Silly assumptions and mistakes

I used to think the REG and T.M. on a Panerai crown guard was Italian shorthand for OPEN and CLOSE. 

I thought I could buy a Rolex.

I thought Rolex made, you know, elegant watches. And that they were ne plus ultra. Turns out it's almost all sporty stuff and they are actually a sort of mid tier brand in the overall pricing and quality game.

I thought GMT certainly meant something more than the GMT that I learned about in geography class in 8th grade. Nope.

I thought you could tell a fake Rolex from a real Rolex because a real Rolex had a sweeping hand. 

I thought you couldn’t hand wind any automatic watch. 

Let's say that I seriously underestimated the general quantities of luxury watches produced. I was somehow under the impression that these things were in the realm of Ferrari and Rolls Royce scarcity. Like a couple hundred or thousand per year, very exclusive. Hearing that a million Rolex are cranked out a year was a revelation. I think AP is some twenty to forty thousand annually. 

A modern misconception🤣🤣🤣

10 years ago you could just walk into an AD and say I want that one. How times have changed 😕 

My biggest mistake is having a crap job with a low salary which has curtailed my watch avarice. 😭😀

It was 15 years ago. Someone told me that. I had No money and therefore was not interested in frivolous things like luxury watches. I just took it as gospel and went on my merry way until about 5 years ago when I learned what a mechanical watch actually is. 

at least any mistakes made are not too costly!

You are probably right got my 1st Rolex in in 2008 with no fuss didn't buy another until this year 

When I read sapphire crystal in a watch description I thought it had precious stones somewhere 🤷‍♂️

Ok I might still have a bad notion here then. But isnt a sapphire Crystal made of man made sapphire?

Yes to this one too

For some perspective for the fancy pants people out there: 95% of the population will never know a better and more luxury brand than rolex.  95% of the population think spending more than $250 on an obsolete watch is more than adequete (outside of a smart watch).  

So, is the assumption that Rolex is a luxury brand accuate, mostly yes, I think the greater mistake is thinking it is not.  These watches are in the top 1%, owning a Rolex makes you part of the club.  Are there watches more expensive, yes.  They are in the top .1%.    The $95 casio will out perform it for the next twenty years.  Are we silly watch people?  Yes.  That is what I have learned...

Number of watches exported by country per year in millions (we are still buying a lot of chinese watches)

Ope. I have a few to say the least. I've been watch collecting since I was old enough to cross the street to Shopko with my $10. These have been my "Watch Revelations" in chronological order.

1) The bigger the watch, the better.

2) Second hand subdials mean the watch is worth more (thanks Dad).

3) Non-Quartz movements meant "Luxury".

4) Automatic movements are the same across the board.

5) Rolex is the grail of every watch collector.

6) The more complications the better. (Whew, that really changed over the last 10 years for me lol)

7) You can only take your watch to a watch department in a store to replace the battery.

8) It's either Automatic OR Mechanical (Wind), can't be both.

9) Invicta is a decent watch brand.

10) Microbrands can't offer the same value as the big box brands

I used to say (only in my head, thank god) Submarine - er  🤣

I used to think Movados were top of the line in watchmaking. Hence my very first post on this site lol

Haha. Now I'm going to start saying Submarine-er. 

I thought I could afford this!! 

What they aren't? I wondered why I never had to change the battery in my Sinn watches, I thought I just got lucky 😂

Your not the only one and I still think I can 😂

What do you mean did? I'm still making silly assumptions every day.

Speaking of past silly assumptions, I once thought that automatic watches had the whole spring rotate and wind. It was only later that I understood the role of the rotor.

They are if your name in real life is Kim Jong-un.

Yeah, where's the blue sparkler they say this field watch has?

Great post - I use to think that if you could afford buying into the luxury range, you would never buy the entry level stuff. Then I discovered our friends Seiko and Casio (among others) and my silly assumption was crushed. I think this makes the difference between someone who genuinely likes watches and someone who sees them as status symbols.

I should probably add that plastic crystals being properly called acrylic caused initial confusion. You can crystalize Orlon, the fiber for cheap sweaters? Finding out that this is also called Plexiglas, plexi, or Hesalite doesn't help.

Of course anyone that went to mineral museums as a child thinks of quartz as big hunks of crystal and is add odds to reconcile what that has to do with their battery operated watch. But it's there on the dial.

looks at entries and just smile 

I used to think Tag Heuer was the bees knees and called them Tag Hewer (I'm sorry but the sound is not natural to me at all). 

When i bought my first watch, a mechanical fossil, i rember thinking "100$ for a watch is a lot of money, but that's a really good watch and i had a deal" 🤣

I told my GF at the time "yea, i'd never put more than 100$ on a watch". Oh boy did that statement not age well...