re: Whats the point of buying a Rolex?

Rolex makes one of the best mid-tier watches. They are highly vertically integrated and make more of their parts in-house than any Swiss company and only bested by Seiko worldwide. Seiko even produces the ink they print their manuals are printed with but the Seiko Group is far more diversified and Epson is part of the group.

Rolex has traditionally (for ~40 years) been the "I have made it watch" and has more brand recognition than any other fine timepiece. The "next level" watch has generally been the Patek Phillipe and the one "watch guys" drool over most is probably Lange outside of commission pieces like Dufour. People buy Rolex watches for varied reasons and watch nerds usually go through three stages of Rolex appreciation which is best summed up by an old article by Jack Forster my favorite watch journalist.

Forbes

Many of the current stainless Rolex watches are very hard to buy at retail from an AD, for example, IF you can buy a stainless ceramic Daytona at retail you can sell it the next day for nearly double the money. Despite making 800k plus watches a year Rolex is still able to play the supply vs demand card.

Many watches end up being heirlooms though I am not sure how many of them will be actually worn by the next generation, mechanical watches have been an anachronism for 30+ years already. I am 50 now and most of my contemporaries have never worn a mechanical watch, the millennials are likely to never wear a watch unless it is also wearable tech. I think that is sad but I get it and in the end, I just enjoy watches and they are the last bastion of acceptable man jewelry and when you start talking about watches over $100 or $200 that is basically what they are, jewelry. Since I was a little kid with my first manual wind Micky Mouse watch I have been fascinated with watches and time has always been a very dear thing to me and the quiet ticking of a mechanical watch reminds me it is methodically slipping away whether I make the most of it or not. Plus it feels really good to look down at my wrist and see something I think is special and attractive.