Should You Buy a Rolex or the new Apple Watch 4?

Apple Watch 

Certainly digital watches have taken the world by storm.  However, that has not diminished the interest or value of time honored horological masterpieces such as timepieces made by Rolex.  So, if you are asking yourself whether you should buy the new Apple watch or a Rolex, you are not alone.  I will make a case for both.  Yes, both.

I have worn an Apple watch and it does have some benefits you can't ever achieve in a timepiece.  I'll talk about those in a minute.  However, after the initial awe wore off, I found myself moving the timepiece to my other wrist.  I wore both timepieces for a time, until I just stopped finding the need to wear the Apple watch except when I worked out.

Yet, I continue to wear my Rolex Submariner or Presidents Day Date every day.  Typically I wear the Day Date when I am dressing up for business or a party where we are dressed up.  I'll where the Sub all other times.  I know the Day Date could handle a beating, but I try to keep it in pristine form.  The Sub works great and I beat it up pretty well, doing yard work, swimming, and even running around town.  I never worry about it and it just plain works.

Initially I bought the Apple watch for the health benefits that were touted by my company's health plan.  And just like anyone who starts the year off with good intentions, I used it for several weeks as I increased my workout activity.  It is awesome being able to see how many steps you are walking, looking at your heart rate and monitoring your sleep patterns.

I don't own any gym equipment that I can pair with.  And the gym that I go to (part of my community) doesn't have any either.  I would expect this to be a cool feature.  I never shared my activity (or lack thereof) with my friends.  I know that the ability to share the activity rings is a popular feature.  But I am fairly private about that stuff and I don't see how that would be a benefit to me.  However, I did "get points" for my health plan so I did use the Apple watch to prove that I wasn't being lazy, so I could win points for myself and my team.

I use my iPhone 6+ with a belt holster which gives me a quick draw.  So, it never leaves my side.  Although it was great knowing who texted me or called me on the watch, I found that if I didn't grab my phone as I was used to, I could miss the call.  So, rather than look at the watch to "screen" the call, I would just pick up the darned call.

It was very cool to have a Knight Rider-esque watch having Siri on your wrist.  I am very interested to see what the new Apple watch 4 looks like and has added to it as it comes out.  Since my Apple Watch Series 3 still works fine, I probably will just do some window shopping at the apple store rather than purchasing it.  But you never know.

The new Series 4 is soon to be released on Sept 12 if reports are accurate.  It is supposed to have a "Walkie-Talkie" mode that might be a very good feature.  The battery life is supposed to increase significantly.  That was one of the negatives of owning an Apple Watch.  You still had to take it off every so often and charge it.  Since you would typically do this at night, you could miss out on the sleep monitoring features that are so highly touted.  Once off my wrist, I would forget about putting it back on.  My Rolex Sub would never come off, day or night.

The new Series 4 will come with the watchOS 5 which comes with new software, features and functions and the health sensors will be greatly improved.  I am trying to talk myself into the purchase, maybe for the holidays...  However, I would probably spend the money to upgrade my iPhone rather than invest in a new Series 4.

Golf Superstar: Jack Nicklaus with his Presidents Day Date

I love the story about Jack Nicklaus who certainly has the money to own any timepiece he wants to buy, but has owned one Rolex Day Date for his entire golfing career.  As a big fan of the Golden Bear, I started taking a liking to the Presidential Day Date myself.  I found that several luminaries and presidents were linked to the timepiece.

Personally, I like the additional feature of the day of the week at the 12 o'clock position and the day of the month at the 3 o'clock position.  I generally forget what day it is and it is a pain and embarrassing to have to reach to my cell phone to figure out those simple things. Although the day of the week is not on my Sub, I do have the date on there and that is generally enough for most situations.

One difference between an Apple watch and a Rolex is the fact that Apple keeps coming out with new ones.  Here I own a Apple 3 and now the Apple 4 is just to be released.  Already I feel my Apple 3 is worthless, and certainly I wouldn't be able to get anything for it in a week.  And those expensive Hermes bands and accessories are a further waste.  Who wants someone's old Apple 3?

However, even though Rolex recently came out with some new enhancements such as more power reserve in the newest Rolex timepieces, I don't feel the nagging urge to run out and replace my old timepieces.  Nicklaus certainly never felt the urge to get a new Rolex.  He owns the best.  Why change?

And of course, the resale on these seems to be spiraling upwards.  The Apple value depreciates fast, but the Rolex, for the most part, increases.  So, even though I enjoy wearing the Rolex, it doesn't undermine the value.  Someday I will gift them and so someone else will get further joy wearing these timepieces.  If I gave them my old Apple watch, I think they would be understandably disappointed.