Stainless Steel Rolex Daytona: Worth $27k?

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Rolex stainless steel Daytona in all its gloryMy father used to say “something is worth exactly what someone will pay for it.” It’s a lesson for any buyer looking to add a stainless steel Rolex Daytona – with the prized white dial – to his or her collection. And there it is! thewatchbox.com has a pre-owned example listed on their site for $26,750. Or is that $27,950? I’m not sure it matters. What matters here . . .

is how much you’re willing to pay. If you’re willing to pay $30k for a used stainless steel Rolex Daytona that retails for $16k new, don’t worry, be happy. You get what you get and you don’t get upset. Or do you?

Rolex stainless steel Dayton. Oh that crown guard!

Plenty of horophiles detest Rolex buyers who somehow secure a Holy Grail watch at retail, then turn around and sell it for a huge profit. These observers consider “flippers” money-grubbing profiteers whose greed denies the “true” enthusiast a shot at owning a Holy Grail watch.

Rolex agrees. Rumor has it they hunt down flippers online to ban them from future purchases. And find out which salesman did the deal.

Which only makes sense: a money-hungry Rolex salesman must be tempted to sell to a flipper who’ll wet their beak that little bit more. A deal bound to infuriate “genuine” Rolex customers.

There’s a psychological consideration here.

Even if you’re OK with subsidizing flippers, it pays to remember that shelling-out big bucks for a stainless steel Rolex Daytona depletes your budget for other watches. And there will be other watches.

And, lest we forget, you already have some fine watches. Not to mention the fact that the Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39 is the better watch, on a lot of levels (including price). As Socrates said, “He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”

5 COMMENTS

  1. Wow. About 20 years ago, I was at the Rolex store in the casino at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.
    I fondled a solid yellow gold Daytona with a meteorite dial and a brown alligator strap with yellow gold clasp. It was GORGEOUS. The tag on it (brand new) was $28,000. I was in love with it. If I had $28k to throw around, I might have snagged it. Alas.

    Since then, I’ve never seen another one like it… even searching online. There are plenty of WHITE gold Daytonas with meteorite dials… now going for $47k! But, I’ve never seen another YELLOW gold cased Daytona with a meteorite dial. Alas… it doesn’t matter. But, a guy can dream, eh?

  2. A long time ago I lived in Bush Alaska and visited Anchorage a lot for Corporate meetings, I would always go the Ben Bridge and check out the Rolex as my wife and I both had one, on these visits I would talk with Susan Bunker the Alaska manager and the conversation would always come around to the S/S Daytona, she mentioned she had a waiting list in the hundreds for customers that wanted one.
    About a few months later I received a call from Susan saying the the West Coast had received 2 S/S Daytonas and asked if I wanted the one she had, a white face, I was speechless, but on getting by voice back did remind her that she had a long list of customers that wanted one, she replied: “Yes, but they want to resell it, you want to wear it”. I told her I would call her back.
    It took about 3 hours to convince my wife, most of the time on my knees, to bring my wife on board with spend most of my bonus on a watch that was, at that time, $5,200.00, I have never regret that decision, each time I spend $1,500.00 on a cleaning, I remember what I paid for it and how crazy the prices are on the watch.
    In later years I did see a S/S Daytona in Guam at the Rolex dealer and in Fiji at the Duty Free, in both cases I was amazed, but neither times did I want to risk a divorce.
    I travel a great deal and in all my travels I see people wearing watch like my Submariner, but only once have I seen a person wearing a S/S Daytona, and that was in the Honolulu airport waiting for the “Island Hopper” to Guam.
    On my buying trips to Manila I am told NOT to wear any Rolex as it would get me in a lot of trouble due to it’s value so I purchased a Seiko, Solar, Chronograph which they can have if there is trouble.

    • We hear so much from the people that are waiting for Godot, or the jilliionaires that spend whatever it takes, so it’s good to hear of things going as they should between two decent parties.

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