Reply With QuoteI'm not sure which of these I found funnier
Originally Posted by farmkid
They missed a trick in that email reply. It should have been HD and Ultra HD.
I'm not sure which of these I found funnier
Appalling grasp of the English language - are they foreign? They do seem to have a very short name.
At least they didn't BS you about with a load of false promises, you now know where you stand - i.e. get buying some non-HD models.
P.S. They lost any custom of mine at the use of "Super".
Yes- the email was sent by a Chinese salesperson - she was actually very decent and polite when we spoke on the
phone.
However, the email was subsequently followed up by an English salesman who has reaffirmed my commitment never to set foot in the Regent street Watches of Switzerland shop again.
He said, and I quote , the Submariner and Deepsea are ‘spectacular’ but are not available, however he invites me to visit the store and hopefully find a piece I love just as much.
Just reading his email made my shit itch.
Last edited by farmkid; 10th April 2021 at 08:18.
I might ping them an email asking for a steel Daytona. 🤣
As soon as any retailer begins behaving in an entitled way, trouble is usually in store. Problem with WoS etc., is that the group has such a stranglehold on the High Street game for higher end watches, that alternative outlets are hard to find and getting harder. Mind you, I’ve been treated with equal contempt in some smaller indy ADs too when I was looking for an SD43. I ended up buying a minter from Heywood for about £200 over list and still got a bottle of fizz as well as having a lovely chat with Phil who is always a pleasure. I’m a huge Rolex fan boy but this sort of crap really puts me off the whole modern reference s*** show.
The current Rolex situation has put me off the brand entirely. Over the last 20 years, I've owned 10+ different models. Sold my last one about a month ago and have shifted the collection to Omega.
If you've ever been into that store, you will understand the attitude in those emails...doesn't surprise me at all. But I think the problem is with that specific store (or perhaps west end stores as I've had similar experiences in other Oxford Street/Regent Street boutiques). I doubt they care based on their other clients.
WOS are great for a chuckle.
They'll always try and peddle you a zenith or try to get you to attend a zenith event.
If only rolex went boutique only!
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Took me 2 goes to realise the 39 wasn't right, too much dial, strange proportions
Very surprised they've gone back to 36, I only opined in a thread a couple of weeks ago that Rolex are not a company who look back so this was a very unexpected but welcome decision IMO. And a price cut too !!! Who'd have thunk it
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Quite the best line in any thread, EVER
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I appreciate their honesty rather than wasting your time, but this Rolex stuff is getting ridiculous, soon you’ll only be able to purchase one if you are some kind of celebrity.
Agreed! Thought I’d heard them all but this is a welcome new addition to my vocabularyQuite the best line in any thread, EVER
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Has anyone seen or have links to photos of the rose gold meteorite dial Daytona they could post? I think it looks stunning
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That horrible bi-metal "Explorer" is a travesty of the heritage of the model and it's origins and use.
F.T.F.A.
While not for me at all I don't think you can say it is a travesty of heritage...
I kind of wish that if they were going to do that, they’d go all the way and made it all gold. It wouldn’t be for everyone but it would be a weirdly cool guilty pleasure in a Narcos / Wolf of Wall Street way.
Now the dust has settled, something of a lazy year for Rolex. A couple of amusing dials for sure, a surprise for the Explorer but in the end it’s only gone back to the way it used to be more or less, imperceptible changes to the Explorer II in its anniversary year - though it’s hard to know what they could have done with it, beyond going back to a something more like the 40mm version.
I thought it might be obvious that I was referring to the utilitarian, workaday form of the steel model. Ho hum.
WOS having locations in most UK airports and big cities such as London and also in Trafford centre do huge trade with overseas visitors and so have always employed many different nationalities ...Chinese and Malaysian to name a few, so they can look after ‘big spenders’ from said Countries without any language barrier which is quite sensible....
