Reply With QuoteWould it not make sense for the dealer to keep the exhibition only watch as the one potential customers try on and hand out a box fresh watch when the replacement comes in.
Don't be so bloody precious.Originally Posted by TaketheCannoli
It's a metallic watch with stickers on it.
People may stick it round their wrist for a try on but they don't have another one through the back so get over it.
For someone who hawks second hand stuff regularly on SC you seem to be quite fussy about others having worn something.
Would it not make sense for the dealer to keep the exhibition only watch as the one potential customers try on and hand out a box fresh watch when the replacement comes in.
Sense at last.
And when the exhibition one becomes a bit tatty they can hand it over to the RSC for training / refurb and add it to their official pre-owned collection.
I'm very much in the "I'd like a new watch for my money please" camp. I bought a Speedy back in 2009 on a visit to Manchester that had been in the window, it ran like a dog and the bezel had been dented, which I did not spot in my excitement and inexperience.
David
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
What I was told from the AD is they exchange them for a different piece (smaller AD anyway) for example change the black dial OP for the blue etc so it’s not the same watch they swap
Kind of what I would expect, especially where the ‘demo’ can be rejuvenated for minimal cost by RSC and sold to the trade or in their own window.Sense at last.
And when the exhibition one becomes a bit tatty they can hand it over to the RSC for training / refurb and add it to their official pre-owned collection.
I'm very much in the "I'd like a new watch for my money please" camp. I bought a Speedy back in 2009 on a visit to Manchester that had been in the window, it ran like a dog and the bezel had been dented, which I did not spot in my excitement and inexperience.
Seems like they are opting for the ‘no-cost solution’ rather than the ‘low cost solution’ - relying on purchasers’ eagerness to get one.
To me there are two separate issues - brand exclusivity, and disclosure.
The latter is more to do with me - I've no issue buying the test drive car, but I'd like to know about it, and perhaps get something off the price. (AS has been noted elsewhere on the thread, there is a simple solution - when the new watch comes in, give THAT to the customer, and keep the display model as it is). In my experience that was also the case in the past - if I bought the watch from the window, I was made aware I was getting the watch that had been in the window.
But the wider point is how the brand want to position themselves. If they want to proffer a premium / luxury experience - and charge accordingly - then providing customers with a new watch that is actually new should be a serious consideration, especially if those customers have waited years for their 'new' watch. Fair enough if they walk in off the street, there's one in the window, all is explained - fine. But having waited a couple of years, and Rolex (to pick one example) is putting themselves forward a 'luxury' brand rather than tool watches - I wouldn't expect my 'new watch' to have been on 100 wrists before mine.
If they're not going for that experience then it doesn't matter - and for many it simply won't matter at all. But to me it's about honesty and transparency. That's not a 'new watch', but I'm being told it is. And that, to me, doesn't feel like the premium or luxury experience they're selling.
Why do they bother with exhibition pieces in the window at all? According to their waiting lists and the Rolex fanboys, all their watches will get bought anyway. Isn’t watches in the window a bit grubby? Not nearly disdainful enough imho. Give me an empty window showing I can’t buy anything over a window full of erm, watches I can’t buy please……
I did notice the same in my local Rolex AD (Goldsmiths) that they had quite a few SS sports models on display...Subs, Explorer, GMT M2, all for exhibition only mind you.
I’ve been told two different things by two different groups.
WOS apparently send all back to HQ and they are rechecked / stickers applied etc.
Makes sense as they probably have a significant facility to carry out such works. I wonder if they refinish any scratches ?
I have seen WOS watches on display without stickers and being handled casually by people trying them on. In ways I wouldn’t handle my brand new watch. Being laid straight down with bracelet clattering on caseback for example.
An independent group I spoke to said that they are not freely available to try on, except possibly to known customers.
They remain stickered and would be sold on the following month when replacements arrive (perhaps the next delivery).
Personally, depending on the watch I can be a little precious about a watch being mishandled by 100s of tyre kickers before it came to me. But then again I generally don’t buy used watches as a rule (there are exceptions, especially if the watch is no longer available new) and that probably makes me different to most collectors!
I regret not buying the 36mm DJ blue on a jubilee I was offered at Heathrow for just north of £4k in 2018.
The staff were friendly, welcoming, let me try both sizes on, offered to change bracelets on the fly if I preferred the Oyster… a very pleasant customer experience. I was in jeans, trainers and a hoodie wearing a Sinn 857 UTC. No attitude, no nonsense, very refreshing.
I find it quite sad and extremely off-putting, that the process to buy a nice (but not particularly extraordinary) watch is no longer like that. I’d like a DJ, but I’ve no interest in playing these silly games.
A friend recently purchased an IWC from WoS on Regent Street. It was for a landmark birthday and a big day for him. The staff were welcoming, let him try on various models and he left with the one he really wanted. A very happy and satisfied customer. Exactly the experience I would want.
I think there is a change in availability slowly happening. About 12-months ago, I enquired about a popular Rolex model and the AD, who I have no history with, said they'd take my name but I was unlikely to ever get one unless I developed a relationship with them by buying jewellery (their words, not mine). I was called the other week to see if I wanted to buy one they had in stock.
Whilst I don't think we'll be able to walk in and buy a Rolex there-and-then, I think the "relationship" thing and never getting to the top of a list will eventually die.
Yes that is definitely happening.
More and more models available to buy there and then, not just the two tone ladies DateJust full of diamonds.
