My First Rolex

I was 24 years old when I bought my first superfluity time piece, a Rolex Oyster perpetual Datejust. The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust is a certified, self-winding chronometer wristwatch manufactured by Rolex. When it was launched in 1945, the Datejust was the first wristwatch with an automatically changing date function. Since then, I have owned more than a dozen of these world famous luxury Swiss watches.

I remember my former CEO’s recommendation, a 30 year Wall Street veteran, like it was yesterday. He said to me: “ Amir, for the business man, with money to spend, my recommendation is nothing short of a Patek Philippe or a Rolex; they are recession proof and unrivaled, and they are investments, investments my boy! Don’t you forget it. When you wear them, you are wearing a piece of history”.

I have to admit, when I bought my first Rolex, I did not have money to spend, I bought up off my first ever credit card (Big Mistake!). I bought it because I wanted to be part of the so called “Illustrious wall street club”. Little did I know at the time that this so called eminent club transcended beyond Wall Street to the realm of the rich and famous. Since then, I learned that Paul Newman was seen wearing a Datejust in the film The Color of Money, Harrison Ford in Frantic, and Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. Presidents Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan both wore the Rolex Datejust while in office. Winston Churchill, Roger Federer, Chris Evert, Angelique Kerber, Michael Jordan, and many many more celebrities sported the Datejust Rolex. What a club!

Many of today’s top celebrities are endorsed by luxury Swiss watch brands. When an actor is seen wearing a watch in a movie, fans notice it. At the same time, luxury watch companies also pay big money to put their watches in films. This makes you wonder, do actors only wear these luxury watches because they are paid to wear them? Or is it because the watches themselves are measures of accomplishment?

In my world, the realm of investment and private banking, some people can be a bit snobbish and pretentious. The players in this industry are highly attuned to class and status, and how you're professed can definitely be abetted by a luxury watch. I see most of the younger generation with an apple watch on their wrist, while most of the senior personnel, the CEOs, CIOs, and the MDs you see them wearing a classic vintage time piece.

An article that appeared in efinancial careers in February of 2018, tiled “The watches that Wall Street bankers wear really, by one Dan Butcher, stated that most juniors in banking tend to stay away from higher-end watches, due to both the cost and the perception, citing an analyst working in New York at a Canadian investment bank (efinancial careers). His guess was that 70% or so of juniors wear smartwatches such as Apple Watches and Fitbits or more mass-produced pieces from brands like Seiko (efinancial careers). His claim was that when you see a junior banker wearing a vintage piece, it was probably passed down from a family member" he says (efinancial careers). Once you get to the VP level, luxury watches tend to become more common (efinancial careers). "Rolex is by far the most popular brand, with the DateJust and Submariner appearing most frequently," the IB analyst says (efinancial careers). "Rolex's stainless-steel GMT models are also quite popular, and occasionally you will see a Rolex Daytona, but these are definitely rarer than other Rolex models (efinancial careers). "Outside of Rolex, other brands that are popular among senior bankers include Panerai, IWC, Omega and Tag Heuer," he adds (efinancial careers). "Bankers who are extremely senior and have a passion for watches may sometimes wear Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantine and A. Lange & S?hne (efinancial careers). "These are by far the rarest choices, largely because of the astronomical cost, as well as the relative obscurity of some of these brands for those who aren't watch-aficionados." (efinancial careers). An Apple Watch is the default accessory for many banking interns. Others mentioned the Casio G-Shock (ranging between $40 and $190), but those don’t garner respect from old-school senior bankers (efinancial careers). Some bank interns rave about $400 Daniel Wellington watches, while another says he’s gotten compliments on his rose-gold Hamilton Jazzmaster Viewmatic Auto ($1k) (efinancial careers). However, you may need to spend more than that to stand out from the crowd. Step up your game with an Omega Seamaster ($4k) or a stainless-steel Rolex Oyster DateJust ($6k) (efinancial careers). 

Let’s put aside positions, status, and everything else. The first thing you should consider when buying a new watch is how often you plan to wear it and in what type of scene is it going to be worn. If you can’t answer these questions, you can’t really select the kind of watch that best suits you. What I like to do, is imagine myself wearing the watch. I picture myself wearing it to work, walking around the bank with the watch on my wrist. I need a watch that can pair with a business suit, tie, and cufflinks. Others, working in a gym, or on a construction site might require a watch that can take a beating and be exposed to various other natural elements.

Adrian Zumbrunnen (2018), the grandson of Peter Werner Jenny, who invented the first 1000m Swiss dive watch, summed it up very nicely when he said: “New products don’t replace one another as much as they change what those other products stand for. People who buy automatic watches aren’t buying an accessory, they’re buying pieces of history and craftsmanship. People who buy smartwatches aren’t buying a better way to look at time, they’re buying the idea of a healthier and better connected self. Watches are evolving from nice-to-have tech gadgets for geeks into life-saving tools for ourselves and the people we love. Smartwatches are redefining their own category just like Swatch did in the late 1980s. Whereas smartwatches used to be about staying connected, they’re now packed with habit-forming technology aimed at making you a healthier you” (Zumbrunnen, 2018).