One Watch, Two Owners
By The Editor
Two men want the same Submariner. Same steel, same reference, same 41 millimetres. One will wear it for thirty years. The other will sell it within eighteen months. Only one of them owns anything.
The object passes every test
The Rolex Submariner No Date, reference 124060, is the strongest object in the Endurism catalogue. A mechanical movement with no software to expire. Serviceable for as long as Rolex exists, which is since 1905. A resale market so liquid you can price your watch to the euro on any Tuesday. Most durable goods hold value. This one holds a market.
The list price in the Netherlands is €9.850. That is the official number at an authorised dealer, if they will sell you one. Which brings us to the second man.
The flipper's ledger
He will skip the waiting list. Grey market dealers in the Netherlands sell an unworn 124060 for €12.750. He pays €2.900 above list for impatience. He calls it an investment.
The market disagrees. The 124060 traded down 7,3 percent over the past five years. Price trackers rate its short-term depreciation risk as high. He bought a declining asset at a 29 percent premium. The steel is durable. His position is disposable.
Look closer at what he is actually doing. He watches drops. He tracks colourways. He pays a premium to own the hyped reference before other people. He plans his exit before his entry. That is the trend cycle. The same mechanism that moves a Stanley Quencher moves his Submariner. The collateral is better. The behaviour is identical.
His watch sits in a safe, unworn, because wear costs money at resale. He owns €12.750 of anxiety with a rotating bezel.
The wearer's ledger
The first man waits for the call, or buys used. A full-set 124060 with papers trades around €10.400. He puts it on and leaves it on.
Now run his numbers over ten years. Purchase at €10.400. One factory service at roughly €900*. Resale floor after a decade of wear: near his purchase price. The used market barely distinguishes a 2026 watch from a 2016 watch. His net cost of ownership approaches the price of the service. That is under €10 per month for the best tool watch ever made.
The safe queen appreciates nothing in a falling market. The worn watch amortises to almost zero. This is the patina dividend, priced.
And his watch records something. The bezel scratch from a door frame in Lisbon. The bracelet stretch from four thousand days of wear. An unworn Submariner is inventory. His is a biography in Oystersteel.
The difference
Endurism has no quarrel with the €9.850 watch. It has a quarrel with the €2.900 premium, the safe, the exit plan. Speculation is consumption wearing a better jacket. The flipper buys attention from other flippers. The wearer buys thirty years of not thinking about watches again.
The Submariner is the endpoint of the Stack. Arrive there slowly. A Seiko 5 tells the same time for €300 while you build toward it. When the dealer finally calls, take the watch home. Size the bracelet. Wear it into the ground it will never reach.
Buy it to wear.
Own better.
Prices: Rolex NL list €9.850 (Schaap & Citroen, official adviesprijs, 2026). Grey market unworn €12.750 (Kramer Watches, 2026). Used full set ~€10.400 (Chrono24 NL, July 2026). Five-year performance minus 7,3% (WatchCharts, June 2026). Service cost is an estimate for a full Rolex movement service in NL.