But pre Brexit visitors from China etc could upon returning home apply for a VAT refund from U.K. coffers making Rolex purchases very attractive so they duly bought everything and anything to take home....
It will be interesting to see once travel starts again if the Airport overseas visior trade slumps without the attraction of ‘VAT refund’ ...and if that will mean more HD and Ultra HD watches for domestic clients...but I would not hold my breath..
If a Rolex are going to trawl through the archives, I’d be very interested in a TurnOGraph rerun - 36mm or 39mm would be fine (so long as the minute hands touch the minute markers). They need to tighten the bezel spring though as I tried them on a few times and the ease of turning it stopped me buying one.
Think there will still be VAT refunds post-Brexit - U.K. still charges VAT after all, just has freedom to set it at different rates from the EU
I'm pretty sure its come to an end ???...
https://jingdaily.com/british-tax-re...ommerce-china/
Hadn’t spotted that! Will definitely have an impact
As others have said I think the Explorer bi-metal go’s against the ethos of that particular model. Some owners wouldn’t explore a silk pillowcase for fear of scratching the soft gold.
A high demand , or super high demand model ?
They’ve brainwashed their employees as well as their customers, it’s unbelievable man.
All my life Rolex has been the most aspirational brand and I always thought that one day I’d get one, maybe for a big birthday. However now I wouldn’t even consider it. A purchase of that value has to be special and that includes the buying experience. A mere pauper like me is never going to be able to buy a brand new high-demand piece as they’re clearly only being allocated to the wealthy and connected.
Even if I could secure one via a long waiting list I wouldn’t make that purchase on the basis that I’m not in the game of handing several thousand pounds to a company who believe they’re doing me a favour by allowing me to buy one of their products. There’s a member on here who has been trying for three years to source a particular watch for his wife’s upcoming 40th birthday. I genuinely hope he’s successful but my view is ‘f*ck that’.
Rolex doesn’t care one jot, they only care about their own exclusivity via supply strangulation. There are so many other high quality brands out there that I could buy when I want to buy, where the buying experience would be excellent and that I’d be very happy owning. I find all the sycophantic fawning over the brand utterly nauseating.
It has only been in the past 5 years that purchasing a Rolex has been more restricted. I can remember a time not long ago when all the models were in the window and the AD's were falling over themselves to sell you one offering discounts, 1st free service, interest free credit etc.
I cannot see the current situation lasting for ever and it's only a matter of time until something else is flavour of the month.
Fair enough, the nature of the ‘buying experience’ is highly subjective. In the end, you just go to a shop and collect the goods, regardless of any flim flam.
But Rolex have a very specific lure....the high second-hand values. Take my partners’ olive green Oyster Perpetual 34mm. It’s apparently worth a lot more than what we paid three years ago. She isn’t going to sell, but she likes the notion of an essentially cost-free watch.
Nothing so odd or irrational about that.
Not my experience at all.
I have bought two Rolex sports watches in the last year with no previous history with the AD.
I have been treated with nothing but courtesy and respect.
I see a lot of rants about ADs on forums and you tube and do wonder how many of them are based on actual experience.
It's just occurred to me that the 214270 mk ii run was shorter than the mk i run. A bit ironic given folk thought the mk i would become the investment piece.
I can't say the AD near me has ever been anything but polite. Obviously that email from earlier in the thread was ludicrously written, but in general I do think people give Rolex ADs an unfair rep. There's more demand than stock, that's it at the end of the day, they can't magic up more stock. Let's be honest, half the people complaining about not being able to get one probably wouldn't want it anyway if they were freely available.
I wonder if the new release will affect the value of the 14270 & 114270 models on the per-owned market.
The term "buying experience" is hilarious. Be careful how high you set your expectations. The "buying experience" doesn't exist, it's been replaced with the "selection experience".
These days the real experience is seeing the AD's name on your screen for an incoming call.
I tried really hard for an SD43 when they were launched but it was futile in the end, hence going to Heywood in 2019.
