with the Rolex brand. 90% or more of the people that buy Rolex are not enthusiasts like the people on this forum are.

[Spencer]

Good point. My fiancée says it's kind of like her love of nice designer purses or jewelry. How many of you guys have wives or girl friends who have a large jewelry collection? Rings, bracelets, necklaces, watches, ear rings, etc.

She says that watches are like our jewelry. Admit it, if most of us were collecting fine rings and bracelets, something there would be a little fishy...

We're a consumer society bred to crave luxury items. Life is pretty good when we have more than one watch, let alone luxury timepiece.

My wife has a staggering shoe collection. A buddy has two motorcycles, another a ski chalet. We all live to excess, jsut that some of us are obsessed with tiny gears running perpetually.

[Otis]

Originally Posted by Langley

Why is this ? Do men have more of an obsession with time than women ? Is it a subconscious exhibition of our fears of our own mortality ?

That's a very interesting point, and it got me thinking!
I guess it's different with everybody, but I just like the fact that a good mechanical watch is reliable, predictable, precisely engineered and is just so 'there'. It continues to do what it's good at, with (little or) no sudden outbursts of controversy, and I know what it's going to do next.... all unlike women!
gee...there's no bitterness there! LOL

Also regarding what Atomic said, the myriad of little gears, all running together & complementing eachother make it something special, I think. It really is the ultimate gadget!

[C.J.]

For me, the fascination is with the mechanical movements as much as the history of the different brands and of course, esthetic's too. Alot of other guys I know who aren't WIS's look at watches as one of the only pieces of jewelry men wear, so they tend to buy a nice one. With women, they seem to be into alot of different kinds of jewelry, unfortunately for us, mostly diamonds

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by Langley

Don't know if anyone has asked this before but, here goes ...

Clearly, there seems to be a trend toward collecting watches in recent years -- a trend that appears to be pretty much exclusive to men. From what I understand, in past decades, many men owned one, maybe two watches. Lately, however, it is not unusual for a man to own 4 or 5 or more. (Just look at the composition of this board. Mostly men, right ? Lots of people with multiple watches.) Why is this ? Do men have more of an obsession with time than women ? Is it a subconscious exhibition of our fears of our own mortality ?

I think part of it has to do with the fact that more people have more disposable income today than ever before. And of course, it's mainly the men who have it since, rightly or wrongly, we make more on average than women. Men are also more into mechanical things. We like to see things that move, and if we have more than one part on a thing that moves, the more we like it. Why, then, are so many of us fascinated with complication watches. Even if it's only a date complication. Many of us like chronos, and moon phases as well. That's the main reason I bought my Breitling Olympus. It's got more complications than most other watches.

But what's best is that it brings people like us together to talk about watches and other good things.

[Mrdi]

50 year olds with expendable income and excercise consists of keyboard
push-ups.

Guilty as accused

[Mrdi]

Originally Posted by Atomic

We're a consumer society bred to crave luxury items. Life is pretty good when we have more than one watch, let alone luxury timepiece.

My wife has a staggering shoe collection. A buddy has two motorcycles, another a ski chalet. We all live to excess, jsut that some of us are obsessed with tiny gears running perpetually.

Does she need some size 39 1/2 Blahnik alligator pumps?

[Launch Mini]

39 1/2 HOLY SMOKES, up here our women wear around a 7 - 7 1/2

[Mrdi]

Well,
It was a large alligator!

[RogerF]

I think it just proves that crack is cheaper to obtain these days, cause many of us are certainly on it

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Mrdi

Well,
It was a large alligator!

[padi56]

Well for myself like all mechanical watches brand now not important to me.Think the collecting bug is in the human genetics,when kids cigarette cards comics,stamps etc.

[Gedanken]

I don't know if the trend is all that new. There are quite a few members here that have been collecting watches for quite a while now (hell, I'll bet JJ had a collection of sundials at some point ), and certainly when I browse for old watches, a fair number of them come from really old collections.

That said, with an increase in affluence, more people (although not necessarily a higher proportion of the population) would get into collections of various things, watches being one of them. An oft-cited example of how Marx was wrong is that while the rich have indeed gotten richer, you can see that even the poor of today are better off than their contemporaries of a century ago.

Now, as for the gender split, women tend to go for other kinds of accessories such as shoes and handbags, as the other guys have said. That really confuses me sometimes - how can you put up with constantly making sure that your keys, cards, sunglasses and wallet are completely transferred from one bag to the other? Hell, I switch between my briefcase and knapsack on casual Fridays (an evil thrust upon me by wicked colleagues), and once a week that's confusing enough.

[topher]

Greetings. I don't think it's a trend as much as you're on a watch site. I think you see more designer watches in the market place, but not collecting. I have a friend with 4 classic cars, another friend with a large arsenal of guns, one that has a great boat. I choose watches. I do think it is one area that men can spend money and have something cool.

