Just curious if there are any collectors here that enjoy modern Rolex! Which model would you add next to your collection? And how successful have you been with your AD?
For me, I just ask and forget about the wait time. I try not to bring it up per visit because I believe they know or have taken note of it. I am just starting. Probably more hopeful than most! If it happens, it happens!

 

I recently shared my one and only Rolex acquisition from the AD on the submariner thread. I got it from my AD about a month or so ago. I was on the wait list for around 2 years. Its my one and only modern watch which I have worn it sparingly so far. Its a fantastic watch but unless my financial prospects change I don't envision getting another modern Rolex.

 

Just curious what made a modern Rolex so attractive, vs so many nice vintage ones or even ten year old recent ones? And then, after all the wait and cost, why wear it so sparingly?

 

One of the main attractions of a new Rolex from an AD is they’re so cheap compared to market prices.

I wouldn’t dream of paying 12k for a new Sub but £6450 from an AD is great for a go anyway, do anything daily wearer.

I wore vintage daily for years and still wear vintage watches frequently but with a young family who likes the beach/water, a new watch that can take a beating is a must.

 

It appears that MSRP is drifting up a bit (or maybe this is a currency exchange issue), but $9k USD for a no-date Sub from an AD would still seem like a bargain.

 

So I decided to go modern as opposed to vintage because of cost. All the matte dial vintage subs that I love cost way more than the no date sub I was able to get at retail. The "neo vintage" subs that are closer to the price that I was able to acquire this 124060 but don't appeal to me or offer anything that this 124060 doesn't have especially with regards to appearance with the WGS glossy dials.

I wear it sparingly because of the nature of my occupation. I have to do a lot of hands on work with handling and lifting so I just opt for something like a beater seiko or tag. I also have to chart a lot. Yes I baby it and am not using it as its true tool watch. But you have to remember this is the most expensive purchase I have ever made by a long shot and just like the look of it appearing all new and shiny. Maybe those feelings will fade one day and I wont be as afraid.

 

All makes sense. Thanks. What tickles my own fancy about the newer Rolexes is what I've read about the movements now being about +/- 1 second a day. I love that sort of stuff in a mechanical watch. But being the skinny opposite of a literal greek physique, anything over 38mm on my wrist just doesn't work for me. Perhaps a slightly older (5 years?) DateJust Turnograph might be interesting. Has the Sub style bezel. Anyway, you've got me thinking.

 

Tiny data set but my 3132 Explorer (pretty much +/-0 on the wrist) keeps better time than my 3230 Sub (-2 to -4 on the wrist).

From what I’ve read many of the 32xx lose a few seconds per day on the wrist and are boarderline within spec.

 

I got mine 18 months ago so msrp in the UK is now £7150.
Even when I got mine you couldn’t get a 14060 for £6450 (perhaps c.£7000-8000) and now it’s more like £7500-9500 for anything decent.

 

Actually at the current rate a Sub in the UK is around US$8550

 

I agree. I bought a tritium 14060 (no box or papers) earlier this year for about $10k USD, and it was a fair price at that time.

It's to be expected because the dollar is so strong right now.

 

I’ve still got half an eye open for an unpolished 14060 or 16710 but I can’t justify paying the asking prices for a 5 digit GMT as they are now.

 

Yeah my 3230 explorer 1 just keeps a consistent -2s (maybe +2s) so after a month, it’s off a minute. I thought it would balance out more but that’s very good anyhow.

 

I think the neovintage subs will go lower than $9k maybe to $8k. The 16710 is about $12k now and even that’s high. I think vintage Rolex is overpriced and most are polished/refurbished cases. I dislike that, would go for unpolished for that category. I like vintage omega because they were hardly polished… the issue is finding an original dial. That’s another topic though.

 

I’d like to keep the conversation on modern Rolex and AD experiences please! Thanks

 

There is currently only 1 modern Rolex model I’d add to my collection (and I’d only buy it new from an AD, and that is likely not happening). Because I like quirky…and this is about as out-there as this brand will get.



I went to go look at the new subs when they came out, and they had a SD43…that outshone the subs for me immediately (dial, case and bezel)…size suited my wrist (lucky me, I know a lot of folks would love one if their wrists could manage) and felt more inline with the intention of these dive watches (tool, not cocktail party) and so I ordered one and surprisingly got it shortly after. Only Rolex I own. I have worn it quite a lot the last 2 years and do not baby it.

I wouldn’t say I have been successful…I find this particular AD very impersonal (opposite of Omega)…every time I go there there is a different person who does not know that I have bought 2 watches from them, and they have that cold clinical disposition I have come to learn is usually reserved for ‘the Rolex asshole’ (again, totally opposite of the people at Omega, who are neighbors) - the salesperson who sold me the SD told me directly ‘such a pleasure to have you in the shop, a knowledgeable and friendly watch guy totally unlike 99% of the assholes who come in here asking about Rolex’.

It’s rough out there and I would not like to be in their shoes…

 

The VTNR is a great choice. I like to wear my watches on my right wrist so it’d be interesting! I too wish I had the enough history to get one though
I have a feeling things will get better. Rolex is amazing so they shouldn’t be surprised when people come in to ask for one. But maybe those customers are just rude and seem like flippers.
You should still ask for the GMT. Who knows what would happen! Market is slowing…

 

Most people working in retail barely know the products they are selling. Cars, suits, refrigerators, stereos, smart phones, and high end watches ...the salespeople are just average folks trying to make living and doing what the boss tells them to do re: customers. This isn't a religion or even a passion to them, it is just a job that puts a roof over their heads and food in their family's stomach. Yes, there are exceptions...but they are not the rule.

 

"Just curious if there are any collectors here that enjoy modern Rolex! Which model would you add next to your collection?"

I was overjoyed with the 2021 36mm Rolex Explorer 124270, which fixed all the things that bugged me about the older 14270. And my favourite is the Rolex Oyster Perpetual 34 114200 which my wife got me.

Similar to @johnireland - small wrists - so no next model in modern unless Rolex makes,

• a reduced 36mm-39mm Sub or GMT
• reduced 36mm 228235 President with chocolate/black diagonal motif dial

"And how successful have you been with your AD?"

For the watches I wanted, they all came without any "special" requests from the Authorized Dealer. Oyster was a first time buy, followed by the Explorer. And both happened to be in the store when I walked in.

Pictures.... my modern Rolex's (I'm Instagraming my collection),



And if only they offered this motif dial in 36mm, not sure I could afford (at $40k USD), but it'd be a grail watch to opine over (pictures from Bark and Jack video),


Really like how it changes in the light,

 

I like all your selections. As a retired person approaching my 80th birthday, my financial planner suggests I stay away from "new" Rolexes, and I can't argue with his math. So that keeps me happy in vintage watches. But if I was to go crazy, I think I would like a white gold Turn-o-graph, if they make such an animal. I think the bad experiences with Rolex ADs is sometimes true, and sometimes based a dislike of Rolex and looking for an excuse to knock it. Such is life. Our attitudes often create the reactions to it that we receive. I'm sure there are waiting lists for some models, and not for others. As Ferrari legend John Pogson describes, there are car enthusiasts that are so filled with bias toward one make and against another, that he doesn't understand it. He loves all cars...and never dumps on someone else's wheels. I think a lot of the watch enthusiasts could benefit from his wisdom.