Author: Kim du Toit

Consolidation

Marketing / Advertising, Retailing, Toys

According to this rather lengthy video, Rolex is dropping hundreds of smaller Rolex “dealer” outlets and instead creating Rolex megastores in “prime” locations such as London (!!!) and Manhattan (!!!).

It would appear that the main reason behind this is that Rolex wants to protect their brand by limiting the number of outlets, dropping smaller stores (regardless of relationship longevity) so that they can control the whole “Rolex buying experience” and provide their customers with the proper treatment with fine ambience, better-trained staff and so on.  Also, these larger stores can carry the extensive Rolex range that a smaller store couldn’t.

It all sounds well and good, except that the actual reason, it seems to me, is that during the sales spike caused largely by the Great Covid Panic of 2020, the people who really made money weren’t Rolex themselves but the profiteers who bought their watches and resold them on the “grey” market — and Rolex, like Ferrari, wants to keep as much of the market to themselves.  (Same tactics, different product.)

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing. As long as there are people willing to pay the inflated prices of their products, then good luck to them.

My own personal take on the thing is that I’m indifferent because (regardless of any lottery winning) I would never be a Rolex  sucker  buyer in the same way as Ferrari would forever be outside my list of automotive choices (except maybe a Dino, although given the current price list of same… nah, never mind).  Sorry, I’m no longer impressed by brand names, especially when the brand’s “value” is artificially pumped up by fools and suckers with more money than sense.  And even more so when the brand operates in a commodity category like watches.

And finally, I happen to think that those big, blocky things like the Submariner are just… ugly.  I’m not a scuba diver so I’ll never need one, and anyway, there are other watches just as good for half the price and a tenth of the Rolex attitude (once again, see:  Ferrari dealers).

A pox on all their houses.

Relative Beauty

Drive Time, Modernism, The Gun Thing

“Oh bloody hell, here goes old Kim again, bitching about how ugly new stuff is compared to old stuff.”

Well, yes.  I am very aware that the new stuff is streets ahead of the old stuff, technologically speaking.  I am also aware that despite this, in many cases this techno-superiority makes very little difference in terms of everyday use.  Here’s an example, using this modern iteration of the venerable 1911 handgun:

…versus the traditional:

Now I know that there are all sorts of reasons why the SIG P211 is a great pistol, probably far better than the Gold Cup in terms of, well, everything, from features to function and so on.  But at the end of the day, will both guns deliver a half-dozen or so rounds of manly .45 ACP goodness into the desired target area?  Yes, the P211 has more rounds to deliver, and yes, it has a tacti-cool red-dot sight which I guess will make this new model x times more accurate than the old-fashioned Gold Cup.  If all that floats your boat, have at it.  I’ll stick with the old 1911, because it’s enough for me, and it will shoot better than I can shoot it anyway.

Consider another example of this phenomenon, using high-end sports cars this time.  Here’s Ferrari’s La Ferrari:

Looks good, is super-fast, has all those holes in the body to make the airflow more efficient, etc.  And hoo boy, it sure is super-fast.  No argument about that, least of all from me.

So let’s look at an older version of a supercar, the Jaguar E-type Series 2:

It’s for sure not as fast as the Ferrari — hell, a tuned E-type can only manage at best ~150mph compared to the 220mph of the Scuderia creation, and its piddly little 4.2-liter straight 6 engine pushes out at best 265hp (compared to the newer supercar’s 6.3-liter V12 plus the F1-derived KERS system yielding 850hp).

So… no contest, right?

Quite right.  I’d take the Jag any day of the week, six ways to Sunday.  The looks of the Jag are smoother, less angular and frankly, streamlined enough for me, and the performance is frankly much more than I need.  (The Ferrari’s performance is not only excessive, it frightens me because I wouldn’t be able to control the beast.)

Frankly, both the SIG and LaFerrari embody to me a “modern” style that I have come to detest — much as this example of a “modern” building compares very badly to an older one:

 

Your opinions on all the above examples may vary.

Monday Funnies

Funny Stuff

And on a similar note from yesteryear:

So on we go…

And to end on a somewhat more cheerful note:

“Please Sir:  can we have some more?”

And if that’s not enough to carry you off into the week, you need help.

Modern Classic Beauty: Sarah Miles

Classic Beauty

Here’s one actress of whom it can be said that she was better than any movie she featured in, and when some of those movies are classics, it just proves how brilliant Sarah Miles was.  Here’s a short list of those movies:  The Servant, Ryan’s Daughter, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, Blow Up, and White Mischief.  With the possible exception of White Mischief (an historical drama) and Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines (comedy), most of her movies during the 1960s and -70s were dark, artistic and might be called “avant garde” — which is why Hollywood never seemed to know what to do with her, and she shone mostly in British films.  Oh, and by the way, in Hope And Glory she was astonishing, her old-fashioned looks perfect for the role.

Exquisite and talented:  the complete package.

Not Long To Go

Funny Stuff, Old Fartism

According to SOTI, the oldest mass shooter in U.S. history was age 72.

I turn 72 on Ammo Day in November this year.

Coincidence?  I guess it all depends what happens in the world, whether I miss it by thismuch  or hang on for a year or two and go for the record.  Right now it seems unlikely that I’d shoot the works prematurely, so to speak, because I’m quite enjoying all this Trumpy goodness and the Marxist wailing.  But later on?

Factors that could influence this event:  Democrats cheat their way into winning the Presidential Election in 2028 and immediately call for universal gun confiscation or whatever (see:  Virginia’s new gun control law as a starting point).  The problem with this scenario is that assuming I live that long, I’d be up against some fierce competition — and that’s just among my Readers.  Gawd knows how many other irascible Olde Pharttes are out there who would prefer to take out a few (okay, lots of) Commies rather than let their lives end gradually in the excruciating pain of [insert Fatal Senior Ailment here].

As SOTI also said:  “Right now, a lengthy prison term seems less like a deterrent and more like a paid vacation, with free medical.”

Note to the Perpetually Fearful:  this whole post was a joke.

Or maybe not.