Stalking Watches: Omega, Panerai, Rolex, Seiko, Tourbillon
/So it's the first week of this new feature, and I feel a bit like a creep. However, I did get a few good pics, and hopefully my ability to sneak photographs on a moving train will only improve from here. Each week I take the direct train from Hung Hom Station (Hong Kong) to Guangzhou, and each week I see some amazing watches. After sitting next to a gentleman in a beautiful gold Rolex Cellini last week, I decided to start photographing some of these watches for a new occasional feature. This is Stalking Watches.
After mentioning that I would be starting this feature, I got some negative feedback on social media. Some seemed to imply that there couldn't be any genuine high quality watches on the wrists of people traveling by Chinese railway. For any of you who may be wondering this yourself, let me give you a bit of quick info. First of all, this train originates in Hong Kong and that’s an important factor here. For anyone who isn’t familiar know, Hong Kong is a city obsessed with watches. According to these statistics, the city of 7 million purchases twice the percentage of global watch sales annually than the entire United States.
Omega Seamaster Professional 300M
From my observations, Rolex and Panerai seem to be some of the most popular watches in Hong Kong among the working middle class. You might be thinking that $10,000 is not exactly a "working middle class" price range for a watch, but for many in Hong Kong, it is. Why is that? I can't say to be certain, but I think it has something to with the fact that HK is such a dense city and many young professionals don't have the opportunity to spend their savings on property, or have a need for cars. As a result, the wrist has become one of the places to show an appreciation what your hard work can earn you.
Panerai Luminor GMT Automatic
Hong Kong has had a long time love affair with Rolex. In the 70's and 80's, a gold Rolex was a serious status symbol. Apparently, the pronunciation of 金勞 (Jīn láo = gold Rolex) sounds similar to another phrase which means "will have work" (this could be understood to mean good fortune, or good luck). These sort of superstitious similarities in language are very common in Chinese culture. For example, the number 8 is a very lucky number because its similarity to the word for "wealth" — which is to be understood as lucky. To understand exactly how important these types of word-play are, consider that the opening ceremony Beijing Olympics began at 8:08pm and 8 seconds, on August 8th, 2008. That is: 8-8-08, 8:08:08pm. And that’s a fact.
It's interesting to see how the taste in Rolex models differs between generations. When I see a person in their 60's or 70's, it's usually a smaller Datejust with the fluted bezel, which makes me think of that Rolex love affair that started 30-40 years ago. They worked hard, saved their earnings, purchased their Rolex, and it's been comfortably on their wrist ever since. Younger generations, however, and especially women, are definitely preferring larger Rolex watches, like the Explorer II on this woman below.
Rolex Explorer II
Seiko Automatic Diver's 200m
Despite being in China, I was pleasantly surprised to see this Sea-Gull Tourbillon among the Swiss and Japanese masses. I was just contacted by Sea-Gull today and they're sending over something for me to review. Not sure what yet, but stay tuned to find out.
For the record, and this probably won't happen again, I observed a gentleman wearing an A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1. Unlike the other unsuspecting passengers featured above, I actually did approach the passenger and ask if I could feature his watch in this column. He kindly replied something to the effect of, “No. Can you get away from me please.” Fair enough.
