The Rolex Forums SoCal Get Together – 2014 February

I have been frequenting The Rolex Forums (TRF) on occasion and noticed one of the members coordinated a “get-together” aka ‘GTG’ in Los Angeles. The event essentially being a watch meet-up for Rolex and/or watch enthusiasts.

So on 01 February 2014, I headed over to The Honor Bar, a restaurant in Beverly Hills where the gathering was to take place.

I think there were about 16-17 people in attendance and it was a nice group of people. We pretty much sat in the restaurant and chatted amongst one another over some food and drinks.

Whenever I encounter other watch enthusiasts at watch related events, for the most part everyone is pretty friendly, and this gathering of folks was no different. But what amazed me is how many of the people there were avid firearms enthusiasts, and from talking with many of them, discovered that many are on Calguns.

For those that aren’t aware of TRF, the forum is heavily moderated and does not allow discussion of firearms at all. Watchuseek is another watch forum with a similar stance on firearms discussion.

This has kind of been my problem with the watch forums on the web. They are a nice place to talk about watches, but at the same time, they make it difficult to discuss my own enthusiasm for watches in the context of my own personal life. I can’t post, “Check out this new G-Shock Rangeman I bought for use while shooting guns,” because the thread will get locked and I’ll probably get banned from the forum.

Note that while I don’t like the heavy-handed, draconian moderation of TRF, I accept it because that’s their site and they can run it how they feel.

It’s one thing to get on a watch-centric Internet forum and talk about watches. But being able to actually meet and discuss one’s passion for watches within the context of one’s own personal life helps to bring greater meaning to the enthusiasm for the hobby.

This is why I find these get-togethers / meet-ups to be interesting and the fact that I was able to network with people who have very similar hobbies as mine, not just watches, is very satisfying.