[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Dottore
Actually this is not true. Rolex makes enormous amounts of money on that false perception.

Take a stainless steel model (Daytona, President...whatever) and then compare this to the price of the solid gold model. There is a $10,000.- +/- difference in price, but the gold weight of the latter is probably 2 or 3 oz max - and it isn't even pure gold. So you pay a premium of 10K for something that should cost 1 or 2K at most.

Even more extreme profits are made by Rolex on the diamond and ruby encruted models.

A friend of mine in Hong Kong deals in these watches and once showed me a pie-chart that indicated the cost components of a typical Rolex watch. Materials and manufacturing was less than 10%! A huge amount - 30 or 40% - went to advertising!

Objectively (value for money) the watch is a total rip off. Still, I wouldn't trade mine for any other brand. You either get it or you don't. Just like a 911 - as someone pointed out.

And to add to that, the movement in some of the Rolex's is not made by Rolex! The Daytona, one of my favourites is made by ETA. An excellent movement, but still not made in house by Rolex.

As long at they keep their quality and value, will keep wearing them. My first GMT master, a steel and gold version is now over 30 years old and still works like new.

Joe