Quote:
Originally Posted by tng11
I only recently became a Patek Philippe owner through the power of trading with another collector. If buying new or from an AD was one of my requirements, I would have already quit in frustration and vowed myself never to buy a PP. And maybe that's part of the strategy - to keep it exclusive, you will have to tick off some customers at the end of the day.
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This is all so true, and ironically it is both new and established collectors affected by the dynamic. My persistence had nearly worn out when I finally found an AD who went out on a limb for me with this watch and has now earned my business for life. I fall into the category as described by TS (quote below) and understand there had to be trade-offs for overall allocations. Patek Philippe had some sort of split (90/10?) in mind but had to rely on ADs to a large extent. It seems at least some of those ADs went to the extreme to take advantage of their position for what might be a temporary boost to their bottom line, while alienating a lot of collectors across the board.
Like you said...maybe it really is just genius marketing. We all know everyone who knocks this watch is just insanely jealous. No one in their right mind can't see the 5522 as the Patek of all Pateks.
But seriously, I won't consider myself lucky until I find something even close to as nice as that 3940!
TS: "But I really hope that they will also allocate those pieces to somebody who is not a very big collector. It has to be also for someone who as I just said, who is young, who is going to start with Patek Philippe; we should also give him the chance to wear such a piece."