San Martin beats Rolex?! What?

I don't have any Rolexes but have 3 San Martins. So san martin must be better.

When it comes to Gary follow the money...

He does review a lot of San Martins.

You mean he's not the honest guy I thought haha. Thinking back, yeah, I do think SM is his biggest supplier of watches.

Still, the pictures he shows are illuminating. Unless he faked those.

My initial thought too ,I’ve owned Rolex but not San Martin (yet)…I presume I’ve read you correctly 😂

There are many aspects to this argument that I disagree with. First off, it is easy to admit that you are paying a premium for the Rolex name. But with that premium comes stability and security in the fact of knowing that at any moment in time you could wear your Rolex every single day, scuff it up and beat it up, and still 20 years later, sell it for more money than you paid for. It is an absolute anomaly in terms of watches. Not to mention, the movements are built for a lifetime versus the San Martin may not even be worth servicing more than once or twice from a comparative cost perspective. This is the issue with making these comparisons in general. Lastly, Rolex is the company that cemented this design language forevermore.

Value for money? San Martin, hands down.

Absolutely not. Dilusional.

Honestly, his analysis is pretty accurate in my view and, for the most part, evidence-based.

This is where perception plays a significant role. If you think the Rolex feels more premium, it is. It's confirmation bias. The marketing departments at watchmakers depend on that fact.

I've owned two Rolex watches, a Sub and Explorer. They were nice, well-made tool watches, don't get me wrong. But I ultimately sold them on as I didn't find them to be anything special - to me. But that's my bias. I've spent a few weeks with my buddies SM last year and it's a fine watch as well. Especially for the price. He has his regulated within COSC.

Both watches count the same seconds...

In the end, very little in this hobby is objective (for most). I'm considering buying a Speedmaster, for example. Just to count the same seconds as my $45 Casio. (Less accurately, I'll add).

All because I feel a certain way about it.

For the price difference, Rolex should feel shame. Especially since one marker had a mark on it and the hours hand had a slight scratch on it. For the extra $9k+ for the Rolex, it shouldn't be this close of a comparison. So glad San Martin is starting to dabble in original designs instead of just homages.

Only thing Rolex really has going for it is value retention. You won't be selling a San Martin on for a profit, while the Rolex most likely go up in value.

Its like comparing a Toyota to a Ferrari, both will get you to your destination but they are totally different cars.

If you took the name off the dials you would still end up with the Rolex being the better watch. Just

They have invested in the design,engineering the marketing and the movement is a better made movement even if it is a simple one that san martin haven’t but even saying that the price difference is almost all about the brand and the fact Rolex can charge that amount you buy the history and the image and not so much the raw materials and execution that robots can match what ever country they are in

🙄I haven't watched this video and I don't watch a lot of watch YouTube in general unless I'm confirming specs or getting visuals of a watch I'm considering buying. This video reeks of sensationalism and it is doing exactly what the maker intended. That's not a bad thing but I just can't spend time on this type of video. It's like when someone is buying a watch that's an "amazing deal" but they have questions about authenticity. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".

Comparing raw manufacturing is not really the whole story. Rolex has millions/billions in R&D and marketing, and over a century of built up brand good will/equity. Not to mention operating expenses, overhead, and taxation of a wealthy western nation. San Martin has a fraction of those as it built it's brand equity, as it exists, on high end manufacturing of established designs within a very low cost operating environment - and sourcing parts such as movement from established vendors of much lower quality/sophistication and 0 certification.

Okay, the video made very little sense. You can create it pretty much between any brands if you focus on select aspects that are important to you, regardless of whether differences exist by design or were intended, and ignore others. (I've seen it done for Grand Seiko.) From what I can tell it would take about $700 to $1000 to make a watch that can't be distinguished without looking at the movement and having a Rolex for reference.

But ultimately the video misses the point completely. Mechanical watches are obsolete. They were obsolete once reliable quartz movements arrived, and even those are taking a backseat to the smartphone and the smartwatch.

This means that mechanical watches are currently bought as jewelry, or what I call "nostalgia machines". They either have to function as something that you are proud to wear, or something that functions as a link to the past.

