Horological Meandering

Arie - Mr Orange
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The Watch Snob (do you also enjoy reading his bits as much as I do?)

The current vogue for vintage Rolexes is irrational even by the admittedly not very high standards of watch enthusiasts; they are horologically mundane (in fact, they were deliberately intended to be), and on top of that you have to be the worst kind of masochist to want to collect vintage Rolex nowadays.  

There is more misrepresentation among more dealers, collectors, and auction houses than there is in most vacation home offers, and your chances of finding yourself, as many have, with a drawerful of watches that do nothing but testify to the cupidity of the seller and the vanity and gullibility of the buyer, are very high indeed. Desirable models are faked and cobbled together from spare parts so often, and so many have been legitimized by persons selling and buying them that the waters are irretrievably muddied.

At this point in the march of human history, collecting vintage Rolexes is pretty much just for people who suffer from lack of imagination as badly as vintage Patek Philippe collectors but have less money. If you absolutely insist on throwing money away on Rolexes, especially sports models, I suggest you go find a not-too-badly abused no-date Rolex Submariner — get one with a plain metal bezel, not that tarted-up ceramic with which they've burdened the ungainly present model — and devote yourself to leading an interesting life with it, rather than trying to buy one secondhand (which is what 99% of Rolex collectors are trying to do).

(above taken from his website)

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