Rolex

SJX
[Purist]
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A brief look at Bamford & Sons Rolex

I just received news that the (in)famous Bamford & Sons Rolex watches with PVD coating will be retailed in Singapore. The range includes the Milgauss and Yachtmaster, as pictured, but also extends to the Submariner and other sports models.

The Bamford site allows customers to customise the colour scheme of the watch, so for instance a black PVD Submariner can be ordered with red lettering. That will set one back about 8500 pounds sterling.

These watches are easily regarded as inordinately expensive. They probably are more expensive than they should be, but not as costly as they are seen to be, because careful and professionally done PVD coating is very expensive. For instance, separating the bracelet into individual sub-links and coating them individually, rather than the assembled bracelet as a whole. While the end result may look the same for the most part, the differences are present and noticeable for a very keen eye.

A senior brand executive once told me he tried to get his Submariner PVD treated (he collects many watches other than his own brand) and even with his industry links it would still have cost him several thousand Swiss francs so he declined.

While the cost may be justified, I personally am extremely uncertain if I would paid that amount for what is essentially a superficial cosmetic change. While the look is indeed attractive the cost is a hindrance, as is the fact that it's a non-factory modification, which matters for those who are diehard brand fans. Interestingly, despite their original cost and non-originality, such watches often sell for fairly decent sums at auction.

Bamford first began doing this in 2004 and werely probably the first to do so on a commercial scale. There are now other well known enterprises doing the same thing, like Pro-Hunter for instance. Pro-Hunters does a Sub in the style of the British military submariner, but with a carbon fibre bezel.

Source: Pro-Hunter 

Another is Project X designs which created a sans crown guard Submariner (thinking of what they did to the case is painful). This type of modification is absolutely too extreme for my tastes.

Source: Project X Designs 

Several years ago there was a well known Japanese retailer modifying Rolex sports watches with brightly coloured dials and their watches were often seen in Japanese watch magazines. Rolex took action against them and they stopped doing it, and their redialled Rolex watches have become something of a collectible.

Bamford seems to be doing what it does very contentedly, likely because it is backed by a far larger company than the Japanese store was. In fact its parent is probably as large as Rolex.

Bamford & Sons is run by George Bamford, one of the sons of the founder of British construction and industrial equipment manufacturer JCB which makes them in distinctive yellow and black paint scheme. Bamford & Sons is a London retailer that sells all sorts of high-end products, a combination of Harrods, Barbour and Asprey almost.

Bamford & Sons will be represented in Singapore by E'Collezione at Mandarin Gallery along Orchard Road.

- SJX

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