What I like about Rolex is that they never seem to shamelessly cater to the idiots out there.  They know that no matter what they do and what disasters may encounter this world, they will turn out alright.  If the rich people of a capitalist nation gets overthrow, the new dictators will gladly pick up the slack.  Rolex watches have been the staple in luxury watches and a household name.

You have heard me rant about the endless stream of limited edition watches and logoed watches that other companies make in the hopes of making money.  Omega, for example, makes a new limited edition watch every couple days, and while I was just typing that sentence, a dozen new limited editions came out while I was doing that.  But believe me when I say that when Rolex comes out with a special edition whatever, it really is to mark an occasion.

And what occasion is more special to Rolex than the 50th Anniversary of their iconic Rolex Submariner:

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner Date Steel Mens Watch 50th Anniversary Edition 16610LV

To be honest, in my lifetime I can’t really remember a Rolex limited edition, and 50 years of an icon is certainly something to celebrate.  This watch is just like the standard Submariner date except with the obvious change from the black bezel to the green bezel, but some other subtle changes are on it as well, such as the addition of larger markers on the dial.

The only probably with this Submariner is that there doesn’t seem to be any limit to its production.  Where I concede that Omega and the lot come out with a lot of limited edition wathes, they actually go about LIMITING their production, but with this Submariner I can find this Submariner everywhere I go.

If you have ever been to a museum you will know that it is largely a big tourist trap for a bunch of people to go to and pretend as though they’re interested in stuff.  From all the world over parents they take their obnoxious kids to marvel at the pretty colors of fish, the size of the bones from long deceased creatures, take some pictures, and then leave.  But before they make their exit, they are inevitably going to notice the shop that sells goods related to their museum visit.

And in this conveniently placed “gift shop” they can buy tacky postcards to send to their relatives, so they know you are cool, in addition you can also purchase books which will never be read, and if you are lucky, you can even buy some freeze-dried ice cream which has the ability to instantly melt three dollars right out of your pocket.

At the upper echelons of these gifts though, you may notice there may be a small selection of watches.  Usually tucked away under the pristine protection of clear plastic, the logoed watches may look appealing as they sell for more than the usual junk they have there.

Now what can be cooler than having a watch with the logo of the National Air and Space Museum on your wrist? Well quite a lot of things quite honestly.

Back on topic though, I have literally been asked one question by a colleague of mine asking me what watch Barack Obama wears, and while I have known some time now, the answer has never really seemed to spark any kind of interest in me to discuss it, but here goes…

As a present for Mr. Obama on a recent birthday, his Secret Service goons went down to the Secret Service gift shop and thought of the laziest birthday present known to man.  They went down to the gift shop and got him a Secret Service logoed watch.  What’s most surprising though is that Barack Obama seems to wear it everyday!

Here it is with Joe Biden’s Omega Seamaster Professional in the distance:

And a close up:

Now the funny thing is that he traded a fairly respectable Tag Heuer for this.  Why?  Well I suppose it’s the same reason that he traded his massive gas guzzling Chrysler 300C for an economical Ford Escape Hybrid, he wants to practice what he preaches and so traded his Swiss timepiece for a American one, or so he thought.

Well I have done a little bit of digging on this one, but the watch is actually made in China like quite a lot of things in this country, and it actually starts off life as a Jorg Gray JGC6500 Chronograph like this one:

You may not have heard of Jorg Gray as a company, and there’s a good reason.  You see all they do is makes generic watches without logos on them so you can put your organization’s logos on them and thus disappoint your friends, family, etc. with your mail order junk.

So to conclude, like George Bush’s Timex, Barack Obama’s watch can be classified in a similar vein a being a piece of mail order junk.
The End!

This is the Jaeger LeCoultre AMVOX2 DBS Transponder Watch:

But unlike your average $40,000.00 watch, this one is a little bit different, and here’s how…

For starters, in order to even be given the opportunity to buy one of these, you need to have one of THESE:

Yes that’s right, this is the Aston Martin DBS, the newest Aston Martin and the same Aston Martin model that so famously rolled over the hills of Montenegro in the most recent James Bond film Casino Royale.  It costs $265,000 and comes with a 2 year waiting list.  Suffice it to say, there is a connection.

Fancy watches and fancy cars seem to go together like ham and cheese, but besides the lame writing on the dial, this watch actually has the ability to unlock and lock the car of your brand-new Aston Martin if you should choose to buy it.  It is unique too, because it uses this magical thing that’s practically unheard of in the Swiss watch industry called electricity.  And that electricity is used to activate this device that can control the car’s locking mechanisms from up to 10 meters away.

It is also very cleaver too.  You see instead of pressing things as archaic as buttons, all you have to do is touch the crystal to operate the locking functions and to operate the chronograph.  It’s almost like a Tissot T-Touch in that regard.

Essentially it is a VERY expensive car remote, but there is one problem…

You see while the watch can lock and unlock your car, you still need the key to start it.  Now if you are familiar with the keys of expensive and even not so expensive cars, you know that the key is usually integrated with the remote, so if you need the key to operate your car, what do you need the watch for?!?

The reasoning behind the folks at Aston Martin and Jaeger LeCoultre was probably that if you can afford the car, than you can afford the watch, and given the price of the car, I believe they may be onto something.