What do you mean by "well-connected"? If they had his telephone number, he was presumably an existing customer. Has he spent a lot of money with them previously - or do they think he is likely to spend a lot of money with them in the near future? It doesn't make much sense commercially to sell a watch to someone who doesn't want it, unless there's likely to be something coming back in return. Chances are anyone who bought it would be flipping it so, to that extent, academic.
Like many things, it’s not that simple. He gets offered sought-after models because they know him, know he’s reliable and , crucially, that the watch will not be coming back on the market.
So, if he passes it on to me, I have to keep it for a year or two, no flipping.
I’ll give you another example. Staff can often buy Rolex models at a strong discount. But if they sell that discounted watch into the market....potentially big trouble. However, supposing they know people who will quietly and privately, buy the watch, and keep it for a few years....it’s all about trust.
Last edited by paskinner; 23rd April 2019 at 12:18.
Presumably then do Rolex allocate extra watches for staff purchases as it wouldn't make sense in the current climate to let a member of staff have a watch on the cheap that you could sell for RRP 50 times over?
A Rolex AD told me a couple of years ago that Rolex had told them that they couldn't buy steel Daytona's for themselves anymore and that they has to be sold to customers. All due to the huge demand and shortage. This could be true, it could also be an AD saying it to deflect the heat from the many customers and be totally made up. With all the thousands of 'My AD said' posts on here, Rolex Forums and numerous Facebook groups, I also think 'just because you've been told that, doesn't make it true'!
The only thing that we ever know is true is what Rolex themselves say and that's very little. The rest is guesswork, assumption or just made up.
Same's true of what my AD knows about me and they ain't falling over themselves to offer me anything!!
So you flip it after a year or two? Still flippin' flipping in my view!
I've said before it's perfectly understandable that ADs sell to the customers who put most cash over the counter. Why someone "well connected" would get priority over a big spender, I don't know. ADs choose what they sell and to whom and that's the top and bottom of it!
Having read through the full thread I can agree with most of it. The list thing has put me off the brand a bit and the two Rolexes I have owned left me underwhelmed shortly after purchase anyway and didn't get the wrist time the price ticket justified. The brand kudos seems to draw more buyers ( I add myself to that segment) than the actual horology involved does.
For some reason I feel by asking to be added to a list you are in fact lowering yourself by perpetuating this orchestrated situation and following the `trend` for what is essentially just another stainless steel watch. A bit like kids with mobile phones or trainers because it needs to be this model. I am kinda talking from my own personal experience as I recently added myself to the waiting list on two ADs and after leaving I felt a bit like I had grovelled a bit to be added to something that might actuallly be worthless. It's not as if anyone that actually buys a Sub goes diving with it as the divers I know (I work in shipping) have Seikos or Citizens.
As a result of this waiting stupidity, personally unless I happen to fall on a deal at rrp for a new watch by chance in an AD I won't be playing their game as when I pass by again I will be asking to be removed from the list I probably was never on in the first place.
Just my 2p worth but as it's a forum ( where the partially sighted lead the blind) I expect to be `proved` wrong.
Anyways to be honest, I wish you the best of luck in getting what you want.
Last edited by KurtKnispel; 23rd April 2019 at 13:19.
I’ve bought several Rolex watches from an AD who was my local (200 miles away) and asked to be put on the list for the SD43. Long story short, I was basically told I didn’t spend enough so there was no chance of obtaining one.
They have since lost their agency and I can’t say i feel sorry for them.
I paid under list for a new LVC but a premium for my SD43 which has no warranty card...
If you want the LVC then fingers crossed you get one but I think you may have to buy pre owned and with a premium.
Good luck and enjoy the watch whatever you decide to do.
Thanks KurtKnispel, I’m don’t feel like you have grovelled in anyway merely adding yourself to a list. If it wasn’t for unscrupulous characters selling these sought after watches on then perhaps a simple phone call to an AD would suffice, but with the way things are at the minute I can understand why they want to meet people in person. They’re trying to ensure that less watches end up on the grey market and more on our wrists which ultimately can only be a good thing!!
I also wish you luck in your acquisitions and hope you don’t take you name off the list for a watch you would love!
Gaz
try getting ANY steel sports model rolex in london.... i've been told abruptly to leave from one AD before even mentioning the model (just steel sports), and been told 'no chance of a hulk' in 2 others. You can't get on a list...well, lists don't exist but you can't get on imaginary lists either!
Not strictly true. I was offered a Hulk by a well known AD in Central London in return for buying a JLC with no discount. Caveat was card withheld on the Hulk (as I'm a UK resident - non residents can keep card and they get VAT refund too) and of course it couldn't be sold without jeopardising the relationship with said AD (important as they sorted things like Snoopy etc for me in the past) so I went for a discount of around 10% instead as I've had 2 Hulks before and they are a bit 'meh' quality wise and if I can't sell the watch what's the point. No chance on the Daytona, the Hulk was the easiest of the hard to get models alongside blue Skydweller. Pepsi and Daytona were hardest - you'd have needed to buy a complex Lange or Patek to get one of those materialise from the safe and the sales girl told me that it was a huge selling point with Chinese tourists and they'd typically get 2 Daytonas a week sold alongside a hyper expensive watch transaction (we are talking around £80k) primarily to the Chinese. Apparently the wealthy Arabs just go grey but a Daytona is cheap tat for them it's all Hublot and gold AP for them.
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thanks. I am reluctantly accepting a hulk is not going to happen from an AD. I have a half lead with a friedly independant where i might get a good price on one maybe. I might get black subc or subc date from an AD with a wait....as the old yellow pages advert says...' there's still a few more to try.' supposedly got my name down at harrods for the limited edition black bay too, although that list seems hit and miss as well.
