WRUW Today?

Jones in LA

Less than 24 hrs into the honeymoon.

This watch is a 25-year service award from my employer. There is a bit of a story behind it (which I have also described elsewhere in another thread on this Forum).

In 2022 I received this noteworthy memorandum from my employer:

"As a part of our service award program, we have customarily provided our employees with the option of receiving a Rolex watch or a Grandfather clock to recognize 25 years of service. Our service award provider was recently notified by Rolex that it would be discontinuing its corporate programs as of December 31, 2022. We are obviously very disappointed by this decision as we know our employees have come to look forward to this significant milestone award. We and our service award provider have challenged Rolex on various fronts in an effort to continue the program, to include leveraging retail options and pre-ordering for 2023, without success. It is with regret that we announce that effective January 1, 2023 we will no longer offer Rolex watches for the 25 year service award."

So it was Rolex itself that pulled the plug, aggressively and decisively. I've seen one of these watches on a colleague's wrist - it was a 36mm No-Date Oyster Perpetual, white dial. Probably one of the least expensive watches in the Rolex catalogue, but to my eyes quite attractive.

The Memorandum continues:

"With this unfortunate change, our service award vendor has worked to identify options and they have done a great job in securing other heirloom quality watches. We are excited to announce that effective January 1, 2023, employees achieving 25 years of service will have several high-end watch options to choose from including Bulova, Breitling, Cartier, Longines, Movado, Omega, Tag Heuer, and Tudor. These watches have a retail value that is the same or higher than that of the current Rolex. In addition, we will continue to offer six different grandfather clock options."

Now, back to the present. I recently passed the 25-year mark, and was provided with a link to a web site that allowed me to view and select an award. There were a half-dozen grandfather clocks to choose from, and some "couples" watch sets with models from Movado and Tudor. I went through these options with Mrs.Jones and we both agreed that the couples watches were quite un-appealing, and we had no desire to burden ourselves (and our children) with a grandfather clock. So for me the choices came down to two individual watches: a Breitling Super Ocean in 44mm, and the SMP 300. I already own a blue dial Cal.2500 version of the SMP, but I felt that the Super Ocean was just too big for my taste. So I went with the SMP 300.

Now I'm certain I made the best choice. The micro-adjustable clasp on the new SMP is a godsend. I stopped using the OEM bracelet on my "old" SMP long ago, as I could never get a comforable fit by adding/removing links. (the Forstner Contemporary Flat Link bracelet saved the day).

All things being equal, I still wish I had the option to choose the 36mm Oyster Perpetual as I think it would have been a great addition to my collection, but a thoroughly modern (Master Chronometer) SMP is not a bad consolation at all 😀