How do we account for Rolex’s success in the luxury watch market? David Foster Wallace tells a parable about two young fish swimming along. An older fish comes by and asks, “Hey there, how’s the water?” The two younger fish look at each other, confused, and ask, “What’s water?” And there you have it: the secret to Rolex’ success. Allow me to explain . . .
This is a tale of two watches: the previously reviewed black-dial five-star Sinn 556 I and a blue-dial Sinn 856 I B Tegimented. Here in the U.S., watchbuys.com sells the black beauty for $1380. The blue bomber runs $2300. That’s a big jump for what look like small differences. Welcome to Sinn City, where the devil’s in the details. Start with this . . .
I recently came across a thread on a watch forum called “learning how to enjoy your watches.” It starts by admonishing collectors who don’t actually wear their watches. Like many collectors of firearms, knives, guitars, cars or other functional art, some buyers turn a perfectly practical timepiece into what’s called a safe queen watch . . .
“This is not a pilot’s watch,” Fortis proclaims on its website. “It is a piece of time.” It’s pizza time? But seriously, why call the F-39 a flieger and flee from the facts? Sure, fliegers have two dots on either side of the 12 o’clock triangle, but who’s zoomin who? Anyway, new watch alert! The new Fortis Flieger F-39 is a brutally handsome and, above all, legible timekeeper. Better yet . . .
We’ve warned you against the possibility of buying counterfeit Rolex watches. They’re very, very good. OK, maybe not the sample above, but fakes are out there and they can fool the unwary. If U.S. Customs and Border Protection caught even a tenth of the total trade, they’d be more than satisfied. But they don’t. Here’s a press release on today’s haul . . .
Continue reading “CBP Seizes Counterfeit Rolex Worth $2.54m”