Hi Gaz,
I was in the same boat as you last year. Every AD I went to said the list was closed. I wanted a Hulk and had no purchase history. I found one that said the list would be 5 years but agreed to take my details (I think he was just being polite). I managed to strike up a bit of a relationship and they ended up agreeing to get me the watch within a year. I ended up getting it after 4 and a half months. I really should update the thread I started here when I first put my name down!
Lists seem fictional and they decide who the watches go to. I was fortunate that this AD knew I wasn’t a flipper and wanted to get me the watch I wanted.
I still pop into lots of ADs and I don’t think I could make it happen again, although I’m hoping the AD that got me the Hulk might be able to get me a BLNR at some point!
A friend also got a Hulk from a Goldsmiths store after I advised him how to approach them (he has purchased a Breitling from them a few years back). He struck up a relationship with a manager who ‘decides who gets each watch’ and he got one within 3 months.
The watch is worth the wait, I love mine. I tried one on that was on display about 5 years ago and always wanted one, when I decided it was time to purchase the craziness started. I’m glad that I had tried one on before and I’m confident my decision wasn’t influenced by the scarcity.
I’m sorry I can’t be of any more help, all I can suggest is try and get on a list, no matter how long the wait is then keep chasing up and you
Might get something.
This story fills me with hope, you sound like you were in the exact same situation as myself! You totally should update your thread as it does give others hope that there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
It certainly wasn’t the scarcity that attracted me to it, I tried my brother in laws black sub date on and really liked it, I went on the Goldsmiths website when I got home and saw the green one and started ringing round expecting to pick one up on the weekend hahaha. Rolex wasn’t a brand I’d really looked at before (my exposure was mostly flashy looking two tones and yellow gold models on older gentlemen that just didn’t do anything for me) but seeing that green sub was love at first sight!
Gaz
Yes they used to be in every shop window, the Hulk and BLNR sat together on display, with no one interested at RRP.
Now everyone and his dog wants one as even if they don’t want to own it they know the instant profit will pay for a nice summer holiday, so that just makes the lists even worse, making grey price even higher, and encouraging even more people to try to get one to flip. I’d love to know what % of people would stay on the list if the market price were to drop to RRP tomorrow. I bet a majority would magically no longer be interested. The weird state of the market.
When I bought and sold mine there wasn’t really much of a list as it was 2016/2017.
A photo taken at my AD in 2015, both in stock with discount available!
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^^^^^^
Absolutely
If these were trading at below RRP there would be no lists.
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Just been in 5 different Rolex dealers in the last couple of days. None had any Submariners of any kind but all gave different information in regards to availability.
Amsterdam Schipol sold 6 sport models witjin minutes (his words) of them going on sale. One actually said (in Zurich) don't bother trying the one along the road (Bahnhofstrasse) as they supply us so they won't have anything. They had EVERY sport model including two pepsi GMTs but all had a 'Nicht zu verkaufen' sticker on all of them. None of them were for sale. I asked why and he said they were only to show buyers what they were like. A box full of non saleable Rolex sport models. A saw the rootbeer Gmt in the metal and the Pepsi. The last AD I tried had a Deepsea 44 and a Seadweller 43 and took my details and said she would call me when the next stock arrived so I could choose one and she would leave it aside as reserved.
I was tempted to buy there and then but I have made that mistake before. Hopefully I will get a call in the next couple of days.
Yes you are 100% correct and in other words you are confirming that Rolex have successfully retrieved the protection of their brand. Rolex is now a brand that people will fight over whereas a couple of years ago a customer would have walked into a dealer and the first thing he would have done was to ask for a discount.
Those days are now long gone and Rolex have won the battle.
I had these pass through my collection before the hype. The only one I have slight regret was the lovely 666
Martyn.
Hot sports Rolex....
To the OP, as you have made contact with David at Moody’s, I would just trust him, be patient, and wait.
Buying grey isn’t necessarily a disaster in the long term, but it’s a personal choice, and I would never consider it. Fortunately I’m not in this crazy market as I have two 5 digits I’m very happy with, although if I was, and I’m almost in Liverpool, I would go to an independent like Moodys first. I have purchase history with Goldsmiths, but they are just so condescending, really... I met David at Moodys just once when I was evaluating a Bremont MB2, and although I ended up getting a pre-owned 16570 instead, he was enthusiastic and courteous, and it was a great experience. I would look there, or a similar independent , and wait. These things aren’t a race, and you will probably appreciate it more if you can’t just rock up, show your credit card, and leave with it.
In the future, this madness will pass, it is inevitable. Who knows when though!
Dave
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Last edited by helidoc; 27th April 2019 at 00:44.
A lot of people appear to want any ‘hot Rolex’ - presumably, a lot of whom (if they get one at RRP) simply sell at a profit straight away - to fund the purchase of their real-interest, on the grey/used market.
Not necessarily to flip straight away; I think the knowledge that they can sell at any time they need to and make a profit makes them more desirable.
Having turned down a BLNR at list (when they were under £6k) and a 16570 at a 20% discount, I’m obviously not a man to take any notice of though!
Hi Dave,
That was exactly my impression of him too and after dealing with the big chains (I have a purchase history with Goldsmiths too though not Rolex) speaking to David was a bit of a revelation. I haven’t been anywhere since as he genuinely seemed to want to get me one, and I I’m just going to wait it out now as you suggest. The wait and anticipation will make it all the sweeter when I get the phone call. I’m in it for the long haul and hopefully the bubble pops and nobody, who doesn’t want to wear one, wants one!
Gaz