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Thread: Waitlist curiosity

  1. #1
    Master
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    Waitlist curiosity

    I keep reading about waitlists for watches, some 5 or 10 years. I just can’t see a scenario where your phone rings, you answer and ‘hello Mr Devonian, it’s Mr AD here, you popped in our shop back in 2007 and went on the list for the xyz, well it’s arrived today’.

    For me I got a phone call about a deep sea blue a year after I enquired at a shop. I’d sourced one elsewhere in the meantime.

    Curious to see the longest anyone’s been on a waitlist and then actually got the watch.

  2. #2
    9 months for a 116520. Looking back I just wish I bought the one I saw in an ADs window 12 months before.

    Can't imagine that anyone will ever get a call for any "list" they think they are on if they were told more than 2-3 years at the outset (other than from a brand that only makes small quantities).

  3. #3
    Grand Master Wallasey Runner's Avatar
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    I am allegedly on the Goldsmiths waiting list for a Daytona, but getting information is impossible. I have rang a few times to enquire, but keep being given the same speech about head office controlling things etc.

    You would be able to knock me down with a rolled up copy of Exchange and Mart if I ever get the call.

  4. #4
    Master
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    About 5 years for a 116520, they were 4400 ish at the start and a grand ish over if you went grey at the start, waited and paid 6700. turned down a few call as time wasnt right.

  5. #5
    Grand Master
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    6 weeks after release for a 126600 on one waiting list although it wouldve been 4 without a balls up.
    Still not surfaced on another for the same model.
    I put my name down on both in December so way before Basel.

    This leads me to conclude that they're manipulated, as expected (in fairness)

  6. #6
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by verv View Post
    This leads me to conclude that they're manipulated, as expected (in fairness)
    Yes I agree they will manipulate them for sure. I think waitlists aren’t really waitlists at all. They are dependent on different factors but I’ll take a guess at 3 types with the 3rd being the main one:

    1. The ‘genuine’ waitlist. This is for most watches of most brands where the shop just doesn’t have one in stock, but can order it and hey presto a few weeks later it arrives. Not particularly sought after, just for whatever reason they didn’t have one in stock.

    2. The ‘genuine but scarcer’ waitlist. Something like a BLNR or 116610LV. Not that many being supplied by Rolex at present but if you go on the list chances are 6 months later (or less) you’ll get a call. NB - there is a reason for this, these watches have been out for a number of years now and historically supply wasn’t an issue so chances are most of the people in 3. either have them, did have them or just don’t want them.

    3. The ‘real and one that matters waitlist’. This is for something like the 116500 or 5711 - very limited supply and very sought after. So much so that if you buy you could flip at a huge profit immediately. Now there will be the odd person who gets lucky with their AD but for most they will have to fill some or all of the criteria below . . . . .

    A) are they local? Some AD’s will now only sell certain watches locally.
    B) are they likely to flip it? May not be an issue but does seem to be a concern for some.
    C) how much money do they spend in the store? In other words how good a customer are they?

    And D) Now I think D is overlooked on here, doesn’t seem to get mentioned. D is ‘how much money do they spend on other things than watches’? I’m really talking jewellry here, but also precious metal watches - high profit margin items that don’t sell as well as other things. You could sell a dozen 116500’s in a couple of hours if you picked up the phone and called the waitlist. It’s more financially logical to sell it to the person that will also spend 10k on jewellry as well!

    Nothing I can prove in my summary of waitlists, but just the impression I got from talking to various shops over the years.

  7. #7
    Grand Master
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    Sounds about right to me.

  8. #8
    Master
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    Longest I had to wait

    5711 blue dial - 1 year but with help

    116520 - 6 months but had a good relationship at this point after buying 6 other watches from same AD

    Hulk etc 1 or 2 months max if not in stock (before things got silly)

  9. #9
    Journeyman
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    18 months for my Daytona from Goldsmiths. Originally I was 21st on the list (they showed it me), and with only 3 or 4 Daytonas received per year, it looked like I'd have a 5+ year wait. But no, many 'on the list' cant be contacted or cant get credit come the time, or turn down the offer... hence I soon got to the front of the queue. I did get a call after about a year asking if I was still interested, which of course I was.

    I went in to the same AD the day the new Daytona was announced to be added to 'the list'... they already had two lists.. one for white and one for black. Sadly I was late to the show, and was 37th on the white list. Next time I'm passing I'll pop in if its quiet and ask where I am on said list. I expect I'll be waiting a ouple of years yet. BTW 'The List' also has a comment section next to each name, where they can say if the name is a 'good customer' etc..

