I totally agree. I've never really 'got' Rolex's. It's not because I think they make horrible watches, in fact the Sea Dweller and Submariner are quite nice really but they're not, to me, really special and distinctive like a Monaco or Silverstone which you know from 20 feet away. The thing that does it for me is that there are so many 'lookalikes' out there that dilute the impact. On my last holiday I bought a £40 Justina watch for the beach from the hotel shop which is almost identical to a Submariner. I now have it on a grey nato band and in fact two people have asked me if it's Rolex! The point Scott makes about 'testing' people is bang on too. I had a chap come in to work the other day and we got talking about various things and he said he was 'really into watches' so I showed him that days new package arrival; a 2011 Panerai catalog. He'd never heard of Panerai. ??? He was wearing some God awfull Raymond Weil but that's another story. You can bet your bottom dollar he'd heard of Rolex though and probably thinks they're the best money can buy. I find this a lot working in the UK motor industry; peoples perception of the best, isn't always the best, but a damn good marketing department can certainly make you believe it. For years, if you asked someone who made the best saloon cars in the world, I reckon most people would've probably said Mercedes. Is that still the case? The best supercars? Ferrari? The best jeans? Levi's? I think clever marketing has been ingrained in our subconscious so much now that if we were in quick-fire quiz and the quizmaster said "Name a make of watch", the first thing that would pop into most peoples head would be Rolex.

I'll quite happily stick with my Heuer's and Panerai's for now and leave the Bart Simpsons untill I know what a Bart Simpson is.

David H

P.S. Cool BMW CS Mark!

: Having a Rolex now, and a few in the past, there's nothing bad to
: say about the watch, provided it's not one of the ostentatious
: designs intended to let people know from half a mile away that
: you've got a Rolex on your wrist. But it's a status symbol for
: people who neither know nor care about the watch, but about
: wearing something to impress others.

: I wear a Heuer for myself, and the handful of people who will
: actually know what's on my wrist. It's more like being in a
: secret society, a test of those who actually know watches, in
: contrast to people who know nothing about watches except their
: prices. If this sounds like Oscar Wilde's definition of a cynic,
: it's meant to.

: And as for cars, I have an '89 E30 convertible to use when the
: weather isn't right for my '64 Healey BJ8. And different watches
: for each.