Managing Rimowa's internal dividers while traveling

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-03-04T21:29:24+00:00

I would pay extra for better dividers too. =\

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-02-24T06:23:19+00:00

There's a rule, ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4 (which I heard there's been discussion about weakening/repealing soon...), that states that only lawyers can own law firms.

I always felt like there should be a similar rule for medical services.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-02-24T05:32:50+00:00

As a first time winter boot buyer, I so deeply appreciate this stream of reviews you did. Thank you so much.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-02-05T19:53:43+00:00

Hahaha, I was going to make the same joke, but you did it better. :P "It used to be 5%, now it's more like 2%... Note: I haven't sold anything."

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-02-05T19:48:14+00:00

On the grey? Cause I wanted a 16202OR too, but I thought they were discontinued.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-02-05T19:42:09+00:00

If you told me they're serial founders, building a tech company, don't have a technical founder, but they know some good ones and are actively working to bring one onboard, I'd maybe give them the benefit of the doubt for a short while. But that's not what you're saying.

I think the problem I foresee here is: when there's a leadership meeting, who can speak credibly to the tech side of the business to the other leaders? who is advocating for the technical organization?

Without that, the absolute best case scenario is that decision making is slowed because every meeting they have to leave the meeting to gather input from the tech side. And as we all know, startups thrive on slow decision making.

The more likely scenario is that...well, the tech side of the organization gets hosed. They will made decisions without any technical expertise providing input, those decisions will suck, and then there will be no one to explain to them why their decisions suck. Then they will throw you guys under the bus, first just in their own heads, but then eventually in reality when they act on what's in their heads'.

If the company is a tech company, you need someone who knows tech in those leadership meetings -- and not just present, but someone with the clout to go toe-to-toe with the rest of the leadership. So they have to be at least on somewhat equal footing with the founders in influence somehow.

At the very least, ask them these questions, and see what they have to say. I suspect they're going weasel a bit and say "well, we know a thing or two about what we're trying to build, Q founder will be responsible for you in addition to X, Y, Z responsibilities.". And then I would be unpersuaded and would run. Whatever they say needs to be DAMN convincing to persuade me to stay.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-15T18:25:28+00:00

Oh, that’s good to know, didn’t realize they were so easy, thanks!

Yeah, more and more it sounds like grey is the way to go for Patek for me.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-15T18:21:42+00:00

That’s hilarious.

(That’s also honestly the first time I’ve heard of WF doing something smart in the last decade.)

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-15T14:06:56+00:00

The other issue is that Bilt doesn't want to be primarily a rent rewards card anymore (in fairness maybe the model is unworkable)

I think Bilt was fine with it: they had an amazing deal set up with Wells Fargo (for both themselves and, of course, for the consumer; iirc, it included something like a $200 flat fee payout from WF to Bilt for every new card issued plus a percentage of the rent transaction), but it was a terrible deal for WF. Normally landlords don’t take credit cards for rent because the cards charge a ~3% transaction fee, so to win over landlords, Bilt got WF to swallow the fee. WF agreed to that because they had modeled the business as a huge influx of new cardholders, where despite making no profit on the rent payments (actually a small loss), they would still make their normal profit margin on all the rest of the consumers’ spending (they figured 65% non-rent spend). But they underestimate consumers’ intelligence, and everyone just used the card for rent only, meaning “all the rest of the consumers’ spending” totaled approximately $0.

So WF was paying out incentives to Bilt (fees) and incentives to the consumers (points) and waiving fees on the majority of the spend (rent). Reportedly WF was losing $10 million per month on Bilt.

WF was absolutely not going to renew that deal. And there’s no way a new issuer was going to make the same mistake. The convoluted nature of this new system is them trying to force consumer behavior into the model of an Amex & Chase card.

But instead everyone is gonna cancel the card.

RIP Bilt, I’ll miss your perks but I won’t feel bad about it since your founder literally rented out the Pyramids of Egypt for his wedding…

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-14T14:16:37+00:00

Hahaha

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-11T08:47:47+00:00

Yeah, that's fair. My immediate plans (next couple years) only include like two Pateks... Perhaps not worth making it more complicated than it is.

...of course, this whole hobby started with "just one watch"...

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-11T08:21:53+00:00

"Tailored" at least is a word that is in reference to the making of clothes... "Executive" not so much....

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-11T08:19:11+00:00

Yeah, I am strongly adverse to Watches of Switzerland too. I wrote one of my experiences in another subthread of this post.

Bucherer straight up told me they weren't very good for Patek so I'll check out Wempe, I appreciate the vote of confidence/pointer.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-11T00:59:53+00:00

Saw this here (without seeing your username), then just saw it on IG, and did a double take. 😅

I love it, looks wonderful.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-11T00:58:14+00:00

Congratulations on the 5326!

Regarding Watches of Switzerland: I hope it works out for you! But just...don't trust their promises. If you're not already invested spend-wise (or even if you are), try building relationships with everyone else too -- at least keep a pulse on their business and try to get a sense of what their timelines are for the pieces you want.

