Rolex...a new type of money

A friend of mine is involved in trading the bonds of various emerging economies. He told me a funny story about Rolex. In Iceland, following their bank bust, the government imposed capital controls meaning that Icelandic nationals cannot transfer more than a small amount of their money abroad and cannot carry more than a 1000 or so Euros when going on holiday. So, what has happened is that the Icelandics are buying new Rolex in Iceland and using that as a conduit to sell once abroad to raise foreign currency. And it is true. For such a small country, Rolex sales to Iceland are enormous on a per head basis. Buy the Rolex....wear it over the customs check..."hey like my watch?"....seek out a dealer and sell it!!

So it got me thinking....what modern new Rolex would I buy if i wanted to use it as money. I am guessing that the Milgauss has to be one that still has a relatively high re-sale to new price ratio. Would be a dilemma i guess. So now we have Rolex becoming a clear form of money.

As the expression goes...."Time is money".

It has always been traded as it is more liquid than the rest..

By: KC74 : June 14th, 2011-01:31

..If you happen to go to Macau, do check out the used watch shops there, you can find many many Rolex watches there. Not sure how they came about, but my guess is that the throngs of gamblers who traded their watches for money to be used in casinos. Even ...

I guess i was being naive...

By: Baron - Mr Red : June 14th, 2011-01:37

You are right...it has always been a form of money. But to me, just funny to see it being used as a way of avoiding capital controls! I guess it is the first time I have seen it used like that.

same here in singapore

By: xsw : June 14th, 2011-01:55

walk around anywhere and theres dozens of shops everywhere selling lots and lots of rolexes of all kinds. i think because we're seeing a bigger supply and demand of rolexes we tend to think they are liquid/retain value higher than any watch when in fact, ...

Rolex