@Vacumatic Interesting, and more than just coincidence, Rolex advertises its watches as “Superlative Chronometers” and Montblanc advertises its pen material as “Precious Resin”. Hyperbole in both cases. Which just goes to prove, you can fool a lot of people most of the time with slick and intensive marketing
I’ve been collecting vintage and modern fountain pens for 40 years or so and the most disappointing pens I’ve owned were a Montblanc 149 and 146. They leaked from every conceivable place a fountain pen could leak from and they both never wrote properly, ie skipping, blotting, misaligned tines, etc. This was never cured, despite both pens spending more time with Montblanc than with me, or so it seemed. In the end I dropped the 149 on the carpet and the barrel shattered into a “thousand” pieces…so much for ”Precious Resin”.
As for Rolex watches, I’ve never owned one, having been warned off them by a watch collector friend, whose judgement I greatly respect. This was 25 years ago and his experience with Rolex performance issues was much the same as yours, as well as their less than top-tier after sales customer service. Rolex has created a great mystic around the brand, built on (paid?) endorsements by “celebrities“, whatever they are, and super jocks, especially regarding their exclusivity. The company produces over one million watches per year and are expanding production. How exclusive is that? By comparison, Patek Philippe produces about 65,000 watches per year; Vacheron Constantin produces roughly 20,000 watches per year; and Audemars Piguet produces 50,000 watches per year. Thus “The Holy Trinity“ produces approximately 135,000 watches per year. Personally, I don’t like the styling of most Rolex watches. The only model I’d consider would be the 1908, but the price is likely double what I think it’s worth. Also, they’d have to take “Superlative Chronometer” off the face.
I’ve been collecting vintage and modern fountain pens for 40 years or so and the most disappointing pens I’ve owned were a Montblanc 149 and 146. They leaked from every conceivable place a fountain pen could leak from and they both never wrote properly, ie skipping, blotting, misaligned tines, etc. This was never cured, despite both pens spending more time with Montblanc than with me, or so it seemed. In the end I dropped the 149 on the carpet and the barrel shattered into a “thousand” pieces…so much for ”Precious Resin”.
As for Rolex watches, I’ve never owned one, having been warned off them by a watch collector friend, whose judgement I greatly respect. This was 25 years ago and his experience with Rolex performance issues was much the same as yours, as well as their less than top-tier after sales customer service. Rolex has created a great mystic around the brand, built on (paid?) endorsements by “celebrities“, whatever they are, and super jocks, especially regarding their exclusivity. The company produces over one million watches per year and are expanding production. How exclusive is that? By comparison, Patek Philippe produces about 65,000 watches per year; Vacheron Constantin produces roughly 20,000 watches per year; and Audemars Piguet produces 50,000 watches per year. Thus “The Holy Trinity“ produces approximately 135,000 watches per year. Personally, I don’t like the styling of most Rolex watches. The only model I’d consider would be the 1908, but the price is likely double what I think it’s worth. Also, they’d have to take “Superlative Chronometer” off the face.
That is twice as deep as the Marianas Trench. Most divers will never go deeper than 30m (the NAUI / PADI/ SSI recreational limit). Any deeper and you'll be using a dive computer anyway. A Steeldive will be much more useful than a railway lantern!
Scratch that itch...