(upbeat drum beat music)
- If you've watched the channel for a while now,
you know that I really love watches,
especially nice watches.
But it wasn't like the first watch that I ever owned
or watches that I've had throughout my life
have always been luxury watches.
Getting into and appreciating watches,
developing and refining my taste in watches,
is something that has been a very long journey.
And you're gonna find out
how I eventually found myself
walking into the Rolex boutique
on Fifth Avenue in New York City
with a pocket full of cash,
ready to buy my first luxury watch, a Rolex Datejust.
So the first watches I ever had as a kid
were a Timex Ironman Triathlon.
I loved that watch.
Don't know whatever happened to it,
but I'm seriously considering searching on eBay
to try and find one
purely for sentimental reasons.
Also as a kid, I had a neon-colored Swatch
that had a rotating bezel.
And then, of course, there was the Gucci,
obvious scare quotes there,
that I bought on Canal Street,
i.e. not a real Gucci watch,
on a class trip to New York City when I was in high school.
There was a period of time
when I didn't really think about watches
that much at all.
I was in college, grad school,
and I was just laser-focused on that experience,
practicing my saxophone, playing gigs,
and watches kind of took a back seat to all of that.
But then once I got settled,
had a job, and finally started thinking more
about improving how I dressed, building up my wardrobe,
that's when I began scratching the surface
of the watch hobby.
Watches, in my mind, were a finishing touch to an outfit,
and also, like clothing,
a way to communicate something about yourself.
My first foray into watches at that time
was very modest.
I didn't really know anything
other than that I wanted a watch that I could wear
with a lotta stuff
and had a timeless, no pun intended, really, look.
And I also didn't really know where to look for watches,
so the first one I actually got was from J.Crew,
and it was the Timex T2N321 circa 2010 for J.Crew.
Came on a brown leather strap,
and I also ordered a black strap for it
from Amazon, as I recall.
Very small and elegant stainless steel case,
simple dial with a date window.
I wore this watch all the time,
and if you go back to the early years of HSS
on the website,
you'll see this watch in pretty much every single post.
So that was kinda the watch that rekindled my interest,
and shortly after that,
I started getting the urge to have more options.
The Timex was great,
but I wanted something on a metal bracelet
and in a gold tone,
so I went to the mall
and I bought a Citizen Eco Drive.
And then eventually, I spent a little bit more
and got a Uniform Wares C40,
which is a cool minimal watch
with a day date.
So you're probably wondering,
how does someone go from a $600 Uniform Wares watch
to a new Rolex Datejust,
which was actually my next watch after the Uniform Wares,
because I'll admit, that is a huge leap to make.
For me, it was a combination of two things.
It was circumstance,
and it was also because I am who I am,
the fact that watches really became a very strong interest.
And when I get into something,
I pursue it with passion.
And if it becomes a goal,
it's something that I try my hardest to achieve.
So Rolex had become, in my mind at that particular time,
the pinnacle of arrival.
Now you could be cynical about their marketing
and how they position themselves
as the reason that that thought was in my mind,
and maybe that's the case,
and if so, good for them.
But there's also a reason that Rolex is Rolex,
and why people sometimes say bow to the crown.
Although they might not make
the most beautiful movements in the world,
there is no disputing that they are exceptional quality
and have an amazing history.
But back to circumstance.
Rolex is a luxury brand, and it's a luxury price point,
so you've gotta be in
some sort of financial comfort zone to afford one.
He Spoke Style had been doing very well,
and that put me in a position
to seriously consider this purchase.
And although it might sound cliche,
but marking that kind of milestone
with something like a Rolex watch
really added to that sense of achievement
and accomplishment that I felt,
something that I would have,
and something that I could always look to
and remember the pride that I felt about that.
Obviously, and again, because I am who I am,
I didn't just run out the next day
and buy a watch.
I'd never spent that amount of money
on anything all at once,
so I dove into sort of an insane level
of figuring out what the perfect Rolex
was going to be for me.
