2018 Rolex models and grey dealers

[junamuan]

Originally Posted by PharmD2B

Maybe he meant $8,950 bc that's what I paid for mine at an AD a month ago.


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I meant $9,850. Almost a thousand $$ premium as the BLNR was (still is) out of stock anywhere in Vancouver and Manila. I had to bite the bullet.

[aquatimerfla]

Here is how you know its a scam, a bubble.

Greys aside. Im talking those selling there 'pre-owned' SS Rolex at ridiculous prices.

IF these watches were so hard to get and will keep going up in value than why sell????

Seriously. Why?? hold on for another 6 months year 2 years and make 'thousands'!!!!

I know why. Its only a matter of time before stock starts flowing back into ADs. Those who overpay now for existing models will be taking major losses.

[Seanken]

If Rolex is like any other company who sells stuff at retail and has a dealer network, if they cannot satisfy demand they will work to ramp up to meet demand.

I hear again and again herw that Rolex forces ADs to take less popular models along with the most popular. Just like a car manufacturer once they make an individual unit, they have to off load it. SOME dealer has to take it. Soooooo, they spread the less popular out. I'm sure Rolex works their butts off try to project the right prodiction targets for each market and dealer.

Nobodys perfect.

[tbonesteak]

Idk, all my reading leads my to believe Rolex had an absolutely banner year - now the majority of us on this board have a pretty clear understanding of how business works; when something is going extremely well, you don’t abandon that playbook. It’s obviously smart to keep your eyes 2/3/4 years down the road to adapt, but when your product is currently flying off the shelves at an incredible pace, are you going to do something to disrupt that?

Not saying the OP didn’t have a conversation with someone and wasn’t told this, but the aforementioned makes me skeptical anything different is going to happen in 2018.

As for the grey hiking his prices 20-25% overnight, I’d place the odds on him selling those watches at close to zero, especially when more trusted sellers have them for much less. On those tactics alone, I made a mental note of his name and will never do business with him.

[Godfather111]

I for one, put off buying a Hulk that was offered to me yesterday at almost $1700 premium above retail. On principle alone, I refused to pay that price. In fact I'm done buying for the year. This is the wrongest time to buy any Rolex as supply is lowest and demand is highest.

I believe lots and lots of SS stock coming to ADs in 2018. No price increase either. Keep calm and carry on. Patience is a virgin.

[WhiskeyKoffee]

Originally Posted by Godfather111

I for one, put off buying a Hulk that was offered to me yesterday at almost $1700 premium above retail. On principle alone, I refused to pay that price. In fact I'm done buying for the year. This is the wrongest time to buy any Rolex as supply is lowest and demand is highest.

I believe lots and lots of SS stock coming to ADs in 2018. No price increase either. Keep calm and carry on. Patience is a virgin.

^^^^ this. Absolutely this!!

[gmstevenson]

.

[Star Ferry]

I think Rolex is doing a great job. People want their product and actually believe certain models are worth the asking price.

[lhawli]

Originally Posted by junamuan

I meant $9,850. Almost a thousand $$ premium as the BLNR was (still is) out of stock anywhere in Vancouver and Manila. I had to bite the bullet.

Out of stock doesn’t mean discontinued. Why the impatience from many members to get on a list, wait a few month and pay MSRP at an AD?

I waited circa 3 month and got my BLNR at MSRP, which was out of stock 3 month ago!

I’ll do the same with the HULK and flip my 116610LN to fund for it when my AD has it available for me in a few month.

If a piece is discontinued then I get the whole buying from trusted sellers and greys. But we are talking about pieces that are still in production.

The buyers are just inpatient and feeding the greys and trusted sellers pockets with good profits.

Suckers and hey, good for the trusted seller and greys! Great business model and Rolex loves it.


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[G'ed]

If they want to cut down on grey dealer, easiest way is to jack up the price to reduce the demand. Lesser sell but compensated by higher profit cut.

[Godfather111]

Originally Posted by lhawli

Out of stock doesn’t mean discontinued. Why the impatience from many members to get on a list, wait a few month and pay MSRP at an AD?

I waited circa 3 month and got my BLNR at MSRP, which was out of stock 3 month ago!

I’ll do the same with the HULK and flip my 116610LN to fund for it when my AD has it available for me in a few month.

If a piece is discontinued then I get the whole buying from trusted sellers and greys. But we are talking about pieces that are still in production.

[HogwldFLTR]

If Rolex got bent out of shape over their watches being resold and clamped down on individuals being able to sell something they own I suspect Rolex watches would be a lot less popular. The resale market really is to Rolex's advantage imho.

