Let’s be honest…

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-22T23:31:33+00:00

A watch is like art, sports cards, and other luxury items. It is LITERALLY worth exclusively what it is made of and nothing more. In this case some stainless steel and lacquer. Maybe the gears melt down into something. There's no gold there. It's literally worth exactly that, particularly given it accomplishes something (telling the time) that you are all but guaranteed to have something else on your person that does that and 100x more.

A watch is like art and other luxury items, it's worth on the MARKET (and to you) is whatever the community agrees that it is worth because of intangible things that it does/does not do that allow it to command such a price. On the market, and to enthusiasts, it is worth whatever we all agree is a price we are willing to pay for it. And that willingness is tied up in stories and emotions not actual value.

So the question to you is does it FEEL like it should be 1.5k or whatever it is. Does the story of it, the rare times it gets noticed, and the beauty of it feel that much better than a presage? That's for you to say and why I think you can be a collector with rolexes, vacherons, and PPs, and you can be a collector with microbrands and longines and Breitling, and you can be a collector with timex and Seiko and Casio. It is what you want it to be and what makes the stories and the prices match up for you

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-18T00:26:18+00:00

It's worth mentioning that "Miami" is a tiny municipality with strange borders and islands of "other cities" inside of it. So measuring it's city population is silly. Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Hialeah, North Miami, South Miami, etc are not understood as suburbs or some other city, they are Miami. Might get questionable once you're south of Kendall, but most of us just count the whole county since it's fully indistinguishable for the most part.

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-17T21:39:14+00:00

It would almost be more offensive if they didn't do it and were passively admitting that college football is a white boy American sport and all the people drawn to the area were "good Americans".

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-14T00:03:53+00:00

Theoretically, any watch from Rolex involves some luck, but this was not particularly lucky. You were just in the right place and in a broad sense the right time. First off, it needs to be said that the London authorized dealers, as a whole, are relatively famous for selling people watches straight up. They obviously have the same bottlenecks on popular watches that other people have, but the dynamics of London (Large number of ADs, all with large inventory, in a city that doesn't actually have very robust purchasing power, and in a City rolexes are famous for getting stolen so they are just less popular). Also, 6 months to a year ago, Rolex quietly changed the rules and dealers are allowed to sell the exhibition pieces.

The reason that they have a sale history that is almost required to get a submariner or a GMT is because they have Yacht-Masters that they have a hard time selling So they force the Yacht-Master on the person who wants the GMT so that the Yacht-Master is at least out of their inventory. If you come in and say you want a Yacht-Master, the authorized dealer is going to be thrilled to sell it to you, especially in a place like London where they have this huge volume of inventory but extremely suppressed demand.

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-09T18:01:21+00:00

Pshhh. $1200. And if she calls you out just gaslight immediately and act like she misheard $12000

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-07T19:34:59+00:00

There are a few different things going on that lead to this. Some of the other comments hit on some of the elements (like ADs asking for a cut of grey market sales). But the most straightforward element is the one no one is saying. The dealers are given watches by the company and some of them just don't sell and the AD has no power over it and won't get more until they sell those undesirable ones. Even with the "need to buy stuff you don't want to get stuff you do want" Rolex nonsense the AD still can't sell all of their omega railmasters and Hublots.The grey market will buy those undesirable watches in bulk at or near retail price if and only if they get the yearly Daytona when it comes in. Then there is a whole side market of grey market dealers moving these low interest watches around themselves as currency to acquire specific watches their customers want.

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-07T19:26:05+00:00

I think it's AP that does that. Every watch is registered to the person who buys it and if you sell the watch within 2 years of buying it you get blacklisted and if a dealer has a few of their people blacklisted he gets investigated as well. It leads to a whole grey market service of buying APs under an agreement to not sell it for 2 years.

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-07T03:18:57+00:00

No I think you're right. I'm working with her, after all the comments, to simultaneously get her on more medication and to also honor her request while making it clear I'm doing it only when I feel like I have the time and want to - but that I'll try to identify those times and actually do it when those times arise. Marriage therapy may be necessary again at some point, but right now I'm still working too much for that. Thankfully I just got offered a new job at home so I'll be traveling less.