This needs to happen. I generally find visiting the better watch dealers a pleasant experience, knowledgable and enthusiastic staff however I’ve just been into my local AD and oh dear.
So here we are, caught. If you’re to believe ADs will not supply people from out of the county, or catchment, area then you are stuck with one choice. If that isn’t palatable that’s it. Frankly I wouldn’t buy a single thing from my local AD never mind a succession of unspecified quantity of “jewellery” just to “get on a list”. Madness.
Which model?
Blue OP41.
Hay wood know
I’m waiting on the same watch .On the make believe list for two years now and have bought a panerai , grand seiko and a Cartier in that time and still waiting.Empty promises every time I ask what’s happening.
I suppose one risk for ADs is that when the call finally comes, you might have moved on. I’m over 3.5 years in to a GMT wait, and 5 months for a blue Datejust, but having just added some non Rolex stuff (Panerai of all things), and having 4 of the 5 digit models, I can see me turning them down when the call comes. I never cared about the money, and my interests are widening.
Dave
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If the situation is improving is it down to increased supply or decreased demand? Probably a bit of both but I wonder what the ratio of the mix is. I also wonder whether people who've paid over RRP from grey dealers etc will be looking at a loss, at least on paper.
With so many people having bought Rolexes as investments it wouldn't take much to spook the market and see a lot of people selling at the top -- which rapidly ceases to be the top as prices fall.
Will Oysters be the new tulips?
Imho a softening of prices at the very least is inevitable. A crash is possible but less likely.
No-one needs a Rolex and their intrinsic value is minimal. It's been a steadily inflating bubble for a long time and the brand (again imho) has become synonymous with instragam wideboys, superfakes and muggers.
Vintage I think will fare better but prices there are no less overinflated. The difference is they are nicer and supply is ipso facto limited.
Well, we'll see. I've no skin in the game nor any axe to grind, except that I don't much care for Rolex as a company or their recent bling-bracelet Veblen watches. I'd wear an old 5513 or 1016 every day of the week and twice on Sundays but the "hulks" and "pepsis" and good-knows-what-else are monstrous horrors.
I agree, I can't see any sudden crash or bubble bursting. There are still enough people willing to buy watches like the Submariner well over retail and until such a time you can walk into a shop and buy one, you'll still pay a premium on the secondhand market. I don't think Rolex will allow supply to meet demand, over the last decade or two they've aligned themselves with the luxury car market where you need "relationships" and waiting lists...it's all part of the game.
I disagree. 6 digit Rolex are much better made, particularly the bracelets. I prefer the maxi dial hands and even the larger cases nowadays.
I never buy display shoes as the one on show is always faded vs its other half.
Why would an AD swap a watch out and replace it with the same watch, this imo seems bullshit rumors.
May as keep the display one the display one and give the new one to the client.
All SS sports models are on the way up a bit, most other trade under list.
So depends on models. Sub, gmt amd Daytona in SS good every thing else bad.
I paid overs for a daytona last week, this week it’s up £5k from last weeks prices.
Someone else may still have tried it on.
I think you’ve missed a few other notable pieces….
I gather Stainless skydweller are selling over list, so are two tone ones. Datejust motif dial, Wimbledon and green are selling over list (fluted/jubilee) two tone GMT and two tone submariner selling over list, OP41mm in green and OP36 in pink/turquoise still over list too….
I'm not doubting you. But any evidence to support this?
Asking prices of the 116500 Daytona will be up given it's discontinued. I doubt people will actually pay materially more though. IMO
Tricky one. I have a few of the popular models eg Pepsi, Batman, Starbucks, all handsome. I wear my 16613LB Sultan Dial much more. I think my tastes have changed towards the older models. That said, I also wear my Panerai Azzurro more too.
Having empty display cabinets/or woeful window displays doesn’t achieve much commercially for the brand or AD. The most expensive stock, is no stock! However, having ‘display watches’ that can be browsed and/or tried on will drive sales, whilst creating foot-fall for the AD and potential opportunities to sell other items within store.
Whether Rolex have created this exclusivity by design, or by accident. It’s a problem that many other brands would give their left testicle for, given the current financial climate.
I do agree that if someone has waited years and saved their hard earned to get the elusive phone call offering a piece - the whole experience should match the exclusivity, which the brand has created in the first place.
Yep. "Treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen" seems to be working well for them.
But the randomised serials, lack of EoA, general inscrutability (and the whole Everest thing) really puts me off them as a brand. I also don't like their watches; if you do then all the best to you.
Footfall, now there's a thing. I've been into the local Rolex AD a couple of times this week on separate days. Pavements: quiet, town as a whole: quiet, shop: empty.
I asked about availability, zero. They didn't seem to care there's no one in the shop, there are no watches to sell to them anyway. Doesn't sound like a winning strategy for business to me. Rolex are fine, not so sure about the ADs.
How do these dedicated boutiques stay in business?
There's a newish one in Guildford with a handful of really ugly Rolexes in the window, but they don't seem to sell anything else (on second thoughts they may sell Carrier too, but they're hardly going to be selling one a day...)
A shop on the main thoroughfare in Guildford can't be cheap.
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
The AD's are fine, every Rolex delivered to them is pre sold to customers on the EOI list.
Not forgetting those that leave via the side door to the grey market.........
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Unlike something like a Porsche dealer where servicing takes place on site, if they have become locations to simply collect the watch you put yourself down for 2-years ago, I'm surprised Rolex need such an AD footprint.
This is significant and makes a hypocritical mockery of the AD's stance on not wanting to sell new stock to private flippers.
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