Why I sold my only Rolex...

As I weep over the keyboard in remembrance of a long lost Rolex Explorer II, I no longer have the strength to venture outdoors, for without the Explorer II how can I explore. May it rest gently on the wrist of its new owner. I hadn't realised that my identity was so strongly linked with marketing nonsense and the garbage spouted to us in this capitalist fandango land. I am joking, of course, but not entirely. As my Rolex experience taught me some things that were specific to the ownership of this Rolex watch, the why of it all, specifically, why I bought it.

...but more foolish to let a valuable watch sit in the watch box gathering neither dust or memory.

As always looking for comfort and to rationalise the situation, I calculated that it cost me around £3.33 a day to own the Rolex, with a total loss of £1000 over 10 months (£100 a month and 100/30 days ish). A foolish endeavour, but more foolish to let a valuable watch sit in the watch box gathering neither dust or memory. And why was it relegated to that static state you ask? A good question, and obviously the title of the post, so I'll stop waffling and tell you...

I'd forgotten how good it looked when it fit me...

THE REASONS

There is one main reason I sold it, and it is simply that I lost weight which resulted in a smaller wrist - a wrist that was already skinny. It just about dealt with the 49mm lug to lug of the Explorer II ref:226570. I would say my wrist has shrunk by around 0.5cm, and it didn't have girth to spare. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it makes all the difference, as a 17cm wrist became 16.5cm shattering my dreams into a million cogs and springs. I find it kind of crazy that it happened that way.

The weight loss was for general health and wellbeing, high blood pressure being a consistent issue for me. I was always heavier than I should be but it started with weight training and being quite muscular indeed if I do say so myself. But as I got older, busier, lazier, I was keen not to get smaller/slimmer which invariably meant that I was carrying fat rather than muscle - though I was never too fat. As I decided to finally take it seriously, I was keen to continue working out but became less bothered about size (that's not what she said) so, improving my diet and targeting fat loss was the goal, one that was achieved at the cost of compounding the skinniness of my hand ankle. A truly great sacrifice.

a close up of the big boy

This reflection almost makes me want to get on the pies and pints and pile back on the weight, quickly followed by a trip head to eBay big wristwatch land. The Rolex really did make me me feel special. No I mustn't, but I wonder if they do botox injection into wrists...

This then, was the main reason, which then leads to others. An obvious one is having a watch that cost £8500 just sitting there, one that isn't increasing in value, is to me unacceptable. I want to wear my watches and enjoy them, it just didn't feel right keeping it any more.

That got me thinking about the watch itself, it wasn't one of the many Rolexes I was on the list for, it was an impulse buy. I did like it though, it's a fantastic watch, it suited me and my style very well. In hindsight, I loved owning a Rolex - pure ego - but by virtue of the size issue, I fell out of love with it. I guess I also fell out of logic. Now, if it was 40mm (the size of the Air-King 126900) or the 36 or 39 Oyster Perpetual, I would be wearing it instead of the shimmering opaline dialled GMT, currently perched proudly on my wrist. The addition of this watch to the collection definitely brought about the end of days for the Explorer II even if it wasn't the intention at the time - I wanted both, cos that would be cool.

THE REPLACEMENTS

The pretender to the wrist in more ways than one, the substitute, the poor excuse, the false prophet, etc, is the Tudor Black Bay Pro Opaline dial - actually, it's definitely not a poor excuse, it's a great watch. I bought this while I still had the ExII - partly to score points with the AD, but also because I liked it and because I'm a mad batshit dipshit watch collector. The 39mm case fits the wrist very nicely - 47mm lug to lug with more forgiving end-links, looks great and it has a certain heft and thickness that makes my wrist feel not so inadequate. It has the same kind of GMT movement and is a worthy replacement in my eyes. I was considering a Rolex 116000 369 dial, to fill the void but I decided against it.

The actual lovely timepiece bought to console myself and my wrist is the Nomos Club Campus 36mm in nonstop red, it seems I am coming to terms with my wrist situation - wrisituation - no that doesn't work. Anyway, a smaller watch for everyday wear is not usual for me, but it has presence and the long ass lugs make up for small case. It's a great watch, serious German engineering in a fun, summer package - and a bargain to boot at £720.

It's so red...

Together they bring me enough joy and wearability to be a fantastic two watch casual collection - the Cartier Ronde rounds up an almost perfect 3 watch collection (a gold Cartier would be perfecto / never mind the 40 other watches I don't need to own). Although I love the Cartier, it's a bit weird that the biggest watch of the three is essentially the dress watch of the collection. It's cool though, they're all cool, so I'm cool?

The three above watches cost me approximately £7000, that's £1500 less than the ExII...

THE LESSONS

Oh yea, life, life lessons, lessons learnt have led me to increased watch-life wisdom, as alluded to earlier. Firstly, don't play the authorised dealers's game unless you've got money or bitcoin to burn and in line with that don't buy a watch you don't really want unless you want to play the AD's games. Also, don't lose weight if you've got baby size wrists that are coated in blubber, it will ruin your position on the board and send you back to square one (I'm not sure which game this is).

I have to wonder about the whole nature of the luxury market as well. In perspective, if you make good money and have it to burn, then burn it on whatever you want, but as someone who is rather lazy and not bothered about what others think - I wonder why I bother spending money on items that are primarily status signallers. Obviously, I know why, it's because I'm an irrational, homo-sapien moron, who loves watching time tick by.

I'm glad I experienced Rolex ownership, I hope it won't be the last time, but it might well be (no it can't be). I am prone to the ups and downs when it comes to my interest in watches, and I feel like it's ebbing at the moment, actually since the sale I've been a bit uninterested. It happens, but I look forward to the flow returning the joy of this silly, bad-habit hobby.

Now go and buy a watch that fits you.

Yours Rolexuctantly,

Alvin