And that started with going to the boutique
and actually trying a few models on.
Robin was living in New York at the time,
so we were kinda back and forth every other weekend.
So on one of the trips up there,
I went to the Rolex boutique on Fifth Avenue,
and also hit up Tourneau.
The experience of actually
putting these watches on my wrist for the first time
was kind of transformative.
I'd only been used to relatively inexpensive watches,
and there is a very different feel on the wrist
when it comes to a modern Rolex.
It has a solidness and heft that, for me,
was just really unexpected
and made a very big impression on me.
It just felt like this is a high-quality watch.
Two questions I bet you have right now are,
how and why did I settle on a Datejust,
and why did I choose to purchase brand new
instead of pre-owned?
Although I briefly considered a Submariner,
I settled on the Datejust for a few reasons.
I wanted something that was classic,
I wanted something that was versatile,
and I wanted something that leaned more
toward the dressy side of things,
because that tends to be
more of my default mode of dressing.
So once I'd settled on the Datejust, though,
there was still a big decision I had to make
between an Oyster bracelet or a Jubilee bracelet.
Oyster would be more casual,
and Jubilee would be a little more dressy.
And once again, I lean more dressy,
because it matched my style
and seemed a little more special to me.
And then size, 36 millimeter verse 41.
I chose 36 because it was more classic
and fit my wrist a lot better.
Now new verse pre-owned.
I wanted to buy new simply because
I wanted the watch to be completely mine.
I didn't want it to have a story before me.
I wanted to write its history myself.
So as I tell it here in all of two minutes,
it makes it sound like
it was a pretty simple process that I went through
and that it didn't take long at all
to arrive at my final decision.
But in reality, I agonized over this
for a good nine months.
I'm gonna spend all this money,
I better make sure that I've done all my research
and that I am 100% confident that this is indeed
the watch that I want to buy.
I spent a lotta time reading articles,
I spent a lotta time on the forums,
I spent a lotta time on the Rolex website,
playing with different configurations.
Once I arrived at my decision, however,
I went to the bank,
made the trip to New York for the weekend,
and before we left the apartment,
and this sounds completely ridiculous,
but Robin had a colleague at the time
who ran this Instagram account called Cash Cats,
which was, like, photos of cats
laying around in piles of money.
So we actually took a picture of her cat Ringo
for Cash Cats.
See, I told you it was ridiculous.
So the transaction in the boutique
was kind of the most boring part of the whole affair.
And the only thing that kind of sucked about it
was that, instead of leaving with the watch on my wrist,
I actually had it mailed to me in Maryland,
so it came a few days later.
So that's the story.
Now let's take a closer look at this watch
and all of its details
with some good old-fashioned watch porn.
So here it is, my Rolex Datejust, reference 116234.
It is a 36-millimeter case in oyster steel and white gold.
It's got a screwed-on case back,
which you can't see through,
and a screw-down crown,
Jubilee bracelet, giving it a dressier look.
Also contributing to that dressier feel,
it has a fluted bezel,
which looks amazing as it catches the light.
I mentioned that I wanted something extremely classic,
so I went with a silver dial and stick-pin hour markers,
hour, minute, and running seconds hands.
It does hack, which, if you are really anal
about setting the time accurately, is an awesome feature.
It is an automatic movement,
and of course, the real signature feature
is the Cyclops, which magnifies the date window.
This watch looks great on the wrist,
and I feel like 36 millimeters is a perfect fit
for my 6 1/2-inch wrist.
It's incredibly comfortable to wear.
It still is one of my favorite watches,
gets a lotta wrist time,
and it will always have a very special meaning to me.
As I went through the process of buying this watch,
I learned a lot.
And if you find yourself in a similar position as I was,
really wanting a Rolex
to be your first luxury watch purchase,
I put together a video linked right over there
that goes even deeper
and gives you some really important questions
that you should be asking yourself
to see if this is the right choice for you.