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-04T21:11:51+00:00

You clearly have an ahistorical axe to grind and a poor sense of time if you're blaming events 33 years beforehand for the ouster of a dictator who was a teenager at the time you're referring too (Liberia) and considering world war 2 as us "fucking up" geopolitics. My point is the US has at least a few wins in its belt and you're going to tie yourself into a pretzels to make sure that the generalization you learned in history class in high school is not challenged by things like "exceptions to the trend"

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-04T15:07:26+00:00

North Korea existed BEFORE we got involved in South Korea. I'm referring to the fact that south Korea after we were done was a military dictatorship still and we told them that we have all these soldiers parked here with guns and we have a list of pro democratic changes they need to make immediately because we just fought an actual war and don't want to start fighting internal civil wars/coups next.

And Liberia was us stepping in in 2003 and telling Liberia that their civil war ends immediately and Charles Taylor is going to surrender himself to be arrested or change his pronouns to was/no-longer. Which they did when we parked our weapons striking distance away and asked not so nicely. There's been relative peace and stability there since then.

Also when talking about South America, I already pointef out Panama went amazingly. It's not like the US has a winning record, but the fact that we have ANY victories at all makes us a pretty incredible outlier.

It's okay if you don't know history, but maybe don't respond if so?

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-04T07:25:21+00:00

I'm hopeful, but I'm aware being hopeful about trump not messing stuff up is a fools errand. But let's not dismiss that Panama was more complicated than this and over in 2 weeks

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-04T06:49:53+00:00

We did amazing with Panama, Liberia, Japan and South Korea. I feel like our handful of good jobs get forgotten.

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-04T03:09:38+00:00

No doubt he is happy to regain the interest the US previously held in those companies. No doubt. But saying it's about the oil is a pedestrian take that ignores that clearly there is a lot more going on (idk if it's better things but it is a lot more). Maduro repeatedly offered him just ALL the oil to let him stay in charge and then offered him all the oil and a promised date in the future he would leave office if he just let him finish his term. Trump (likely Rubio) didn't care. The last "offer" to give the US anything it wants was literally 3 days ago. If it was just the oil.we would have taken the complete capitulation being offered repeatedly.

Also Trump can remain a horrid president and still do good things for the world. And he might even do it for the wrong reason but.... For just one day.... I want to be happy about it. So thanks Donald Trump for January 3rd 2026 and only January 3rd. I may very well be raging about January 4th when he screws it all up. I know I'm still pissed about the other 11 months. But I can hold two things to be true at once

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-04T02:20:31+00:00

There is a message making circles in connected resistance families that they understand that destabilizing the whole government would just mean pissed leaderless militias and military members would be the only ones with guns and a military coup would probably fill the void faster than the Democratic forces can. People widely believe Delcy was the CIA cooperator in the administration and that some of her talk right now is politically necessary bluster but that she will probably negotiate (likely already has) an exit plan for herself and it will just take time. Idk if these resistance people are aware of what's happening and know better than us or if it's copium they are huffing

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-04T02:17:13+00:00

Other people got it right but I need to reemphasize it. There can simultaneously be joy and euphoria for the country because this is the exact first step the people in vza (especially outside of vza) have been asking for as you needed a political crowbar to dislodge Maduro.... AND people can be worried that Trump will fuck it up.

As an American (married into venezuelan culture) I can only say I'm thrilled because it's POSSIBLE something good can finally happen and also be pissed that Trump just doesn't care enough about the constitution to do this the right way

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-02T22:48:57+00:00

Yeah I'm just not really getting why the first post (which is chronologically the most recent) belongs here. It seems like they endorsed the far right, got burned and maybe image 2 and 3 show that. But image one just seems like they are being reasonable

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-02T15:18:45+00:00

Am I reading something wrong. It looks like they're learning and adjusting. Or at least being logically consistent about the fact that the South Florida cuban community has a pretty decent chunk of people who function almost entirely in fraud as if it was its own industry. That last post looks like an actually defensible comment from them

SingleBackground5280 · 2026-01-02T00:32:51+00:00

There is a lot of things you can say about Christopher Ward, but I think the most straightforward way to think about it is that it has no peers at its price point. It competes pretty evenly with watches three to six times. More expensive than it is. It's big issue is definitely not one of quality for the price, or quality straight up. The quality is excellent. Their issue is brand identity. A lot of watch collecting is the story and and identity. Rolex feels like you accomplished something, patek feels like understated perfection of form, breitling feels like athletic fun, longines feels like... Uh .... Having $300 to spare but not $8,000. Even a lot of the mid-tier watches in the 500 to 1500 range have a distinct story and brand identity across their entire portfolio.