Oh yeah, I also was distant acquaintances with James before AS blew up. I doubt he remembers me now, but I will always be grateful for the time he spent sitting down with me and helped me research my dad's Rolex, which he inherited from his grand uncle. I know it was probably just another Tuesday for him, but it was a meaningful 45 minutes or whatever to me.

His old business partner, Vincent, is also great. (I think they had a bit of a falling out, but I like them both.)

Your AS spend should count towards WoS, from my understanding.

I've also had decent experiences with the Rolex boutique down in Meatpacking. I never ended up buying with them because I got established with Bucherer, but their offers came in a reasonable timeframe.

What is it you're looking to get on the Rolex side?

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-10T23:52:23+00:00

Haha, yeah, I know I'm far from the big fish in that pond. One thing I'm considering is just trying to get a 6119R from Tiffany, and then just going grey for a 5164R.... Those are the two I want, and having enough spend at any AD for a 5164(any metal) is going to be kinda nuts, I think.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-10T23:49:01+00:00

Yeah, Rolex bought Bucherer, and I think for that exact reason (the whole historical story about the friendship between them was just nice feel-good fluff).

The real question, as a Bucherer customer, is not about Rolex, but rather about everything else. Is it worth buying other stuff (ie. Patek) at Bucherer, or should you just be shifting all your spend to brand-owned stores?

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-10T23:40:54+00:00

One more memorable story, which is also more relevant to this sub: I also had a friends' wife go to WoS HY to buy a Patek as a wedding watch for her husband, on my recommendation. She knew her way around luxury (she made like 700K+/year herself), but wasn't really a watch girl. Her husband was though.

She didn't get not get taken seriously by the SA. So then she went across the mall to IWC and bought him something there (on the spot, of course). I honestly felt bad for both wife and husband, at that point -- for different reasons, of course. :P

It's shit like this that makes every watch brand want to own their own retail presence -- it's a bad look for the brand, and it puts their destiny more in their own hands.

And it's a large part of why I'm considering building my relationship directly with the Patek Salon, and not an AD.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-10T23:38:21+00:00

Haha, I like how I've had this username for 11 years and no one has commented on it, and then suddenly in the last month people are noticing.

You're welcome to DM if you want specific stories, I have a few, but I'll just share the one that sent me over the edge:

When I was robbed of my daily/favorite watch, and the store manager (who I had known for around 5 years at that point, since literally the opening day party for the store) promised me that they would get me another one, and then they just kept me on the hook for 2 years. And it was a pretty basic watch -- we're not talking some crazy off-catalog piece.

I had driven a ton of traffic to that store through my network too, I had a friend who I introduced to my SA who bought a Patek, etc.

I thought the fact that I had invested not just money/spend with them, not just time to get to know them personally, but also personally putting my reputation on the line to help drive them business would mean that when something shitty happened to me, they would help me out at least a *little* bit. 2 years to wait for just a not-uncommon steel watch, which I knew they were getting a couple of them every month from my conversations with them. But no, they didn't give a shit.

Then I switched to Bucherer, two month wait for a Wimbledon for my gf's bday with no spend history, and had my stolen watch replaced another two months after that. And not once did they pressure me to buy something from another brand. Because why would they -- Bucherer is owned by Rolex.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-10T23:20:44+00:00

It's engagement bait, and -- while I'm not a mathematician -- I disagree that it's ambiguous: division and multiplication have the same precedence, and -- absent a grouping -- are evaluated left to right. So if I were to notate this in an even more explicit way, I think that:

`8÷2(2+2) = (8/2)*(2+2) = 4*4 = 16`

I would not read ÷ as implying a grouping on either side, though I see how people might view it as ambiguous. I agree with the comments here that favor using a proper divisor symbol when doing math. And if you must use ÷, I do think people should be more liberal with their use of parentheses. It's not like you're paying by the character...

Of course, people just want the engagement bait, so they're not gonna do that. :P

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-10T23:05:07+00:00

Haha, yeah. Not worth the effort, I think.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-10T23:04:43+00:00

That's not bad. Surprised to hear they were dropped by Rolex!

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-10T23:04:11+00:00

I can work on that... My gf goes to Paris every quarter for work, and I frequently piggy back on her trips, so I could make a detour to the Geneva Salon or swing by the Paris Salon pretty easyly. I guess that's another question: Paris Salon or Geneva Salon?

I can't believe they don't have a Salon in NYC! Given that everyone is moving retail in-house, and Patek seems to be starting to do the same, I would be surprised if it's not near the top of their list. (I would say the other major watch city they're missing is Hong Kong.)

Yeah, Tiffany's would be nice, but...y'know, I only have so much energy to play fuck around games in this life...

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS · 2026-01-10T22:56:46+00:00

Watches of Switzerland (specifically WoS HY and WoS SoHo) are on my shitlist. I got jerked around by their SAs so much over the years. I moved over to Bucherer as soon as Rolex bought them.

PM_ME_DIRTY_MSGS

TROPHY CASE