King of Watch, Rolex for Lo Ban and Celebrities

Manny Pacquiao, who landed the 15th spot in Forbes Magazine’s 2012 list of highest paid celebrities, was recently spotted wearing a Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II, which is worth 5.8 million pesos.

A Perception of the Chinese to Rolex! Rolex is king of Watch!

If there is a kingdom of watches somewhere in the Swiss Alps, would its King be Rolex? I think not because the Europeans are not particularly partial to Rolex. However, if there is a kingdom of watches in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwanese or Malaysia), its King will certainly be Rolex. This is because Asians are extremely fond of Rolex watches, especially Chinese.

In fact, the Chinese have nicknames for certain models of Rolex watches and this privilege is not extended to other brands. A "Rolex Star" is a half-gold Rolex Datejust. A "Rolex King" refers to a solid gold Rolex, usually the Day-Date or President.

To the Asian Lo Ban  (Lo Ban means "boss"), to have arrived means a Mercedes-Benz (or occasionally a Bee-M) and the inevitable Rolex, preferably solid gold or at least half-gold. Every successful or wannabe successful businessman is wearing one - from the Waiter, carpenter to the Lo Ban.   

Just look around in a Chinese restaurant running for Wedding Dinner, you can see a lot of Rolex. Rolex is of course Swiss in origin but many people think they make watches specially for the Chinese. To start with, the model numbers of the more expensive Rolex watches favoured by the Chinese Lo Ban are not offensive at all. The Chinese are very superstitious about certain numbers, particularly the number 4 which signifies “death” but they like 8 which connotes “prosperity” and 3 which is linked to “long life”. 

That is why many People also like to buy Yellow gold Rolex as it carries a translation of “You can Run the business for many years” but White Gold means : “You gain nothing”. Blue Dial on White Gold is worst as it means” Difficult to get through” Even today you go to Large Rolex AD boutique, almost 95% of Rolex is displayed with Yellow Gold Only. Of course , being a Watch lover, I like The beautiful Dial like Blue White gold. As it is Awesome and a bit in form of low profile.

That is why the hottest most popular model number of the Two Tone Datejust is Ref 16233 which loosely translated into Chinese would mean "all the way easy for long life". This model is much sought after by up-and-coming Lo Ban especially in the year 1965-1990. When Asian Four Little Dragon was  Flying Up the sky” with tremendous economic growth. These four little Dragons was Seoul, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. The model number of the solid gold Day-Date is 18238 which again loosely translated into Chinese would mean "prosper easily, long life and prosperity".  Alfa Romeo could learn a lesson here from Rolex. Imagine calling a car model "164" which means "All the way die" to the Chinese, and The Hong Kong Car Authorized Dealer changed into “168” when car is shipped from Italy to Hong Kong,  immediately the people liked to buy!! As “168” means all the way to be Rich”!

Rolex watches are designed to be extremely ostentatious so that you can spot one on a wrist across the street. This is how the rich wants it, the perfect reflection of his wealth and the respect he should be accorded. In the Cantonese Movie, there were Ko Lo Chuen who played a Rich Business man talking to his daughter’s poor boy-friend ”I drive Rolls Royce, I wear Rolex…how about you?” How come you can marry my daughter?”

 It is known to work wonders in Chinese restaurants worldwide. Flash a Rolex on your wrist and you are assured of a better table and clockwork service. Sitting in your next table the chap is always picking his nose, I bet 90% he is wearing Rolex, as he worries his flashing Fluted bezel Gold Rolex wouldn't catch you eyesight!

I have seen 7 people wearing different Rolex watches in one queue at CitiSuper Payment counter at Ocean Centre. Rolex SHOW!?

HK Snob