I absolutely appreciate that ADs are in a bind but there are fewer and fewer which makes the policies of one large retail group disproportionately disruptive. My GMT II came from an AD in Blackpool in 2004 - now long gone; competition reduced - never good in retail.
There have always been hot models - I did some work for Rolex in 1997 on a big event and as a thank you we could buy a watch at cost; however we couldn’t request a sub, a Daytona or a Sea Dweller. I went with an Explorer II which I paid £1200 for but it was delivered via the events organiser and not through the Rolex AD network (we did get receipts though).
In my mind the issue is the lack of choice of retailer and the almost cartel position that the largest groups enjoy right now.
[QUOTE=M1011;5721998
I can't say the AD near me has ever been anything but polite. Obviously that email from earlier in the thread was ludicrously written, but in general I do think people give Rolex ADs an unfair rep. There's more demand than stock, that's it at the end of the day, they can't magic up more stock. Let's be honest, half the people complaining about not being able to get one probably wouldn't want it anyway if they were freely available.[/QUOTE]
Same also applies to half the people buying them oddly.
If you can't walk into the shop, with your what is now, about 6 to 12 grand for one of the steel ones and buy the sodding one you fancy I'm just not interested. Back in my late 20's it was couple of grand and upwards to pay to play iirc, almost pulled the trigger then but I was still at the drinking, scrapping and blacking out stage of life, it seemed imprudent, I was bound to lose it or break it. Now I'm older I can't be arsed with all the waiting list and grovelling malarky and they shot themselves in the foot withdrawing the 39 mm White OP as far as I'm concerned.
I'm definitely, contentedly, the wrong sort, as Mick P says.
I get that people don’t like the whole Rolex thing - I don’t get why people need to get on every Rolex thread and tell us how they don’t like it and how they won’t play the game and how they won’t buy one. If I don’t like watch brands or the way they do things I move on to other things. I certainly don’t get worked up about it.
I still don’t really see what Rolex have done. They make X amount of watches a year - say 1,000,000. Of those they make Y amount of highly desirable ones - say 300,000. 5 years ago for every 300,000 they were say 600,000 buyers, so if you wanted one it was possible, but sometimes a wait was in order. 2 years ago those same 300,000 watches had 900,000 buyers so the wait list got longer. Today those 300,000 watches have 3,000,000 buyers so the wait list is miles long. To me the biggest crime that Rolex have committed is to not double or treble production to satisfy needs. I use the word ‘Crime’ tongue in cheek. If they did increase production, demand would die overnight. They have protected their brand. The way some AD’s have treated people is more likely the real issue, but that’s applicable to a lot of businesses in life. I’ve only ever had great service, from my first purchase to my last.
Like buying a new car you mean?
Good luck on finding exactly what you want in the showroom ready to drive away that day.
Probably best to blacklist all the car dealers who don't have everything you want exactly when you want it.
Somehow you quoted my post with another users name, not sure how that happened!
I agree. It's part of the brands appeal - people want what they can't easily obtain, like it or not. So is it the brands fault, the ADs fault, or the consumers fault, if we really think about it?
This is how I see it, in many ways I wonder how much of the situation Rolex have created and just how much the brand has become a plaything of the Insta show off generation and they have inadvertently got caught up in the whole thing.
If Rolex were cynical about the exploitation they’d just double the price of all sports watches, as it stands they are gifting a huge chunk of margin to the secondary market.
Rolex has become a brand which is desired beyond its own sector, many people who wish to own a Rolex are not interested in the watch at all just the ownership of a brand with social cachet. For those like us lot that is an unfortunate turn of events but I think much of it is organic rather than the creation of the Rolex marketing department.
Dunno I managed just that a couple of years ago, we were considering a couple of brands that had similar models. We took an afternoon going to a couple of dealerships, walked out of a couple after being ignored. Third one we walked into they had exactly the model, in the colour that we think suits it best, on display in the showroom, decided we'd have that one and the agent spoke to his manager and we struck a deal. It took a couple of days for them to sort paperwork and apply the tint to the rear windows we required, then we drove it away. Lucky I guess.
