Ares Watch Company

[Wondering Beard]

And if Todd were alive he’d be in here making fun everyone — Ares, Timex, and Rolex buyers alike (he wasn’t a fan of Rolex). And especially people that don’t wear “real” watches. “A grown man should carry a gun, a knife, a pen and wear real watch.” (or something like that).

What was his definition (however loosely) of a "real watch"?

I'm just being curious :-)

[Borderland]

Rolexes aren't my thing, but let's not pretend a Rolex is just a watch.

Marilyn Monroe gave Jack Kennedy a Rolex. Did Stormy give Donald a Rolex? Did Monica give Bill a Rolex?

I think it's hard to measure these things.

[Obelisk]

Oh heck I’ve been following this thread. It’s been 100% quality entertainment for me. My beater watch is a Lum Tec combat bronze. The child labor sweat shop Miyota 9015 auto movement in it is fantastic. Keeps really good time and with as much abuse I put this poor thing through I can’t find any wear on it. The crystal is perfect and the lume is bright and I can read the watch face anytime wit ease. But it was only a grand and if I mess it up I’ll go buy another one. That’s because it’s in my price range and Lum Tec has a long fantastic reputation.

The next watch I want is an NFW Shumate that in my opinion is lume king with 50 layers of SuperLuminova while my Lum Tec has 7 . That watch is in my price range and then again they have a long fantastic reputation with service and supporting the military. I have no idea when their next batch is but I have $700 ready to send them. It has the same movement too. This is my future beater watch with features you don’t expect on a $700 watch.

Will I ever buy a Rolex? Yes. Do I have money for a Rolex? Yes. But if I’m going to buy a Rolex sub I’ll only buy one if I don’t give a fuck about it getting scratched and wear that bitch like a boss 24/7 instead of it sitting in my sock drawer. If I’m worried about it getting scratched then maybe I can’t afford one. So when I’m in the position I can honestly say I wouldn’t give a fuck about scratching a Rolex, I’ll buy one. Besides at $7k for a used sub, I’d rather get a Barrett .50 really.

Let me tell you about a real Rolex watch wearer. I admire this man. When I was 18 I worked at the Publix meat department. This professional engine builder (I wanna say Indy car but it was 3 decades ago) would come and always order a 2” bone in sirloin steak. I always spoke to him. He had a two tone sub. It was completely beat to hell. The gold link on one side was dented. Scratched to hell and back. To him that expensive watch to me wasn’t anything to him. He owned that blanking watch and wore that female dog on his wrist like a boss. It’s like buck ya’ll this is what it looks like to really have money. Dude was cool as hell.

It’s like knife porn threads. A picture of knives that have never even cut paper. I’ll use a $150 knife as a screw driver in a heart beat that’s because I bought it to use it and not to make brag pictures of tactical gear including cigar, Rolex, Ed Brown, bottle of some stupid expensive bourbon, Microtech, and a 24 carat gold money clip with a grand clipped to it. I buy things I like and things I’ll actually use. I do like to get advice on some items, but you gotta buy what you like and what won’t annoy you if it gets used. As far as a Rolex it is the gold standard for brag pics with guns and that’s not the only reason to want one. There are better watches, there’s just Rolex and Omega the general public knows about. Then there’s Panerai oh boy I want one of those, but if I did everyone would assume it was Invicta’s new line. In that case I’m sure a quality replica will do its job. Lum Tec’s are Panerai-esque so maybe that’s why I like mine.

I did have to edit some profanity as I don’t know how far I can go since I’m new here.

[That Guy]

I'm not a Rolex guy. I'm not even an Ares guy. So, I can only speak in a more general sense.

And I really hate to tell people this but Rolexes are just watches. Just like Porsches are just cars. Whether there is some type of extrinsic sociocultural value is a matter for discussion, but there is nothing intrinsically better between two watches that both keep accurate time. Even if one costs $50,000 and one cost $5. Functionally, the two are identical, their functionally intended purpose is to keep time, if they both do that, they are equivalent.

Every single cheap watch I have ever owned has failed me at some point. For me at least, that is the allure of a more expensive (obviously not Rolex expensive in my case) mechanical watch. Sure, it won't keep time as well as a cheap quartz watch. But it is supposed to keep on telling the time, unlike the cheap watch that I know will fail at some point. (And adjusting a watch let's say once a week is not a huge chore.) So the cheap watch and the expensive watch are not functionally equivalent.

