My Rolex Air-King-Date came to me in 1976. The hang tag at the time sounded expensive compared to Bulova and Seiko. The MSRP then was $215.00!
A nice overpriced watch that lasts a lifetime.
I think you are saying that at the current salary rates you mentioned, it takes 5 times longer to earn enough to buy an Air-King-Date today, than it did in 1976. I don’t know the current MSRP for an Air-King-Date, today. But I think i’m safe in saying that the current MSRP is most assuredly more than 5 times the hang tag price of $215.00 that my Rolex sold for in 1976.
I worked for a Rolex dealer for 25 years. I started with them in 1965. At that time, the two-tone 14-karat and steel Date-Just was $475.00. The Day-Date model in 18-karat gold with the 18-karat President bracelet was $1,995.00. Read it and weep!
I worked on an oil rig in the Cook Inslet in Alaska in 1978. One of the guys there had gold claims in the Yukon that he worked in the summer. He had a big CAT he used to dig up the ground and run it through a sleuth (not sure the spelling.) He came back in the fall and offered me a big nugget for $300. I didn't buy it because I didn't know what I'd do with a gold nugget. No sense in looking backwards.
Everyone's got a story about one that got away. The difference in your story is that it didn't get away, you landed it.👍
