in asia, businessmen wore gold rolex kings (aka president or day-date) to impress as stable and successful in the 70s and 80s, and that really impresses their offsprings.
great time-tunnel , the story of yours and thanks for the good story.
one thing that i observed, from your comparison picture, is that the rolexes has grown chunkier, due to the modern fad of big watches. being old fashioned, i wish they'd be slimmer and curvier like the first submariner u have.