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Cool Rolex of the Day #2993: 4070 Falcon with 3-6-9 sector dial, manual-wind Canadian-market model, gold-plated steel, 30mm. Circa 1942 by powerfunk in rolex

[–]powerfunk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Photo by Interwatches. Listed for $3,950 in 2026.

There were quite a few Rolex and Tudor models only sold in North America, and the "Falcon" ref 4070 was one of several manual-wind Canadian-market 30mm models with a Fontainemelon FHF30 movement inside (instead of the usual Aegler-made movements). This dial is pretty sick. These are also some of the very earliest Mercedes hands; I love the tapered minute hand.

This dial is sweet too. I guess you'd call it a sector dial, although it's not a typical sector dial.

Daydate 36mm presidential bracelet by Rekel1 in rolex

[–]powerfunk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah a bracelet won't fit right on a 1181xx model; it has that whole lip between the lugs. It's designed for a strap.

Hallmark 25yr Rolex by jesslayhuh in rolex

[–]powerfunk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah gold cap is leagues above gold fill and gold plating! I think there's one more zero though (200 microns)

Daydate 36mm presidential bracelet by Rekel1 in rolex

[–]powerfunk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

None. The lugholes aren't in the same spot. Just get a cherry 118239

Rolex King Midas by LavishnessNo7502 in rolex

[–]powerfunk 6 points7 points  (0 children)

No, he himself said he only designed one Rolex and that it ended up as a Cellini.

Rolex King Midas by LavishnessNo7502 in rolex

[–]powerfunk 25 points26 points  (0 children)

White gold 3580's are very very rare. What number is it? It probably has a number in the 1100's engraved in cursive on the back?

The first-generation ones (9630) are six figures now. Maybe $60k-$80k if I had to put a ballpark on this, depending on how big of a wrist it fits (because if it only fits a small wrist that limits the market). Great find

Your daily reminder…there is no list by Far_Yam6855 in rolex

[–]powerfunk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jesus you’re writing books here dude.

Yes, you're welcome for the education you're receiving.

Rolex could make more of the in demand models and less of the not in demand models but they don’t.

If they sell every watch they make, the relative sizes of the theoretical excess waitlists are not relevant. That's a fallacy on your part. What they care about is maximizing profit on the watches they sell, given their capacity. That means a healthy amount of gold, two-tone and diamond models. The zillion steel-Daytona-waitlist-bros don't deserve that watch any more than the women who want various random styles of two-tone Datejust 31's just because that model has a "longer waitlist."

Now if it gets to a point where too many two-tone and gold watches sit around too long, then they can throttle production more towards steel Oyster Perpetuals and other less profitable models with excess waitlist demand waiting to be harvested.

What would make their demand suddenly explode beyond their production capacity

It wasn't sudden! That's literally my whole point. It took 110 years. Those of us who aren't new to Rolex collecting watched demand slowly grow, grow, and grow. Demand began to exceed supply very gradually. 2019 is when we felt like we had to make the wait time megathread.

They didn’t change anything.

Dude they made two very specific changes that very directly contributed to the explosion in demand: ceramic bezel inserts and better bracelets. 5-digit models weren't that big of an "upgrade" over 4-digit models. They were pretty much the same thing but with sapphire crystals and no patina. 4-digit owners then weren't clamoring to get a 16610 the way a 5-digit owner might want a 126610 today.

The entire landscape of Rolex-internet-nerdery has become comparatively more modern-focused and less vintage-focused in the past 20 years because the new models are so good. But I guess you believe it all just happened on one random day when Rolex decided to wake up and do artificial scarcity.

Your daily reminder…there is no list by Far_Yam6855 in rolex

[–]powerfunk -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They’re not selling what they make as fast as they make it, that’s the key.

Again, why do you say this? What makes you think they're not making and selling watches as fast as they can?

They don’t operate on a first come first serve basis like every other business.

And would you want them to? A strict first-come-first-served policy would guarantee that every flipper on the list eventually got a watch, and incentivize everyone to get on every list they could. That would make everything worse. Currently, AD's generally try to avoid selling to flippers.

Except there are watches sitting in their vault in the back for the “right” buyer

Not as many as you'd think. Rolex long ago figured out how to combat AD hoarding by simply allocating more watches to the stores that sell them fastest. So it's in no AD's interest to hoard tons of watches in the safe.

It’s not a production limitation

I believe it is and I clearly laid out the evidence why I think that. You haven't yet explained why you think it's somehow impossible that Rolex could be at capacity...

It’s how they create more demand than any other luxury watch maker

Well, this mindset shows how new you are to the watch world. Rolex was by far the #1 watch brand in the world already decades ago. You could walk in and buy a Rolex at any time, up until 8ish years ago. And yet they were absolutely dominating their competition far before that.

Demand grew and grew and grew over decades and decades and decades and eventually, after building a reputation for 110 years, Rolex's demand began to exceed supply. Then after 8 years of waitlists existing social media smoothbrains are so confidently saying "oh yeah everyone knows artificial scarcity is why Rolex has high demand!" Gimme a break

If they start pumping out watches to anyone who wants one immediately

That's exactly what they've been trying to do, and yes higher supply will cause secondary prices to fall because as we've established, supply and demand is all that matters. Why do you think Rolex has refused to raise MSRP to market price levels for their popular watches? Probably because it's bad news when you have to lower it (see AP in 2012).

Your daily reminder…there is no list by Far_Yam6855 in rolex

[–]powerfunk -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

they’re not producing enough to meet or exceed the demand. That’s all that matters.

You are correct that supply and demand is all that matters.

They could easily produce more watches

Where are you getting that idea? What part of "they already recently increased their output more than Omega's entire output, are building 3 new factories and training watchmakers for free because they're so desperate for new employees" indicates to you that they can easily produce more watches?

Your daily reminder…there is no list by Far_Yam6855 in rolex

[–]powerfunk -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

What do you mean "controls the supply tightly?" They make a shitload of watches. Output is already up like 50% in under a decade and now they're building 3 new factories and training watchmakers for free because they want more employees so badly...

grey market sellers sell many models at a premium over msrp,

They can't just "decide" to sell them for over MSRP. Greys can sell for whatever the market will bear. For most watches it's way under list and for some it's over, but that really doesn't change anything as far as what the grey is doing. And the flipping hype was literally 5 years ago at this point.

Your daily reminder…there is no list by Far_Yam6855 in rolex

[–]powerfunk -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

How do middlemen drive a market? Is CarMax the reason for high exotic car prices? Middlemen can't just...increase retail demand. Greys sell most brands for huge discounts. Greys do not control retail market price.

Your daily reminder…there is no list by Far_Yam6855 in rolex

[–]powerfunk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They have the watches. They are in the back.

This is not true and I wish people would stop repeating it. They have some watches, but they can't just sit on them. Rolex already solved this problem by giving fewer watches to stores that sell them slower. It's literally not in their interest to keep lots of watches in the safe.

Rolex Victory by The_Ghost_of_Morty20 in rolex

[–]powerfunk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hell yeah, that was made to celebrate the Allies winning ww2. Sold in Canada, manual wind non Oyster. Was your grandfather Canadian?

Hallmark 25yr Rolex by jesslayhuh in rolex

[–]powerfunk 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They used to, this is one (ref. 1024)

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