BTW - Just picked up my new GMT Master II, TT. This is my 4th automatic over the past 10 years. A Swatch, Cartier and Rolex. My kids will thank me someday.

[Launch Mini]

Different people collect diff things. I would love to have a "stable" of exotic cars, but I'm a few million short on fullfilling that one.
I have gone through my share of cars & each time I lose a fair bit of money.
I really like watches , there workings , the style etc.
I realized I could keep adding to my collection and technically , I haven't lost anything on them yet as I have not sold any yet.
The other posts all touch on other aspects of collecting & this site ( we were drawn here from our love of timepieces etc), if you go to a classsic car site, you would find people with dozens of them, yet I have none (yet )

[mailman]

Originally Posted by Gedanken

.

.

Now, as for the gender split, women tend to go for other kinds of accessories such as shoes and handbags, as the other guys have said. That really confuses me sometimes - how can you put up with constantly making sure that your keys, cards, sunglasses and wallet are completely transferred from one bag to the other? :

I often how or why in the sam hell any women would want to do such a thing.

[mailman]

Originally Posted by topher

Greetings. I don't think it's a trend as much as you're on a watch site. I think you see more designer watches in the market place, but not collecting. I have a friend with 4 classic cars, another friend with a large arsenal of guns, one that has a great boat. I choose watches. I do think it is one area that men can spend money and have something cool.

BTW - Just picked up my new GMT Master II, TT. This is my 4th automatic over the past 10 years. A Swatch, Cartier and Rolex. My kids will thank me someday.

Hey Topher. Welcome to TRF. Stick around and join the fun. Nice pick up on the GMT. How about some pics of it and your other watches also?

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by topher

Greetings. I don't think it's a trend as much as you're on a watch site. I think you see more designer watches in the market place, but not collecting. I have a friend with 4 classic cars, another friend with a large arsenal of guns, one that has a great boat. I choose watches. I do think it is one area that men can spend money and have something cool.

BTW - Just picked up my new GMT Master II, TT. This is my 4th automatic over the past 10 years. A Swatch, Cartier and Rolex. My kids will thank me someday.

Yes, welcome to TRF, topher. Glad you found your way over to our merry madhouse. Keep on posting and join the fun. Our philosophy is: The more, the merrier.

[Rodentman]

At work today a VP Engineer showed me his new Patek copy which he bought in Shanghai. It has a horrible movement visible thru the display back. He was so proud that he got it for only $35. I showed him my LV and he was shocked that I would pay so much for a watch. I told him that I have 3 Rolexes, and several other watches. He rather snorted that it was a waste of $.

He went on to say that his hobby is collecting old Edison vintage wax cylinder record players. He probably has more $ in them than I do in watches. Personally I think it's a waste of money.

One man's confection is another man's sweet.

[betrezra]

Bravo Rodentman ;)

Well said.


Funny thing after owning a few diff models of Rolex over the past couple years NOW I NOTICE FAKES SO EASY...... and I bite my toungue when I see co-workers with the cheesiest of copies!!! YIKES.

do they really think they're fooling anyone? why would anyone put on a cheezy fake rollie.......

The last one I saw was sooooooo obvious..... wrong font, wrong hands, big gaps between the band/body...... jeez

Guess I'm a Rollie-Nerd

[Rodentman]

Oh this Patek was a piece of work! The rotor had the Patek logo on it, but the movement was all SS colored. Only 1 jewel was visible, at the balance wheel. The amplitude looked like about 90º; I could actually follow the balance wheel easily with my eyes. It was just bad. And he was so proud, like it was a real achievement to get one of these on the street in China.

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by Rodentman

Oh this Patek was a piece of work! The rotor had the Patek logo on it, but the movement was all SS colored. Only 1 jewel was visible, at the balance wheel. The amplitude looked like about 90º; I could actually follow the balance wheel easily with my eyes. It was just bad. And he was so proud, like it was a real achievement to get one of these on the street in China.

Where is he going to take it for repair when it stops running in about a month? Maybe his local AD won't notice that it's a fake.

[Launch Mini]

The knock off's I "like" are the Pepsi's with quartz movements.
So nice to watch that second hand jump every time.

[Mrdi]

if it stops
you toss it
You leave it on the walk in front of a sidewalk cafe while you dine.
See who picks it up?
Good for a chuckle.
Costs $35 foe a watchmaker to put his eyeglass on

[Mrdi]

Originally Posted by Launch Mini

The knock off's I "like" are the Pepsi's with quartz movements.
So nice to watch that second hand jump every time.

We call that the ''Pepsi Hop''

[Launch Mini]

Now your guys are thinking. I might just pick up a few, leave them around KFC.
I think they go for a whole $10 canadian at the local mall

[Gedanken]

Originally Posted by Rodentman

He went on to say that his hobby is collecting old Edison vintage wax cylinder record players. He probably has more $ in them than I do in watches.

Well, take a really fat candle, cut a few grooves into it, go up to him and say, "Hey, look what I picked up from the vendor on the street corner!".