[HK Islandboy]

Originally Posted by Godfather111

I for one, put off buying a Hulk that was offered to me yesterday at almost $1700 premium above retail. On principle alone, I refused to pay that price. In fact I'm done buying for the year. This is the wrongest time to buy any Rolex as supply is lowest and demand is highest.

I believe lots and lots of SS stock coming to ADs in 2018. No price increase either. Keep calm and carry on. Patience is a virgin.

...so it would appear that patience is pretty rare, or claimed more often than it is actually found...seems about right !!

Agree that once Rolex is back from vacation , stocks will start following again

[Sprta]

Recently picked up a Ladies Datejust for my wifes Christmas present at my AD who I have a good relationship. First they removed all the stickers from the watch as they were now instructed to do so. Also they were told that the hard to acquire Sports watches will only be sold to established customers and will no longer be in the display cases. This is what their sales rep told them.
I do not know if this will be global dealer wide but I do know that this particular AD is going to follow those rules in all of their locations.

[AK797]

Originally Posted by Godfather111

I for one, put off buying a Hulk that was offered to me yesterday at almost $1700 premium above retail. On principle alone, I refused to pay that price. In fact I'm done buying for the year. This is the wrongest time to buy any Rolex as supply is lowest and demand is highest.

I believe lots and lots of SS stock coming to ADs in 2018. No price increase either. Keep calm and carry on. Patience is a virgin.

What happened at the end of your last sentence? You click on another tab by mistake?

[tng11]

Originally Posted by tng11

In other news, grey dealers' greed continues to reach new heights.

One grey seller on this board just increased their price on a BLNR from $10,950 to $12,950 and the Hulk from $11,950 to $14,950 over 2 days. This is bloody ridiculous.

Quoting myself shamelessly.

That same grey now has the Hulk back down to $12,950. What a farce. I hope no one is paying this kind of money when there are plenty of brand new ones priced lower (if you really wanted it - I object to paying a premium for one.)

I'm starting to see some more merit to that thread about grey dealer pricing and TRF... greys should be able to list at above MSRP, but not play pricing games like these in the hopes someone will panic buy.

[Andy355]

Personally frustrated at not even getting onto the wait list for Daytona c in London. The dealer I put my name down with on launch date decided not to do a list in the end saving them for their top clients. Meantime believing I was 2nd in a list by getting there early on launch day I missed out on other shops list.
Now it's all closed or for their huge clients.
Regional dealers often say for locals only so it's actually a disadvantage to be in London where all the stock goes to the mega rich or prior to shortage, tourists

So I hope they are making a massive batch of Daytona c's now for the new year. Most of the waiting list would disappear if there was no value in flipping leaving room for those who actually like the watch and want it for themselves

[Godfather111]

Originally Posted by Godfather111

I believe lots and lots of SS stock coming to ADs in 2018. No price increase either. Keep calm and carry on. Patience is a virgin.

Originally Posted by AK797

What happened at the end of your last sentence? You click on another tab by mistake?

It's my own take on the old adage. Rather prefer virgin over virtue (who wouldn't, amirite?)

[Boaters]

You can call it whatever you like Free Enterprise, Supply and Demand or just plain greed. I don't worry about it there is a thing called MSRP and personally, if it is more than that I won't pay it. Everyone makes there own decision how bad you want it is I guess how much you will pay. So far for me that draws a line in the sand. As far as Gray Market go's I think it keeps things interesting at best.

[seal13il]

Originally Posted by Godfather111

I for one, put off buying a Hulk that was offered to me yesterday at almost $1700 premium above retail. On principle alone, I refused to pay that price. In fact I'm done buying for the year. This is the wrongest time to buy any Rolex as supply is lowest and demand is highest.

I believe lots and lots of SS stock coming to ADs in 2018. No price increase either. Keep calm and carry on. Patience is a virgin.

good thing you only need to hold off for two more weeks:)

[Tony64]

Originally Posted by Quailhunter

I’ve read through all the inputs on this thread and I cannot understand why Rolex would care who bought their watches or from whom.

If a gray market dealer buys a watch from an AD or if I buy a watch from an AD, I would assume Rolex makes the same money. The AD might make less selling to a gray market dealer, but Rolex doesn’t make less.

What am I missing?

^^^This.
Seriously folks.
This.

[Bluside]

I didn't read the whole thread, but isn't this all about supply and demand?

If Rolex would just increase the supply of the desired models, wouldn't that eliminate the problem?

[Tony64]

Originally Posted by Bluside

I didn't read the whole thread, but isn't this all about supply and demand?

If Rolex would just increase the supply of the desired models, wouldn't that eliminate the problem?