Even though it may be ephemeral to some degree, a lot of people discount the value of a brand much too easily.

I've always felt that my pagani design air king homage was like 65% of the watch that a real rolex would be, only let down by poor lume and the fact that the movement started at cosc precision (chinese watch brands actually regulate their seiko movements, unlike seiko), but drifted away from that over the months. But getting 65% of the experience for $120 CAD vs not even being able to purchase a watch for $X000s due to not being in the right social-economic class means that the pagini design is much better value for me.

I have been told that Erebus watches are also made in the SanMartin factory. One of JOMW recent videos has footage from the factory.

Because to me, the watch is a memory capsule. Looking down at a watch that your grandfather wore everyday and it still runs perfectly is meaningful. When it comes to watches, as well as other things in life, I tend to buy the best quality I can afford. The old saying “buy once, cry once”. As for watches, I am extremely passionate about them, so it is much deeper than that for me personally.

I completely disagree. As someone who works on watches and have serviced many Rolexes, where do you base that information off of? Rolex makes materials specifically for the longevity of the watch. For example, using gold hands and hour markers so they don’t oxidize like the older watches and can be polished back to perfection with little effort.

Talk to any watchmaker and ask them what the best movements/engines there are to work on and I can guarantee that Rolex is either first or second. That does not come easy with the amount of competition out there.

Next let’s compare an A Lange and Sohne and a Baltic? 😂

Rolex should be finished better than San Martin and they aren't.

I haven't watched this video...This video reeks of sensationalism - WTF???

No, it's anything but sensationalism. What is sensationalism is making wild claims and defaming a respectable Youtuber without one shred of evidence. You do far more damage with your uninformed criticisms than any Youtube personality hawking watches.

I base that on the producst build today in general. I dont trust marketing. Of course I would like to be proven wrong.

I there a reason to why we are not able to compare A Lange and Baltic? You can compare anything to everything and depending on what criteria you use, even Baltic can win out over A. Lange.

I am not basing the facts of the build quality on marketing, but personal experience from what you can see on the outside, as well as what I worked on in the inside.

My point in the comparison is that those two watches are really made for different purposes. Yes they both tell the time with varying degrees, but mean completely different things to people.

If there wasn’t a price tag on either watch and you were able to walk into a store and get one for free, which one are you taking?

🤣🤣🤣

Don't diss my watch! 😜

The Bond watch is DEFINITELY Rolex - Ian Fleming wrote in the Rolex as Bond's watch before Connery ever even dreamed of wearing one.

As for hard use, HELL NO! My Submariner, over 20 years of wear, went SCUBA diving, sky diving, and into battle. That watch saw serious use. If anything, I was more careful with the SM - because I'm older, for one, lol, and because I didn't trust it could survive half of what the Rolex did. Turned out I was right.

I own a SUPREME Duraflame fire log. When I sell it for $24 on StockX, I can get that new brass anchor for my yacht. 😀

So, longevity does exist today. But then again, it is locked behind such high pricetags and are unavaliable to normal people, it might as well not exist.

I didnt say that the Baltic was equaly build as the A. Lange, I said that it is legit to compare them. I hope that a 40k chf watch is build better thatn a 600chf one.

Your: "If there wasn’t a price tag on either watch..." respons doesnt make sens to me and what I said before.

Def billions in marketing, figure autoracing and golf alone has to be at least 500m alone.

I watched the video again. I actually think it is more about Gary’s lack of honesty. It is very likely Gary did this on his own just to show SM how reliable he is. Maybe he wants to be their exclusive reviewer.

SM makes excellent watches for their price, better than most brands in the affordable category. They are starting to venture more into original designs, which is very nice to see. The new original design GMTs look very nice.

Cars are a good analogy. Toyotas are very reliable, great quality, and will take you from A to B. I currently own and have owned several Toyotas over the years, and I liked each one of them. However, a Toyota is not a Ferrari. [NOTE: I wish I could afford a Ferrari]

I believe there is someone from SM in WatchCruch. They could say something about Gary’s video.

@SanMartinWatches

I work on cars: the Toyota will be reliable 24/7/365 … but the two days of summer one would use a Ferrari. They’ll be memorable.