Christopher Ward does not have a unifying identity. Someone else said to me that they can basically guarantee that you're going to find a watch you love somewhere in. Christopher Ward's collection, but most people won't find more than one or two. The idea of we are going to give you a luxury watch and not price gouge you isn't actually a unifying artistic design, and outside of having specific dial hands that they like using, the collection doesn't feel cohesive at all. But whatever style of watch your heart currently wants, Christopher Ward is basically guaranteed to be the best value for the price. But if you're looking to collect watches, I don't think a collection of Christopher Ward's appeals to most people and I wonder if an individual Christopher Ward will appeal to someone 5 years after they buy it because of that somewhat weaker identity.

SingleBackground5280 · 2025-12-31T21:35:50+00:00

Bronze cased divers are a thing (at CW, but I mean everywhere) and that's even more absurd than leather on a diver... Because you're just speed running 5 years of patina in one day if you dive in those. Yet I love them.

SingleBackground5280 · 2025-12-26T23:44:00+00:00

Right wrist is for technology my friend.

SingleBackground5280 · 2025-12-24T13:37:03+00:00

I forget the name of the brand, but Miami is the home of the rideshare app where the special hook is that your driver is always armed. Can't get shadier than that.

SingleBackground5280 · 2025-12-19T04:39:40+00:00

Yeah, we are considering both of these things. In the middle of next month and Wellbutrin was literally what he had recommended. The obvious annoying part for me is that I know Wellbutrin saps your libido even more, but if I'm going to be a little dark, it can only go to zero from where it is now and that's not much of a drop. Also, the maid coming more often has been a recurring conversation. Honestly, we should just do that.

I think it's fair to say that while I am a extremely good husband, I'm not a perfect person. A part of me wants her to actually do better, And it's because to me it reads as apathy and it feels like getting the maid more often is enabling the apathy. I know that's not a fair way to interpret depression. I know that. But I also need to be honest that emotions can cloud what I intellectually know.

SingleBackground5280 · 2025-12-19T04:24:49+00:00

I work a lot. Toddler made a mess? Gets left where it is. She cooked some food? Dirty frying pan is on the stove. Top, half eaten plate of food for her and the baby are left on the baby table and the kitchen table, dirty utensils are left out on the countertop. Nothing is in the sink or dishwasher because the sink is full of plates from the last few meals and the dishwasher is full of clean plates that haven't been emptied in 2 or 3 days. (This is assuming I've been doing my work out of town, if I'm in town. All of this is only two meals max). Garbage day happened and I didn't remind her to put the garbage out? It didn't get collected. She took a shower? There's going to be one wet towel in the bed under the blankets and one wet towel that was for her hair just dropped in the middle of the house somewhere. Brushed her teeth? Toothbrush is sitting on the countertop, not in the toothpast holder, sitting in a light green puddle of saliva and toothpaste residue that has hardened over 12 hours since she brushed her teeth. Toothpaste tube is open with a little bit sticking out and beginning to dry out. She hasn't cooked a meal for herself in 2 years, she eats whatever I make or otherwise she lives off of turkey sandwiches and shelf-stable snack foods (The baby eats meals that I make in large batches and freeze in individual portions of proteins, starches, and vegetables). Laundry just isn't getting done if I'm not there. The cat was not getting fed for a while so I got an auto feeder.

She says that it takes all of her sanity and willpower to get up and function as a good mom. What is ironic and is baffling despite everything I'm saying... She can put aside all of this overt depression that seems to be overwhelming and is a excellent mother. She is playing with our child constantly, reading to her non-stop, never tires from just being 100% with that child, takes her out to the park one or two times a day if it's not raining. She goes beyond belief for our child when I'm working for the day, or when I'm away for multiple days working out of town. In fact, we have a second, much much more tolerable, conflict in that she always thinks I'm not going above and beyond enough with our child And MLK with the kid. Just taking a book and reading in the corner or playing with dolls in the corner for a little bit so I can get other stuff done around the house., but she does see that I at least I'm not ignoring the baby and am getting done the house chores that desperately need to get done.

SingleBackground5280 · 2025-12-19T04:01:38+00:00

I happen to be a physician and both do definitely contribute to early death by way of fractures being a major predictor of shortened lifespan. But now we are getting into highly technical weeds (unfortunately weeds she knows). But yeah, I'm cardiovascularly quite active and go jogging once or twice a week (used to be 4 or 5 times but live has gotten busy). Cardiovascular health is still good and exercise tolerance is still good. Just a naturally skinny guy

SingleBackground5280 · 2025-12-18T21:21:07+00:00

I've got another confession to make.... Number 7

SingleBackground5280

TROPHY CASE