I can’t the the problem with a two tone explorer, if they can do it to the sub and seadweller, then why not. To be it looks like any other two tone watch - you either like them or you don’t
The more snowflakes shun Rolex the better - more models for the rest of us.
I'm looking at the 36mm explorer, thinking 'at last!'
....but then remembering that everything Rolex has done since the 5 digits has not been to my taste; which sets me wondering what they've done with the thickness; I have a nasty suspicion, because it'll match their other modern 'chunking up', that they'll have made it thicker... anyone know?
I'm with you. Bought my first 16710 on a walk-in in London with a mate, whilst on leave.If you can't walk into the shop, with your what is now, about 6 to 12 grand for one of the steel ones and buy the sodding one you fancy I'm just not interested. Back in my late 20's it was couple of grand and upwards to pay to play iirc, almost pulled the trigger then but I was still at the drinking, scrapping and blacking out stage of life, it seemed imprudent, I was bound to lose it or break it. Now I'm older I can't be arsed with all the waiting list and grovelling malarky and they shot themselves in the foot withdrawing the 39 mm White OP as far as I'm concerned.
I'm definitely, contentedly, the wrong sort, as Mick P says.
He bought one too.
Sounds impossible now but I asked them to put a Submariner bracelet on it (because I wanted the extension feature); 'no problem' and done in as long as it took to swap one on.
I was wearing an Explorer1 just 5 days after I phoned the AD last year (with no previous history)
It happens.
I've not had a massive amount of dealings with new Rolex purchases but what I have had has been really quite pleasant.
About 6 years ago I asked for a sub date from Preston's in Leeds, however in the 3 weeks between asking and getting a call to come and buy, my wife and I found out we were having our first child so I turned it down and bought a speedmaster saving a couple of grand. They were absolutely fine with it.
Then about 3 years ago I went into the same place with my old man and ordered a SD43. Got a call within a year and bought it no problems.
Last year my old man went to pick up his warranty card and mentioned I wanted an explorer 2 for my 40th in a couple of years, they said no problems and last week confirmed there wouldn't be a problem if/when the new release was announced.
The only time we have had a problem is when my old man picked up his SD43, he enquired about a Daytona. They said it was difficult but he was added to the list and would get a call within 5 years (long time but he wanted that model and was prepared to wait). Long story short when he followed up he was told the sales advisor left the business and the manager apologised and said he shouldn't have been told they could get him one. Frustrating but for a watch of that scarcity no surprise.
Each time they have been lovely to deal with, just a case of not enough supply to meet demand. Not ADs fault and for purchasers like myself and my old man not a problem. Happy to wait for certain models for special occasions and ADs tend to like those sorts of buyers.
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Well done , genuinely.
Fair point but the Explorer always seemed like the absolute definition of an understated simple watch. Adding the PM content is like putting a huge spoiler on a [pick your own cheap small car].
I thought the same with the SD as, theoretically, a "tool" watch but then again in reality it isn't!
Interesting! The more I read, the more I think "my" AD no longer wants to sell me expensive watches!
I think with the supply and demand of Rolex ADs have got 2 types of preferred customer.
1. People who purchase 1 or 2 watches in their lifetime for special occasions
2. Wealthy people that they will supply hard to obtain watches to when they know they will purchase other high value items. Precious metals and stones, jewelry and watches.
For those wanting to buy because they are into watches they tend to miss out or deemed profiteers. Shame as I'd rather people be able to get watches because they admire watches rather than total wealth.
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Sounds like exactly how it should work. You go on a real list and wait and eventually get the call.
I think there should be a separation between AD and WOS group. I have found it varies majorly.
Also of course it will vary based upon the person your relationship is with at said dealer, especially at WOS Group.
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