I'm still waiting for the guy to post here who is riding a Honda Shadow but he "almost bought" a Harley-Davidson. It reminds me of the people who see me limp or my veteran license plates and tell me they "almost joined." My response is always about the same, "yeah, me too."

 

Baloney, I've had several Rolexes and always made money trading them in and never serviced any of them. The box, original papers and dial condition are everything. It's like saying you didn't change the oil on your Knucklehead that sat in your office so now its worth less.

 

I've broken several crystals from several different ways: bike crash, welding slag, drop on the floor of the OR. It cost me more to fix the watch and took longer than to fix the bike I dropped. But general maintenance: Cleaning/oiling or whatever they do to it. That ain't cheap and you need it with a new crystal or every few years just wearing it. I think the recommended interval now is either 5 or 10 years, but they used to recommend it every 2 years. The last cleaning job cost me over $800 and was done by a Swiss guy trained at a Swiss watchmaker school. The band wears out, especially the 2 tones and the jubilee style is much worse than the one with 3 parts across like mine. The clasp wears out.

When the clasp pin broke on me once, I took it to a local jewelry store, a real stand alone jewelry store on the main drag of the town that all the money in Arkansas resides at (which is actually quite considerable... cough... WMT... cough), that said "jewelry repairs" on the front. I showed the guy the broken pin on the clasp and asked if they could replace the pin. He takes it in the back to the "jeweler," I hear "tap tap tap tap," the guy comes out and says "Here, I fixed it. I used a paperclip," all proud of himself. I felt like saying "You used a paperclip to repair my $4000 Rolex. Prey, tell, was it stainless?" I just said "What do I owe you?" and left.

Best accuracy (time) I have had is about 6 seconds a day fast. Now, if you understand the difference between a watch and a chronometer, 6 seconds a day fast, every day without any difference, is actually quite good for a chronometer. A chronometer measures rate, not time. And the watch specifically says "Superlative Chronometer, Officially Certified" on it, not "watch" or "clock" or "I keep time...." It has been around the world with me at least once, and I used to take sun lines with it on the bridge of the ships I sailed on, which is what you use chronometers for.

 

If only there were a place to buy these discounted watches, those that have never been serviced

Even boxes and papers don't affect the resale price by 5-10%. Last summer one of the big jewelers here had a Pepsi for sale, $18 plus and they didn't even bother to wipe it down. Right now a complete service with new AR glass through RSC Dallas is about $1,050. Rolex, Omega, Grand Seiko are all luxury timepieces, fascinating pieces of machinery. My Planet Ocean has the sapphire back, very cool to watch the watch. It's like the guy with the acrylic engine, just cool to see the internals working in any motor. Who doesn't appreciate that?

How many people out there are paying for $300 oil changes on their precious Harley's? Plenty across the board. A $1,000 service to change the oil, replace any minor parts on a watch, etc., is really a bargain comparatively speaking.

 

When they stop, they need service.
These watches are very accurate.
When servicing, they routinely change the crystal, scratches or not.
One service done was not acceptable, the white gold bezel had the crisp detail polished off, making it look old.
Watch needed a rap to start after that service, not happy.
I complained, they replaced bezel w new and corrected other condition they caused, no charge.
Watch was dropped off at HQ in Manhattan, It was in my work territory.
I had a work friend who bought one for less on one of the islands, watch was authentic but probably grey market.
Watch had issues ongoing, he was glad it was stolen while shipping to service.

 

The focus of this thread sure did shift

 

I was a little fuzzy on the intent of the original rant and comparison.

 

Sizzle versus steak.
Hawking the brand, not the product.
As a long time Harley and Rolex owner I am not a hater, but have observations of these to companies that, IMHO, are deserving comparisons.

 

Well guess I should have shipped it to Canada first, So I was just selling it, trade in, you know they fudged the value on your old watch and took it off the MSRP of the new one.

The store an authorized dealer in Syracuse NY, was specifically addressing the lack of service record and cleanings etc from a watch I wore maybe six times, oh and that it wasn’t stored on a winder. I noted that none of the watches in the display were on a winder, either.
I also wasn’t a customer so no reason to pad anything.


I don’t wear a suit, the status of Rolex means nothing to me, would rather spend money on motorcycles or hot rod parts

 

Now see, this post is a little more relatable to a HD dealer