That's just it. Rolex doesn't view this as a problem. Quite the opposite - they deliberately limit supply to artificially increase demand. Hardly a problem, it's more a calculated business decision.

I know that there are diehard Daytona supporters for example, but if every AD had multiples in stock in every color would the demand still be as great?

[VicLeChic]

Originally Posted by Patton250

Perhaps they could really enforce taking stickers off but even that is a sticky situation.

LOL, brilliant!

I wouldn't be surprised if Rolex tracks down the rogue ADs selling popular pieces to grey dealers. It pisses many buyers off and that's not good for Rolex.
I think greys are only useful for less popular models in the eyes of Rolex, but even there it could be bad in terms of image when sold at a big discount.

[Patton250]

Originally Posted by VicLeChic

LOL, brilliant!

I wouldn't be surprised if Rolex tracks down the rogue ADs selling popular pieces to grey dealers. It pisses many buyers off and that's not good for Rolex.
I think greys are only useful for less popular models in the eyes of Rolex, but even there it could be bad in terms of image when sold at a big discount.

But what Rolex can’t stop is me buying a brand new BLNR and then selling it to a grey. All they could do is enforce, or try to enforce removing stickers. However in my opinion that would likely piss off a bunch of Rolex buyers.

[VicLeChic]

Originally Posted by Patton250

But what Rolex can’t stop is me buying a brand new BLNR and then selling it to a grey. All they could do is enforce, or try to enforce removing stickers. However in my opinion that would likely piss off a bunch of Rolex buyers.

True, obviously they can't stop you as a private individual from selling it to a grey dealer. But Rolex could track the AD who sold it and check that it was sold to you, not directly to the grey dealer. They could ask for evidence from the AD.

[LocalTime1]

Hello all - new here and finding it difficult to navigate the forum and know where to post this. Apologies in advance if this needs moving.

I need to purchase approx. 20 brand new rolex - a variety of models.

I am not 100% green to Rolex but a substantial purchase like this is very new to me. Clearly a lot of money is involved and I want to get the best price available so simple questions to those who KNOW:

(i) is this too small a deal for me to do business with Rolex direct?;

(ii) if so, do you know of ADs who are permitted to do real deals for bulk purchases (anywhere in the world);?

(iii) if not ADs can anyone point me in the direction of a grey market dealer?

(iii) does anyone have experience of buying Rolex in bulk that they would be willing to share with me?

Thanks a lot in advance!

LT1

[Aventura]

Originally Posted by Patton250

So in my travels over the last couple weeks visiting multiple AD’s and listening to their understandably sad stories of lack of stock the inevitable discussion came up of how grey dealers seem to have the hot stainless steel modles in stock at higher than retail prices. Needless to say, especially in the boutiques this put a very bad taste in their mouth. Now one of the managers in one of the boutiques told me that in 2018 Rolex was going to put some type of better system to track their watches. I believe he mentioned a strip on the back of the piece. I don’t know what that really means. However the point was they’ll be trying to find out who has been selling these pieces to the grey dealers and then cut them off. In my opinion, and I shared this with him, I don’t see how you can stop that. However he insisted that he has heard from the top people at Rolex and that is their intentions. What do you guys think? I always thought Rolex loved the grey dealers even if in secret because they help them sell the undesirable pieces. Either way I just don’t see how Rolex could shut down that established institution. Perhaps they could really enforce taking stickers off but even that is a sticky situation.

I believe that undesirable pieces can not be sold to anyone. I do not know but someone told me that it is an obligation of the dealer to receive all the models that the factory decides. I think the same thing happens with cars. In that case, I do not see the dealer selling him gray dealers if they buy him in quantity and they take out the models that they can not sell. And there must be many. IMHO.

[Swiss Mad!]

Originally Posted by Aventura

I believe that undesirable pieces can not be sold to anyone. I do not know but someone told me that it is an obligation of the dealer to receive all the models that the factory decides. I think the same thing happens with cars. In that case, I do not see the dealer selling him gray dealers if they buy him in quantity and they take out the models that they can not sell. And there must be many. IMHO.

No - that's not how it works.
Rolex don't dictate which watches the AD's have to stock.
Quite the opposite.
The AD's place orders with Rolex for the watches THEY want to stock.
Also, these things aren't on sale or return!
The AD's have to pay for the watches up front - so if they sit in the window for months & months Rolex don't care, they already got paid!

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[Net-man]

Majority of Rolex business is moving Datejust models, sports are a small percentage of what company makes and sells. As long as DJs are moving smoothly why rock the boat?

If the fair market price for SS sports is higher then as AD i would ask/insist the manufacturer to adjust the price. AD and manufacture both win.

Are there whole seller involved in Rolex supply chain, if so that opens up another dimension.