  10. #10
    Craftsman Richard.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devonian View Post
    I just can’t see a scenario where your phone rings, you answer and ‘hello Mr Devonian, it’s Mr AD here, you popped in our shop back in 2007 and went on the list for the xyz, well it’s arrived today’.
    It happened like that for me. I got the call for a Daytona about 7 or 8 years after I’d asked to go on the list. I’d forgotten all about it!

  11. #11
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by Merch131 View Post
    18 months for my Daytona from Goldsmiths. Originally I was 21st on the list (they showed it me), and with only 3 or 4 Daytonas received per year, it looked like I'd have a 5+ year wait. But no, many 'on the list' cant be contacted or cant get credit come the time, or turn down the offer... hence I soon got to the front of the queue. I did get a call after about a year asking if I was still interested, which of course I was.
    Do any take a deposit as means of commitment to the purchase?

  12. #12
    Journeyman
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    Quote Originally Posted by dommorton View Post
    Do any take a deposit as means of commitment to the purchase?

    No they didn't. I asked why not, and the reply was that if they took a deposit then they were obliged to sell at the price at the time the deposit was taken. Not sure that's true, but its what the salesman said.

  13. #13
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by dommorton View Post
    Do any take a deposit as means of commitment to the purchase?
    Yes laings take a deposit.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by HEKTOR View Post
    Yes laings take a deposit.
    I noticed Laings do. I was talking to them last week about Watches in general.
    They said they had 10+ on many of their lists and they were people who paid deposits.

    My issue is that if another AD comes up with one sooner it’s going back and getting deposit back etc plus you could put all your eggs in one basket (Laings) and miss a watch from someone else, resulting in a price increase potentially.

    I do agree it shows proper commitment and people being called are real buyers.

  15. #15
    Master
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    I have a full deposit down on a Daytona at a (Non-Uk) AD. At anytime I can draw it back should I source one elsewhere. The wait for Daytonas outside the U.K. doesn’t seem as fierce.

  16. #16
    Banned
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    I put a 10% deposit down on a Rolex and was then told from being 30 odd on the waiting list they would move me up to 3rd.
    Got the watch in around 3 months.
    Have now ordered another watch from same dealer and no deposit needed, again after last purchase they say the 3-5 year waiting list has now changed to six months.
    So if serious buyer well worth putting down a deposit, IMHO

  17. #17
    Back in 1998 I put myself on the list for a submariner date. Almost exactly 2 years on and a few days before Christmas I got the call and paid my £2120. First rolex, the wait was part of the fun and buying experience.

  18. #18
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sahara View Post
    I put a 10% deposit down on a Rolex and was then told from being 30 odd on the waiting list they would move me up to 3rd.
    Got the watch in around 3 months.
    Have now ordered another watch from same dealer and no deposit needed, again after last purchase they say the 3-5 year waiting list has now changed to six months.
    So if serious buyer well worth putting down a deposit, IMHO
    Ah very interesting. Thanks for sharing

  19. #19
    Master
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    Waitlist curiosity

    What I heard from an AD, take it as you find it.

    Daytona, less than expected and even less next year
    DeepSea Blue, expect to see this restricted like Daytona
    SkyDweller, allocation watches, everyone wants blue

  20. #20
    Master
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    A couple of weeks ago I popped into a large AD and enquirer about getting a 116610LV for my 40th next week, I have no history with them. I was added to their list of around 11/12 from what I could see, they said they get one every 3 months or so. He called me on Tuesday to say they were getting one and I could have it. I will be collecting my watch tomorrow. I assume that others were contacted but didn't have funds, have purchased something else or have decided it's not for them.

  21. #21
    Master
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    It's a long time since I dealt with anything Rolex (2010-ish) but my recollection is that for every Daytona it took 4 or 5 calls to get it sold. People either got bored of waiting and bought something different, sourced the same watch elsewhere or were unwilling to pay the new prices (stuck their name on the waiting list at £4k and kicked up a fuss that it had gone up to £5k 18 months later).

    In almost all cases, the watches went to dealers. People from the other end of the country who had cash and were willing to travel - a sale is a sale after all.

    I do remember one chap who waited three years, finally bought one (I seem to recall it was £5700 at the time) and hated it. He traded it back within a month for a Sub LV and the shop was left with a little bit of a quandry since the second hand value was higher than RRP but Rolex "frown upon" their AD's even displaying them, let alone selling over list.
    It ended up being offered to the staff at cost price (couldn't afford it) and then going to another of the owners stores.

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