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Thread: Skydweller - Steel kills White Gold

  1. #1

    Question Skydweller - Steel kills White Gold

    Looks like Rolex have quietly (well, I missed it until now...) discontinued the White gold Skydweller models........probably in the light of the less expensive Steel with White Gold bezel being a big success I assume.

    Anyone else noticed that, or is it "news"?!

  2. #2
    Master
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    When I bought my white dial steel in January I asked the AD and they thought it hadn’t been quietly discontinued - I know the batons different and the dial is a different shade, but really who would pay over double?

    I was going to link both examples on WF as they’ve had both for sale since mid January but strangely the white gold appears sold. Just under 25k if I recall correctly. They are selling the steel for just under 14k but I paid 10.6k RRP.

    I’d be pretty peeved at Rolex if I’d bought the white gold one.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Devonian View Post
    When I bought my white dial steel in January I asked the AD and they thought it hadn’t been quietly discontinued - I know the batons different and the dial is a different shade, but really who would pay over double?

    I was going to link both examples on WF as they’ve had both for sale since mid January but strangely the white gold appears sold. Just under 25k if I recall correctly. They are selling the steel for just under 14k but I paid 10.6k RRP.

    I’d be pretty peeved at Rolex if I’d bought the white gold one.
    Why would you be peeved?. I'd much prefer the same watch on white gold personally.
    It's just a matter of time...

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Omegamanic View Post
    Why would you be peeved?. I'd much prefer the same watch on white gold personally.
    Because of what I said in my post! Rolex discontinued it so presumably sales fell of a cliff.

  5. #5
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    On that logic they would have discontinued the WG Daytona years ago!
    RIAC

  6. #6
    Master Neilw3030's Avatar
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    Don’t know why you would be peeved, they are quite different really.
    With all the collecting different variations within a given watch when the differences are so minute that it’s not clearly evident to most observers, side by side they are quite far apart.

  7. #7
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    I really really like the old white gold black faced version on leather .... Though it looked much better than the new PM Batton dials


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  8. #8
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    Wouldn’t it be nice if they actually supplied some more steel models though

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by mtagrant View Post
    Wouldn’t it be nice if they actually supplied some more steel models though
    Yes please....


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  10. #10
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    They should supply more - They should monitor the secondary market and try not to let watches sell at more than 15-25% premium. They would keep the scarcity they obviously like


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    Grand Master MartynJC (UK)'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lconcado View Post
    ....They should monitor the secondary market and try not to let watches sell at more than 15-25% premium. They would keep the scarcity they obviously like


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    Perhaps they should do something like, I don’t know, let me think, keep warranty cards and remove all stickers from new watches making it less easy to sell on a new watch?


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  12. #12
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    I would bet good money that if the white gold model is genuinely discontinued, it will become collectible and could increase in value. It could be worth a punt.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by lconcado View Post
    They should supply more - They should monitor the secondary market and try not to let watches sell at more than 15-25% premium. They would keep the scarcity they obviously like


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    And how would Rolex have any control or say in what someone sells their watch for?

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by nunya View Post
    And how would Rolex have any control or say in what someone sells their watch for?
    By increasing supply, thereby reducing scarcity and thus reducing the premium people are willing to pay.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cmcm3 View Post
    By increasing supply, thereby reducing scarcity and thus reducing the premium people are willing to pay.
    That would be idiotic though. Better to raise the prices of steel professional models by say 20%. Patek did it and the lines are still there... 😂

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by 744ER View Post
    That would be idiotic though. Better to raise the prices of steel professional models by say 20%. Patek did it and the lines are still there... 
    I agree, Rolex need to protect their brand a bit better. They need to be snapping on the heels of Patek.

  17. #17
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    Rolex pricing is only going one way - a 20% hike over a few years wouldn't surprise me.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by mtagrant View Post
    Wouldn’t it be nice if they actually supplied some more steel models though
    But they do....Rolexes bread and butter sales come from models like the Datejust, easily their best selling model. They go to great lengths to make sure the model is freely available, because they only make money by selling watches. Remember, they sell about 800,000 watches every year. So, over a decade an incredible eight million watches. Nothing Scarce about those numbers.
    If they stepped-up production of 'niche' models..which the sports watches are....they would have to reduce the numbers for their best selling models. And probably make less money.
    Strange as it may seem, the general public don't have any particular interest in Daytonas and Sea Dwellers. Especially as women are big buyers of Rolex stuff. And that's the real reason Rolex don't pump them out.
    It's like Porsche, the 'buzz' ' is around sports cars, but they are only 18% of Porsche sales. The real cash comes from those bulky SUVs.
    Last edited by paskinner; 20th April 2018 at 14:28.

  19. #19
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    Are you aware of which thread you are commenting in? This is specifically about the Skydweller, not the seadweller or other sports models.

    I am well aware that the datejust is their biggest seller, but they have released a SS Skydweller and over a year later they are VERY limited in numbers. The SD43 is far more easily available.

