[Leica] OT: Watches

[socphoto at verizon.net (Socolow Carl)]

Watches. Uh oh. I'm coming late to this thread so forgive me if I'm  
beating a dead horse or keeping an off-topic alive when it should  
already be dying off. My wife gave me, several years ago, a watch I  
lusted after. Mechanical, of course. It's a Tutima FX Chronograph  
UTC. It has the same caliber that many of the high end manual watches  
use: Valjoux 7750 series (modified). Rolex, Glasshutte, Omega and a  
number of others have used this caliber or that made by ETA. I love  
the watch because it can keep track of three different time zones. I  
really wanted it, at the time, because I was using a lot of Polaroid  
film for proofing lighting set-ups and the chronograph came in handy  
for processing timing. Now, I just use the histogram on the camera  
back. Anyway, here's a link to the watch. Thanks, all, for sharing in  
this passion.

http://tutima.com/en/product_info.php?products_id=43

Carl Socolow

Message: 36
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:11:50 +0800
From: Joseph Yao <joseph at yao.com>
Subject: Re: [Leica] OT: Black Leica, black Rolex
To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
Message-ID: <C786A2E6.63E27%joseph at yao.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="US-ASCII"

I am not sure about your part of the world, in my territory Rolex is  
really
no big deal - you see them everywhere - all walks of life from the blue
collar to the middle class has at least one Rolex.  It is the minimum
standard of a 'proper' watch, one step up from a Seiko, the entry level
watch.

My nurses wear Rolex, so does my driver, my secretary, my guards  
etc.  This
is how Rolex manage to sell close to one million watches a year.  The  
common
belief here is that Rolex keeps their value well and easy to liquidate
should the need arise.  Instant cash.

I have been to many local Rolex functions, invariably Rolex fans here  
are
also collectors of finer watches.  I have never come across anyone  
who is
solely interested in Rolex.

Rolex is just a mass market mid-price watch that is also well-marketed.
Desirable, yes.  Absolute quality, no.

Joseph