[Borderland]

Will I ever buy a Rolex? Yes. Do I have money for a Rolex? Yes. But if I’m going to buy a Rolex sub I’ll only buy one if I don’t give a fuck about it getting scratched and wear that bitch like a boss 24/7 instead of it sitting in my sock drawer. If I’m worried about it getting scratched then maybe I can’t afford one. So when I’m in the position I can honestly say I wouldn’t give a fuck about scratching a Rolex, I’ll buy one. Besides at $7k for a used sub, I’d rather get a Barrett .50 really.

I've beat the hell out of every watch I've owned. If I wore a Rolex it wouldn't be worth half of what I paid for it in 10 years. For a guy that doesn't work with his hands a Rolex might be a good investment. All I have to do is look at my Seiko to know that a Rolex wouldn't work for me. I treat my watches like I treat my lawn mower. I don't have any diamond studs in my ear either.

[farscott]

I've beat the hell out of every watch I've owned. If I wore a Rolex it wouldn't be worth half of what I paid for it in 10 years. For a guy that doesn't work with his hands a Rolex might be a good investment. All I have to do is look at my Seiko to know that a Rolex wouldn't work for me. I treat my watches like I treat my lawn mower. I don't have any diamond studs in my ear either.

I pretty much wear a Rolex 24/7. I cut my lawns, do plumbing, shoot, and anything else with a watch on my wrist. The reason I started wearing a Rolex had to do with work, namely I needed accurate timekeeping in locations with large magnetic fields. I ended up with a Milgauss which did the trick. Now there are watches with more resistance to magnetic fields, but back in the late 1980s, the Milgauss was it.

Rolex makes a tough watch but there are easy ways to wreck one. The easiest is to drop it on a tiled floor. That usually takes out the crystal, allowing synthetic sapphire into the movement. At that point, the watch has to be stopped and serviced. For that reason, a Rolex is safest on the wrist.

[Default.mp3]

Every single cheap watch I have ever owned has failed me at some point. For me at least, that is the allure of a more expensive (obviously not Rolex expensive in my case) mechanical watch. Sure, it won't keep time as well as a cheap quartz watch. But it is supposed to keep on telling the time, unlike the cheap watch that I know will fail at some point. (And adjusting a watch let's say once a week is not a huge chore.) So the cheap watch and the expensive watch are not functionally equivalent.

A mechanical watch is not inherently more durable or shock resistant than a quartz. In fact, probably the opposite, given that there's way more moving parts to go wrong. I love my Sinn U2S, but because I use it as a beater, it has had to have service multiple times to rectify issues with the movement (generally excessive accuracy issues that I couldn't fix via just demagnetizing). I'm not quite a WIS, but I do know a bit, and if absolute reliability and durability were the aim, I'd probably be looking at a G-Shock for most things, outside of extreme temperatures.

[Wondering Beard]

A mechanical watch is not inherently more durable or shock resistant than a quartz. In fact, probably the opposite, given that there's way more moving parts to go wrong. I love my Sinn U2S, but because I use it as a beater, it has had to have service multiple times to rectify issues with the movement (generally excessive accuracy issues that I couldn't fix via just demagnetizing). I'm not quite a WIS, but I do know a bit, and if absolute reliability and durability were the aim, I'd probably be looking at a G-Shock for most things, outside of extreme temperatures.

Sure and that brings us back to the discussion above about a watch not necesssarily being "just a watch".

[HopetonBrown]

A Rolex isn't a high end watch in the world of horology. Kinda the Cadillac or Lexus of watches.

It's priced at an amount a professional could afford if they wanted to.

There isn't anything really high end or exclusive that's sold in every mall in America like the Rolex is.

The Big 3 watchmakers are Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe. All 3 make watches in the 6 figures.

Here's one that's over a million.


https://www.patek.com/en/collection/...ions/6002G-010

[Totem Polar]

I think the above post makes a point: Rolex really is like Harley Davidson at this juncture. A nice product with solid quality, but really overpriced for what it is. People like the brand, because they grew up admiring from afar, and now both marques are great places for professionals to throw some external reward money on the next trip to the mall in any medium-to-big city they happen to live.

For tool watches, Sinn has that partly sewn up—albeit with occasional challenges from the likes of mid-range Seiko (eg. tuna), Oris, the Glashutte concerns... all for much less money.

For status, it starts with AP and PP, unless you’re a complete plebeian.

As to Ares, mine has been on my wrist since I got it, back in whenever. I just had to reset it for daylight saving, otherwise; just a few strap changes, as I’ve bumbled along banging it against doorways, timing lessons, and shooting .357 out of a King Cobra, and buffalo bore out of an LCR (once in a while).

I’m satisfied with the purchase, for a variety of reasons.


PS.