Rolex Sub for $195
Just stumbled across this jeweler's ad from an April 1963 newspaper in Miami, Florida. Rolex Sub freely available for $195... which is $1,950 in today's dollars. Seemed like a good reminder that things were different?
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If we only knew then what we know now...
If we only knew then what we know now...
Alt plot line for “Back to the Future”: Marty McFly travels through time, loads up on cheap Rolexes, becomes a YouTuber and flipper in the present.
See ya guys later!
Alt plot line for “Back to the Future”: Marty McFly travels through time, loads up on cheap Rolexes, becomes a YouTuber and flipper in the present.
Great Scott!
Good point! They're among us.
Is the Submarino the same as a Submariner? I'd take the Calendario myself.
It is very possible that a similar new model of either would be worth the inflation adjusted cost. Just.
And had you taken 195$ and invested them into the S&P 500 you could pretty much buy a Submariner, Daytona and GMT on the grey market, put them in a nice 3 watch roll and still have money left over for a nice holiday with your 3 new watches in Miami, Florida 😏
Looking at money backwards in time is just frustrating. Don't do it 😉 look ahead and enjoy what's available
The Date was much more of a feature back then I believe. The Submariner Date would have been more expensive (not sure when that became a thing though). The Submariner today is also more premium with ceramics and applied indexes whereas the datejust wasn't as "entry level" as it is today where every watch gets the same dial treatment.
And had you taken 195$ and invested them into the S&P 500 you could pretty much buy a Submariner, Daytona and GMT on the grey market, put them in a nice 3 watch roll and still have money left over for a nice holiday with your 3 new watches in Miami, Florida 😏
Looking at money backwards in time is just frustrating. Don't do it 😉 look ahead and enjoy what's available
I'm neither interested in Rolex nor in watches as investments. But yeah, "investing" in Rolex back in the 1960s would have been a terrible idea. S&P 500 turns $195 into $73,000 over the same period.
Alt plot line for “Back to the Future”: Marty McFly travels through time, loads up on cheap Rolexes, becomes a YouTuber and flipper in the present.
He would do much better putting that money in the S&P 500. $195 invested then would be worth over $73,000 now. How much would that Rolex be worth, even in mint condition in box?
I recently learned that the only investment in luxury goods that has outperformed the S&P 500 in the last ten years is rare whiskey bottles. Watches? Not so much.
https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/luxury/rolex-patek-investment-beats-sp-gains-over-five-years/
https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/luxury/rolex-patek-investment-beats-sp-gains-over-five-years/
How did that strategy turn out for all the "watch dealers" who entered the secondary market in 2021 or 2022? I just don't buy it. Definitely not investment advice, but treating a spike in the watch market amidst super bizarre macroeconomic circumstances as anything but a self-correcting aberration is self deceit. If someone is into watches only for the sick $$$ gainz and rode that wave to its crest, congrats to them, I guess? Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.
I should go way back when and buy them tulips.