Rolex Day Date: My Biggest Mistake As a Watch Collector

Tim Mosso likes Rolex watches. Well, mostly - he LOVES the Rolex Day Date Tridor. And for a hot minute in 2018, Tim was ready to buy his vision of the ultimate vintage Rolex Watch. Today's episode chronicles the near-misses and close calls from Tim's years as a luxury watch collector. While Watches Tonight has covered Tim's previous purchases and sales in-depth, the show never unpacked his reasons to skipping, missing, or otherwise declining the purchase of watches he once intended to buy. Tonight's show contains details of Rolex, Jaeger LeCoultre and IWC watches. Tim is well known for his former Sinn EZM 1.1 and collection of Jaeger LeCoultre haute horlogerie, but his greatest misstep as a watch collector was his failure to purchase a vintage Rolex Day Date in 2018. At the time, WatchBox had recently purchased a 1990s-era "Double Quickset" Rolex Day Date. Before elaborating on the extent of Tim's folly, a quick Rolex history lesson is in order. Originally launched in 1956, the first Rolex Day Date was a world premier complication for Rolex, and it rapidly established its reputation as THE power watch for captains of industry, elected leaders, and outright dictators. In 1977, the so-called "Single Quickset" Rolex Day Date debuted. In addition to mechanical refinements and a sapphire crystal, the 1977 Rolex Day Date 1803X generation launched with a new sub-variant called the 18039BIC - but everyone knows it as the Rolex "Tridor." In 1988, a "Double Quickset" reference