Rolex

For years, I have always been enthralled with a few of the platinum, blue-dial Day-Date models. I had never worn one, though, and it's very difficult for me to try on bracelet watches in stores because they never fit me unless they're sized to my small wrist (6"/154mm).

In January 2020, a local preowned dealer whom I know well (also an authorized Lange dealer) got the watch below in his inventory. I fell in love with it instantly, but I knew how heavy it was and was very concerned about fit/comfort. He had his watchmaker remove links and size it to my wrist, which was very kind of him. I wore it for a while in the store and was there for probably 2 hours, trying to decide (i.e., trying to talk myself into it). I ultimately decided that I just couldn't buy it because it didn't fit my wrist comfortably. Too heavy, too noticeable. I felt terrible for my dealer because of all the time he spent with me. I was also frustrated because I really loved these platinum DD40 models and had just realized I could never own one.

A few days later, I was talking to a friend/fellow collector about this experience. He wisely told me, "Trust me. Go back and have them add 1 more link to the bracelet. A heavy bracelet watch like that needs to be worn looser than you're used to. Do that and wear it around for a while. Then see what you think."

I did that, and he was totally correct! For the first few minutes after resizing it and adding the link, the watch was sliding on my wrist more than I was used to. But then, after a few more minutes, I quickly got used to the additional sliding and stopped noticing it. The dealer told me to wear it home like that and try it before making a final decision. I did that and decided to get the watch. And as I mentioned, now I wear it all the time. It doesn't bother me at all. I really love the heft and am thrilled with it. And I know I can buy one or two 1-1/4 links for the bracelet (at a cost something like $1700 USD each, in platinum) if I want to make it slightly tighter, but I really like it as-is now.

Of course, your experience may be different, and I know people have very different sensitivities and tolerances when it comes to the weight of a watch. I just wanted to share this story with you in case it helps. Wearing a watch like this, and playing with the sizing a bit (going quite a bit looser than you're used to), might work for you as it did for me. I really didn't think I could ever own or wear this watch until I ran that experiment and wore it for a good few hours.

  login to reply