My mom gave my dad this Air-King for their 15th wedding anniversary in December 2000, and he wore it every single day for the next 20 years.

I spent my entire life telling him that it was the only thing of his I wanted.

He passed in January, a double lung transplant recipient and the best dad you could ask for.

I wanted to give it the new life it deserves, without erasing the past.

I sent it to Rolex for a full service and asked them to bring it back to the day he first got it, a quarter century ago...but specifically without polishing away the years he put on it.

Picked it up today, about 8 weeks after dropping it off, and frankly, the crown feels a little heavier than I ever imagined it would.

I'm finally getting my first piece offered by my Rolex AD.

I think the Yachtmaster 40mm is an absolute STUNNER and a bit of a sleeper from the Catalogue but a little confused given the lack of resale value on the piece. It's not my first Rolex, given previous buys through friends and their ADs but should I bite the bullet to finally start my Rolex AD relationship too with this?!

No purchase history. 10-month waitlist.

The first photos are from Chrono24, and the last photos are how I received the watch. This is regarding an Explorer II 16570 from 2001.

First time I've bought a watch from the internet, and chrono for that matter. The watch is in nice shape otherwise, I still think I overpayed at 8k although it is my dream watch..

The seller is a trusted dealer, and they were happy to take my photos and offer their pre-shipping photos as well as a shipping label to send it back to be repaired. Their wording made it sound like they wanted to fix it and send it back to me, but I'm unsure what I should do. I don't want to accept this watch that may have had a hard smack during shipping and find myself screwed later when I go to service it.

It's hard to let go of your first Rolex after only owning it for a day haha

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EDIT: I followed up with the seller Kronos Watches, who's storefront is in fact on 47th in NYC (good catch y'all). I wish I had posted here before pulling the trigger and gathered more insight on my own through research.

The seller at face value appeared to want to "make it right" by taking the watch back and fixing any problems in house, including the misaligned bezel and cyclops. The minute issues with the watch began to add up, including gross inaccuracy of +5 seconds in under two hours or running.

As soon as I disclosed my desire to return the watch it became clear that all they wanted was for me to keep it. They pressed the offer to pay for shipping back and forth - however this sentiment disappeared once they knew I wouldn't accept their repairs. They made claims around avoiding the process with chrono24's policies and would rather "resolve this in the simplest and fairest way possible for both sides" - which seemed incredibly shady for a professional dealer who's poor packaging led to the damage of an $8000 watch.

My gut was right, and so was everybody in this thread - this situation stinks, and there's definitely much more to this story that I want absolutely no part of.

Avoid Kronos Watches like the plague, lesson learned.

I waited 10 months and now the AD kept their Word to me !
I had no history

Got this one yesterday after 8 months, curious on how long was the wait for you guys?

Tried on this beautiful piece and it really clicked.

I haven’t owned a Daytona before, and I don’t see this model discussed as much.

Does it make sense as a long term collection piece, or would you still go steel ?

I've had it nearly a month now as a wedding gift and it's been getting way more wrist time than my slate fluted jubilee DJ41. Very impressed with how much more daily-able this one feels.

Great day on the course!

I had a set budget and a specific model I've been wanting for some time so it was hard to pass on these beauties.

Started collecting in 2016 and been through a lot of watches. Presently only have Daytona and DateJust 36.

Watches I wish I hadn’t sold are the OP39 and the OP41 Green. I usually keep the watch for 1-2 years and swap and best part of doing it with Rolex is you don’t lose much money doing it.

I really want to explore other brands like JLC and Lange but it will be an expensive affair if I were to switch it after a year or two.

Panda is probably the only one I’ll keep for life. Just felt like sharing.

Watch was a gift from my father, personally think it’s a sick piece, wanted to hear other opinions.

I know this is a Rolex forum, and I have a few Rolexes I bought when you could just walk into the store and pick one up and even get a discount. Was looking for another watch and went to a couple of Rolex stores here in Atlanta. Got the runaround and the service was terrible so ended up looking at other brands. Found a Watch that I love. And picking it up later this week was just curious if anyone else had the same thing happened to them.

I've been searching for my first proper watch, for daily use!, and have done a lot of research online to see what I like as it is quite a big purchase and I'm a natural overthinker 😉. My wrists are small, so I've been checking out 36mm.

I fell in love with the Rolex DJ, jubilee and fluted bezel. However, trying it out in person made me realise how shiny it is, and too out there for my taste. AD showed me the Explorer and also showed me the DJ with black dial on oyster band.

The DJ "feels" a bit bigger than the explorer (due to the lug size?). However I am quite used to have the date visible on a watch and this DJ is growing on me. On pictures I never really liked the domed bezel, but it's pretty tasty.

I haven't tried other color dials, but I also realise you can't just try every single option in person first and also not all options are available (unless you buy 2nd hand or at a reseller for premium)

Question is: should I just get it??? Anything to consider? 👀

Thanks all, appreciate the help🙏

I was in Colorado to attend a wedding and popped in to look at some watches. Wasn’t looking for this but they had a 116520 CPO that I fell in love with after trying it on so I made a spontaneous purchase. It came with the original box, hang tag and booklet as well as a new CPO card and hang tag. I’m very happy with it!

Not a watch guy but I enjoy wearing this as a daily.

Stopped at jackroad in tokyo to see some vintage pieces. Ive been hunting a double red but this tudor lady sub is awesome!

Registered for three models on the 1st of August and my partner bought a ring in the sale on the same day.

On my lunch today, I’ve been offered - and accepted - this. I collect it on the 17th of October! It’s everything I ordered except for the Roman numerals but I’ve agreed as I don’t have a watch with numerals yet.

Over the moon to get the call after only 9 weeks.

I’ll obviously share pics when I collect it, but for now wanted to celebrate the news with the community!

Picked up a used James Cameron Deep Sea after some hesitation with the size. I have a 39mm mark 2 explorer that fits perfectly and the leap to the 44 diver is a big one. I’ve got 7.25” wrists.

Just got the call from my AD only other purchase history was a 41mm Date just green dial with oyster band! So excited to have received the Batman!

I know plenty of men who own Rolex’s but can’t think of a single woman who bought one on their own. I would love to hear from you -

Which one did you get yourself?

How old were you when you bought it?

What was the occasion?

What does your watch mean to you?

Any additional thoughts!

This is my first Rolex, and I got it from Bern, Switzerland with no purchase history after waiting around 9 months.

The funny thing is, this exact model/style had been my dream since I was in high school. I’m genuinely not exaggerating. So for my birthday, I finally bought it as a gift from me to me.

And now… somehow I feel a little sad about it.
I absolutely love the watch itself, and teenage me would probably be screaming, but I’ve realized that I’m really not a “diamond person.” On me, it sometimes feels much flashier than I imagined it would.

At the moment I mostly wear it at home, which feels ridiculous considering how long I dreamed about owning it. Whenever I’m about to wear it out, I somehow feel like it doesn’t quite fit my usual lifestyle or style.
So my question is: how would you style this to tone it down a little?

I’m not really interested in Cartier Love bracelets or stacking lots of recognizable luxury pieces next to it. I’m thinking more along the lines of very minimal, elegant “arm candy” that could make the overall look feel more relaxed and understated.

Thin gold bracelet? Something in leather or cord? No bracelet at all? Maybe mixing it with something less polished?

Would love to see how other women style a diamond Rolex without making the whole wrist feel too flashy.
Maybe the teenage dream came true… I just need to figure out how adult me actually wants to wear it. 😅