    Remember also that this is not a sports model, and that the conversation is about withdrawing the PM version of the same watch


    Quote Originally Posted by paskinner View Post
    But they do....Rolexes bread and butter sales come from models like the Datejust, easily their best selling model. They go to great lengths to make sure the model is freely available, because they only make money by selling watches. Remember, they sell about 800,000 watches every year. So, over a decade an incredible eight million watches. Nothing Scarce about those numbers.
    If they stepped-up production of 'niche' models..which the sports watches are....they would have to reduce the numbers for their best selling models. And probably make less money.
    Strange as it may seem, the general public don't have any particular interest in Daytonas and Sea Dwellers. Especially as women are big buyers of Rolex stuff. And that's the real reason Rolex don't pump them out.
    It's like Porsche, the 'buzz' ' is around sports cars, but they are only 18% of Porsche sales. The real cash comes from those bulky SUVs.

  20. #20

    Thumbs up

    Quote Originally Posted by paskinner View Post
    It's like Porsche, the 'buzz' ' is around sports cars, but they are only 18% of Porsche sales. The real cash comes from those bulky SUVs.
    O/T, your quoted Porsche sales split is incorrect I'm afraid. The Sports cars (911/Cayman and Boxster) account for 23-24% of their total sales and production numbers for 2016/2017. And their "bulky SUV's" are brilliant cars that if they didn't drive and sell so well would mean the Porsche brand would probably have struggled to exist in the early 2000's

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mick P View Post
    I would bet good money that if the white gold model is genuinely discontinued, it will become collectible and could increase in value. It could be worth a punt.
    Has any PM Rolex increased in value ! ?


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  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by nunya View Post
    And how would Rolex have any control or say in what someone sells their watch for?
    If they wanted to, all they would need to do is to watch secondary markets (chrono/eBay/Watchfinder etc) and feed that info back to their sales / production team to turn the dial.


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  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by MartynJC (UK) View Post
    Perhaps they should do something like, I don’t know, let me think, keep warranty cards and remove all stickers from new watches making it less easy to sell on a new watch?


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    I’ll get my coat.
    The warranty card game they are playing, do you really think it’ll make much difference? The watch must have a serial number and with that the warranty should stand with it without the card no?


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  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by 744ER View Post
    That would be idiotic though. Better to raise the prices of steel professional models by say 20%. Patek did it and the lines are still there... 😂
    They only did it on two models

  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by mtagrant View Post
    Are you aware of which thread you are commenting in? This is specifically about the Skydweller, not the seadweller or other sports models.

    I am well aware that the datejust is their biggest seller, but they have released a SS Skydweller and over a year later they are VERY limited in numbers. The SD43 is far more easily available.

    Remember also that this is not a sports model, and that the conversation is about withdrawing the PM version of the same watch
    While that's all true, it's probably worth noting that the Sky-Dweller's availability is limited by the production rate of its unique-to-the-model movement.

  26. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Belligero View Post
    While that's all true, it's probably worth noting that the Sky-Dweller's availability is limited by the production rate of its unique-to-the-model movement.
    That may be true (would be good to read about that if you have a source?), but as discussed with my local AD, they are not manufacturing a new watch - it is the same movement and case dimensions as the PM versions, so no (minimal) new tooling needed, whereas the SD43 was a new movement (I think new for this model?) and new case, so was technically a bigger product launch - albeit with a simpler movement.

    As far as I am concerned, this far on from the product launch, little excuse from Rolex for such poor availability.

  27. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Belligero View Post
    While that's all true, it's probably worth noting that the Sky-Dweller's availability is limited by the production rate of its unique-to-the-model movement.
    I was told my AD that addition to the mechanism capacity there was an issue producing the blue dial.

  28. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by mtagrant View Post
    the SD43 was a new movement (I think new for this model?)
    The 3235 movement was released in 2015.

  29. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chalet View Post
    The 3235 movement was released in 2015.
    Ok corrected, but the case was new and needed tooling

    Quote Originally Posted by Chalet View Post
    I was told my AD that addition to the mechanism capacity there was an issue producing the blue dial.
    Is that because the blue dial was more popular than the rest? There still hasn’t been a glut of other dials available

    I also heard there were issues with the blue dial itself, but still sufficient time to resolve, and from what I can see, the finish is not dissimilar to the sunburst blue datejusts that have been around for a few years.

  30. #30
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    Skydweller - Steel kills White Gold

    Not sure it’s a popularity thing, they are not producing enough full stop.

    Glad I got one, my go to watch right now.

    Last edited by Chalet; 21st April 2018 at 15:47.

  31. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by hot66 View Post
    Has any PM Rolex increased in value ! ?


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    Yes good point but most PM Rolex looks trashy. Unfortunately chunky Rolex with gold and TT looks cheap and most people steer away from them, hence the low residuals.

    However, the white gold Skydweller looks classy aka PP and will probably become sought after as a result.

  32. #32
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    Skydweller - Steel kills White Gold

    As a fan of baton dials I disagree. The SS range look much better, and as they are under 40% of the price the WG models will sink like a stone.

  33. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chalet View Post
    As a fan of baton dials I disagree. The SS range look much better, and as they are under 40% of the price the WG models will sink like a stone.
    Yes the SS models do have a cleaner look with the batons and a uniform colour of main and sub dials.

    However there are a lot of collectors who foam at the mouth at the sight of white gold, so I can see it going against the trend. Having said that, crystal balling rarely comes up trumps.

  34. #34
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    WG Oysterflex Daytona is my grail right now to be fair. Would chop in Ceramic SS for it.

  35. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chalet View Post
    WG Oysterflex Daytona is my grail right now to be fair. Would chop in Ceramic SS for it.
    I know what you mean although for me I would prefer the rose gold

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