When did the Rolex scarcity start?

[EEpro]

Originally Posted by Chillychow

So, before lets say 2016, what did the grey market look like? What did Chrono24 and DavidSW have for margins on their Rolexes? It sounds like you would never have had to buy grey as the AD would have in stock what you wanted when you wanted it - and likely at a discount nonetheless. It didn't occur to me that this whole grey market (for Rolexes anyway) fiasco might be a new phenomena.

Even pre 2010, Jomashop was only 5% discount on SS sports, 10% on TT and even more on PM. I was only interested in the half gold GMT and it was 5% off but no tax charged at time of sale.

[EEpro]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

A bit after US FedRes QE3. Now with QE4Ever it's going to be near impossible until the currency crashes.

This is 100% correct. The Rolex (and SP500) IS the currency now where people are storing their inflated dollars.

[Smarties]

Q4 2016

[imbatman]

A scarcity imposed by Rolex themselves. They will have to eventually release all the stock they have been producing for the past 3 years to the market. I still don't understand why rolex is doing this.

Anyway, yea in 2017 it all started in my part of the world.

[topgear]

Summer 2017 in Dubai, I could still see Batman or Hulk available. I guess towards the end of the year, the supplies dried up because Rolex is not delivering its stocks or not making its stocks available to the common folks.

[WatchLurv]

Originally Posted by EEpro

Even pre 2010, Jomashop was only 5% discount on SS sports, 10% on TT and even more on PM. I was only interested in the half gold GMT and it was 5% off but no tax charged at time of sale.

Joma is always 10-15% pricier than the market price. Market price is to be found in Hong Kong.

[imbatman]

Originally Posted by topgear

Summer 2017 in Dubai, I could still see Batman or Hulk available. I guess towards the end of the year, the supplies dried up because Rolex is not delivering its stocks or not making its stocks available to the common folks.

The good old days where you could walk in a Rolex store and walk out with a Hulk, Batman, Sub....

[Marcjvr]

Definitely started some time in 2017

This pic was taken at the Dubai airport on 28 December 2016




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[scheneider]

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[1Zach1]

I don't really understand the "Rolex is holding product/reduced production" comments. It seems as though there is just as much stock now as there was pre-16/17, it's just with greys instead of ADs.

[thesharkfactor]

Originally Posted by 1Zach1

.. there is just as much stock now as there was pre-16/17, it's just with greys instead of ADs.

[Richard Carver]

This marketing concept has been in use since at least 2001. Retail was 6k on a new Daytona and they were bringing 9k on the street. It has slowly spread to the entire sport range which is still a niche market as far as Rolex is concerned. It makes the bread and butter models more desirable as well.

It's genius really, a normie starts thinking Rolex, pokes his head in the forums or AD and is treated to the spectacle of grown men waving tens of thousands of dollars around crying they can't buy that batboy they have their heart set on!

Our normie blinks at this and counts himself lucky to be able to grab that grape OP and goes merrily on his way telling everyone who will listen this amazing story!

[MTdweller]

Somewhere between late 2016 and mid-2017. I have never seen SS Daytonas in the case. But I would still see the Hulk and BLNR in the case occasionally, with all other models fairly easy to find. I miss those days.

[904VT]

What really started this is when the Swiss Franc was unpegged from the Euro.

[MCO1]

I'd say the consensus of 2017 is consistent. I remember in my Daytona lust days I could constantly buy a box papers steel version pre-owned for $10,500 and was weighing that with fairly easy access to new one for 12400 and was waffling. I ended up not buying and getting on the waitlist in March of 17 for a ceramic Daytona and having one by June at retail when grays were a bit above retail. Its a nice watch that I enjoy but it is not a $25k watch.

[Screaminbones]

Can someone explain "the grey market" to me? Is this different from ebay/kijiji?

[cgaites]

Originally Posted by peterpl

Meaning of scarce direct from the Cambridge dictionary

Scarce: not easy to find or get, not easily available or rare.

Not to be a jerk, but being more expensive and being harder to get are the same thing. Assuming we are talking about time scales where nominal price and real price are equivalent, and are ignoring the impact of currency fluctuations across markets, when the price of something doubles that means that obtaining it requires twice the input of labor (in the case of earned income) or twice the return on investment (in the case of unearned income). It becomes, by definition, twice as "hard to get".

Price is the mechanism by which markets allocate limited resources. As such, price is inherent in the definition of scarcity. Given unlimited ability to pay relative to the purchasing power of the rest of the market, no material resources is scarce. Stated more simply, Jeff Bezos can have any Rolex he wants, but to me they are scarce.

[Calatrava r]

Originally Posted by Screaminbones

Can someone explain "the grey market" to me? Is this different from ebay/kijiji?

There is really no grey market in Rolex products. All the watches are initially sold through authorized dealers (ADs). What is happening is some ADs (we hear) and a lot of retail purchasers are simply selling the watches to used watch dealers who then advertise them for sale on the internet. No its not different from eBay in that many of the re-sellers also sell over eBay.