I went into my local Rolex AD yesterday to have a look at what they had in stock, (nothing interesting it turned out) and to try the Black Bay Pro. They told me Rolex had just informed them that they’ll no longer be an AD in a few months. They’re a small (ish) independent, apparently the same has happened to several other independents recently. The AD said Rolex are focussing on supply to the bigger chains and possibly expanding their own direct to consumer boutique network. It’ll be interesting how this develops over the next year or so and what (if any) impact that has on the grey market and supply to people who actually want the watches to own and not flip! Sad to see the local independent shops going though. Has the same happened to anyone else’s ADs?
The general impression I get from here is that they may be among the last independent ADs in urban Britain. I thought this process had been Rolex's strategy for the last few years at least.
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I prefer the small independent dealers. From what’ I remember there is some pressure for regular refits to keep AD status. Not easy to justify that expenditure for the smaller outfits.
Last edited by Middo; 2nd April 2022 at 20:10.
All part of The Masterplan
RIAC
My local AD in the North West went the same way. Lost their AD status and closed not long afterwards. Great shame.
I don’t see how losing the AD status would affect them. Realistically what stock have they been able to get to sell to pay the rent.
There are around 110 Rolex AD’s in Uk I think, the intention to reduce them to 50 or less was mentioned to me whilst in St James 3+ years ago to make them more exclusive and reduce the invoicing and postage and make it easier to control and manage lists and distribution.
With 50 outlets and no duplication in town centres it would make them more ‘special’. A real occasion to ogle the goods, infact 25 Stores could easily be achieved due to the overwhelming demand. Lets wait and see. 2025 is my prediction.
RIAC
Yippee, another Rolex thread.
Yes, poor wording on my part. The store is losing its AD status but the store itself will remain open. Hopefully they’ll start stocking some more interesting watch brands that you can actually buy. They mentioned that Grand Seiko was a strong possibility.
Heard Middlesbrough goldsmiths loosing Rolex soon
Let’s hope Liverpool One Goldsmiths goes the way.
It sure makes sense to reduce the number of places that you can't buy watches from.
The disappointment will be so much more exclusive when you have travelled 50 miles to not be able to buy a watch
Just buy a Blancpain .
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My local AD said this weekend that it was pointless having ‘Exhibition only’ Rolex models taking up space in their windows but they have recently taken on Panerai and IWC and are doing pretty well with them.
I was told a few years ago that Rolex are looking to end up with their own brand Boutiques and Goldsmiths - as their longest standing partner - for the UK at least.
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Not a pairing that many people think of but you'd think that Goldmsiths and Rolex did their homework before putting an AD there all those years ago. There are actually a lot of very wealthy people in the area and I'm sure many are Rolex owners. Unfortunately the centre of Middlesbrough has been neglected by its council for many years and I'm surprised that many of the shops, Goldsmiths included have survived so long.
that said, I can't think of a good reason to go to Bury either?
The one that strikes me as oddest is also the one 'nearest' to me (i.e. inconveniently far away), in Grimsby - then again, drug-dealing has got to be pretty profitable...
You would be surprised how much wealth sits in the To the west of Hull down to Newark. Shrewd enough to know where to have a modest not showy property and spend alot if their free time travelling rather than in London traffic. Out of my top 100 customers they represented a significant percentage and were the easiest and most pleasant to deal with.
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RIAC
The AD in Grimsby is a very long standing company with a significant customer base.
It is odd that it is where it is and that it does not really appear to be in anything remotely described as an affluent area.
When I saw the title of this thread I did wonder if it was the Grimsby dealer closing up.
I'm glad it's not but I do wonder how long they will go on for.
I use to live near Middlesbrough, and whilst it can be pretty rough (the main reason we moved away) it has a decent number of very wealthy people in the town and surrounding villages. High end clothes shops like Psyche do very well for instance.
Places like Yarm, Hutton Rudby, Hilton etc are very close to Boro and are all very affluent villages.
Don’t know why you think that, there’s a serious amount of offshore oil men live in Middlesbrough and the surrounding area with lots of spare cash. They might be roughnecks but there money is as good as anyone else’s.
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Bury's award-winning market for one.
https://www.burymarket.com/index.aspx?articleid=8321
Don’t know many small independents with Rolex AD the one in Lichfield went quite a while ago.
My local Rolex AD has also recently been dropped by Rolex and the staff where actually relieved as they spent so much of their working day dealing with Rolex enquiries but rarely had any pieces to actually sell and it has now freed up their days to promote brands that are physically available in stock to buy immediately.
that's a double edged sword.
on the one hand, if they're an isolated watch seller then as you say, losing the Rolex brand might enable them to sell other brands more efficiently. That said, if it truly improves their ability to sell then surely it would have made more sense for them to drop Rolex before Rolex dropped them?
on the other hand, if they're one watch seller amongst a few in a particular area, then losing the Rolex AD status may have also lost their USP. Now they have to be able to attract customers to a store when there's several others in the area offering exactly the same thing. Not great.
RIAC
I live just outside of "boro" lived "in there" for many years, lots of people with money, i walk past goldsmiths every day to work, the rolex window is almost empty.
a guy i work with has bought quite a few "sports" rolex watches from there, recently bought a Yacht Master 226659, white gold.
Unfortunately not for the Middlesbrough AD (Goldsmiths). That store is now closed and they're diverting all customers to the Newcastle branch which isn't exactly close. It wouldn't surprise me if the Middlesbrough branch was entirely supported on the cash flow from Rolex sales and now that's apparently ended they're just not able to compete with the other three watch dealers within five minutes walk of them.Originally Posted by 100thmonkey
Wempe are losing Rolex at the end of the year.