Omega overshadowed by Rolex

I’ll start by giving credit where credit is due. Rolex makes a very good product and their marketing and brand recognition is second to none. That being said, I’m an Omega man. Reasons I’m not a Rolex fan:

—I don’t find the watches attractive. Depending on the model, they strike me as either being too conservative (ie, dull) or downright gaudy (enough with the gold and diamonds already). And I loathe that fxxxing cyclops.

—I’m offended by the way that Rolex does business. Creating artificial shortages by limiting production, waiting lists that can be years long, not returning parts when watches are serviced, hiding their financials by way of a charitable trust, etc. Ridiculous.

—I don’t care to be associated with the “look at me, I’ve arrived” mentality that so many owners of modern Rolexes seem to have. I find that many Rolex owners acquired their watch because they thought that they had reached a point in their lives where they should have one. They know how much they paid (overpaid?) for their Rolex, but they know virtually nothing about how it works and even less about the history of the company that manufactured it.

Why I like Omega:

—The history. Military use, the Olympics, the Apolllo missions, etc.

—The technology. The legendary durability of the Speedmaster Professional. The coaxial escapement. METAS certification, etc.

—The styling. The Globemaster’s pie pan dial. The Constellation’s star. The wave dial. The hippocampus. The observatory medallion. The scalloped bezel, etc.

It’s said that Omega makes watches and Rolex sells watches. I think that’s true. Most Rolex owners wear their watch because they want to make a statement. Most Omega owners wear their watch because it makes them smile every time they glance at their wrists.

I’m 61 and I see the date windows on my Omegas just fine.

That third point (or a slight variation on it, perhaps) is very valid for me. I'd really like to have an Explorer I MKII. I could fund it by consolidating my collection, trading in a few lesser pieces. But, I often work with young people in a city where the median household income of $47K. Wearing a Rolex to work would emphasize the wealth gap between myself and the people with whom I work.

Me either - it makes the date harder to read IMO...

I have a different take on what was being implied - only the person who made that comment can say what they meant, but here's my take on it.

Rolex's own marketing touts the brand as "a crown for every achievement", so they certainly want people to believe it's the watch to buy when you have "arrived" whatever that really means. The brand goes out of their way to attract a certain clientele who believe it is a sign of success.

That doesn't mean everyone who wears a modern Rolex is that type of person, but I think you would have to admit most people buy one not because of the reasons people like us might (history, brand heritage, technical subtleties), but because they have been lead to believe it is the "best" watch money can buy by Rolex's formidable and very effective marketing efforts.

Cheers, Al

Rolex


Overshadowed by

Omega



So now we have


Seamaster - 2 year waiting list
Speedmaster - 5-7 year waiting list
Railmaster - Waiting list
Constellation - DayDate
Deville/Globemaster - Datejust
Any GMT complication - Waiting list
Planet Ocean - Waiting list

The pictures above of empty vs. full display cases are worth a thousand words. Assuming we are limiting this discussion to new watches, then availability - or more to the point pricing - is the biggest barrier preventing me from adding another Rolex to the collection. I just can't see paying $9-10K for a Sub on the grey market when I could pick up a Planet Ocean from an AD for <$5K. It doesn't hurt that I prefer the design of the current PO to the design of the 6 digit Sub (the 5 digits are another story entirely). You can argue value retention. However, at the end of the day, as an individual buyer who has to pay market price on the grey market for a SS Rolex, I'm going to take the same $1-2K hit when I sell as I would on an Omega. Would I buy a SS Rolex from an AD for MSRP? You bet I would, but not really for the watch. Mostly for the ~$1-2K of cash "on the hood" so to speak.

The other issue, though of lesser importance to me personally, is the Rolex image as the rich guy "flex" du jour. The current SS Rolex craze really reminds me of what happened with Porsche's GT cars in the mid-2010s. Cars like the 911 GT3 went from being awesome performance bargains for hardcore track junkies, to being impossible to buy from a dealer at MSRP without having to a previous purchase history of 5+ Cayennes/Macans. People were paying V8 Ferrari prices (that is ~$100K over MSRP for the non-car folks) for standard, second hand GT3s and everyone was convinced they were excellent investments with great value retention. Eventually the hype died off, the "influencers" moved on to something else, and new cars started accumulating on dealer lots. Prices fell back to earth pretty quickly. Now you can pick up new GT3s at a discount to MSRP pretty easily, and those "great investment" cars from around 2015/2016 are selling for less than half their peak prices.

Rolex makes a great watch, but I'll pass on the circus for now.