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12 July 2020, 06:58 PM | #61 | |
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You don't need to buy a watch every year, you just need to be a 'good' customer, someone that they want to spend time with and someone that other AP enthusiasts want to spend time with. I was first invited by Bal Harbour, I'd never visited them or bought a watch from them, but I was referred to them by a friend. These are the treats that AP give their customers and, to use their own term, 'friends of the brand'. If you don't have a direct relationship with AP then its unlikely these invitations will come your way, hence you need to build that relationship. Start at the bottom in the same way as everything and introduce yourself and go from there. |
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12 July 2020, 07:14 PM | #62 | |
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If you have a relationship with an AP House then they know where all the allocations for all products have gone and thus, if they want to, they can contact those AD's and other AP House's and 'trade' favours. It happens a lot, they all work together, as they should. AP London are awesome. I wanted a blue faced 26331st. This model wasn't readily available at the time but AP London had it waiting for me within a week because they knew where the allocations had been sent. These are the little things that AP House knows that AD's don't, so in my view that is huge value add. So its definitely NOT easier getting a hot watch from an AP House, if you mean by walking in off the street as an unknown entity, but it is likely easier getting an allocation from an AP House as a known customer because an AP House has 'all' the knowledge of where everything is. BUT, they must want to help you, so if you are an ass of a person, then good luck... |
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12 July 2020, 07:17 PM | #63 |
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So true.
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13 July 2020, 12:24 AM | #64 | |
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IG: @conkers1971 Revolution Video Feature: https://www.revolution.watch/collect...f-conkers1971/ |
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13 July 2020, 01:13 AM | #65 |
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I've found my AD relationship to be quite fruitful, now keep in mind that I don't only buy 'hot' pieces and I do have patience, and my observation concludes: those two activities are inversely related.
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13 July 2020, 11:42 AM | #66 |
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This was a real eye-opening conversation, and would like to thank the OP for bringing it up.
Have people found substantial difficulty in landing a 15450 as well?
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13 July 2020, 12:13 PM | #67 |
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A year ago I would have agreed with OP as this was my experience in Hong Kong which it was ruled by ADs. Now that AP has taken over most of the ADs (they are now AP owned and managed) the experience it totally different and I am very very happy with AP. I don’t know how it works in other cities but in HK it wasn’t expensive, difficult or time consuming and i didn’t have to buy anything i didn’t already want. She did try to push code on me and i just laughed her off and that actually made us better friends. i told her the watches i wanted and she basically told me to be patient and i will have all of them in 1-2 years which is fine for me.
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13 July 2020, 01:09 PM | #68 | |
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Can't comment on the 15450 as I have never inquired and frankly my wrist is too large... maybe I'm wrong but I feel like I just saw another thread discussing it though. |
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13 July 2020, 01:17 PM | #69 | |
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Again, I am trying not to come off as "hot" either as I love the brand and my experiences have been far from awful. I just don't appreciate the "no, not possible" and lack of directness. I don't feel it's right to leave me wondering if you're taking me seriously or not, or really trying to help me get what I'm genuinely interested in. |
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13 July 2020, 01:17 PM | #70 | |
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13 July 2020, 01:41 PM | #71 | |
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Frustration came form the very limited availability of pretty much all ROO 44mm other than two that I mentioned in 1st post. Price tag is a bit higher than what I wanted but ROO 44mm pink gold is available and hard to resist. Problem is that now the 15500 in gold comes into play - around 50k range - tough decisions. |
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13 July 2020, 07:06 PM | #72 |
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For me nothing says fu like a pink gold roo44 esp cos most people can’t pull it off. For RO I like steel more than gold.
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13 July 2020, 08:41 PM | #73 |
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A bit of bias and conflict of interest there in the statement RumNYC? PS, looks awesome on the wrist in the avatar. And I'm a bit envious, because I did try it on once and didn't think I could pull the monster off.
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13 July 2020, 09:40 PM | #74 | |
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When the shops reopened last month I went and "registered my interest" with the Sloane Street boutique and felt like I struck up a good rapport with the SA. In light of what you say - do you think (a) there is much reason to go to AP House on Bond Street as well and repeat the process and (b) AP House has oversight of the Sloane Street allocations? |
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13 July 2020, 09:51 PM | #75 | |
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When the shops reopened I ended up having an appointment to "register my interest" with the Sloane St Boutique. It was an enjoyable experience, and I feel I struck up a good rapport with the SA. Based on what you say in your post: a) If AP Houses have oversight of allocations, is it generally better to register with AP House on Bond St rather than the Boutique on Sloane St? b) As I have now registered my interest with a boutique, is there much benefit of repeating the process with AP House? I had assumed I would already be showing on their systems and coming across as trying to beat the process. From reading other posts - the best boutiques are those which are corporate owned. Sloane St is 40% owned by Arije, so starting to feel that I haven't done myself any favours... |
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14 July 2020, 02:00 AM | #76 |
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at that price point I would have to try them on to see which one I like more. not really in hurry anyway.
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14 July 2020, 02:15 AM | #78 |
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LOL It’s definitely a phenomenon.
The person I deal with at my westime is actually very nice. She/he does “try to help” but seems like if you’re not spending big boy money or buying the crap you don’t want or that doesn’t sell *cough* 11:59 *cough* then getting a RO or whatever is tough. Not to mention they ship their products worldwide so they’re not even dealing locally |
14 July 2020, 02:56 AM | #79 | |
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10 August 2020, 02:56 PM | #80 |
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10 August 2020, 05:57 PM | #81 | |
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I was offered a 15500 OR on my first visit at a boutique (I’m new to AP as well) but unfortunately my 6.25 wrist can’t pull it off. Waiting for a 15450 or 26315 |
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10 August 2020, 07:03 PM | #82 |
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I just laugh at all this nonsense.
Grown men trying and begging watch brands like Rolex/AP/Patek to literally give them 10s of thousands of dollars. Hahaha I will never ever do this. |
10 August 2020, 10:40 PM | #83 |
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11 August 2020, 01:45 AM | #84 |
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I just got the call today for a 15500 after waiting 9 months. Remove me forever from the ranting list. Patience pays off
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11 August 2020, 04:03 AM | #85 | |
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11 August 2020, 04:14 AM | #86 |
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11 August 2020, 04:17 AM | #87 | |
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All watches sold through their boutiques (corporate or mono) are registered online to the buyer (flipper) upon the sale. If said person flips that watch and the new buyer registers the flipped watch then it’ll be pretty obvious when the flipper asks for another watch and they see that history. The guy that’s buying the grey watch will likely register it because why wouldn’t you want the extended warranty? For hot pieces, there are committees / approvals so your record will be further scrutinized - these are the benefits of boutique only model (particularly the corporate owned boutiques). These aren’t absolutes though - partner run mono brand boutiques aren’t perfect and play a lot of games, just the read recent Westime operated boutiques. Also if you’ve owned the watch for a few years already and it’s still a hot piece but you decide to sell, then that’s not considered flipping - where AP draws the minimum hold time though is anyone’s guess |
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11 August 2020, 04:29 AM | #88 |
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I'm very new to the whole luxury watch game, so I'll cop to my ignorance right upfront.
That said - there are so many watches out there - I cannot fathom getting so radar-locked on any one piece. If the Royal Oak is your Holy Grail piece then just go grey market. Done, son. Life is just wayyyyyy too short to goof with these AD bozos and "cultivate" a relationship. It would be like trying to have a real relationship with a call girl. My .02 worth. |
11 August 2020, 04:32 AM | #89 | |
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Arguably, it could also be the journey. If everything was easy then it wouldn’t be as memorable. But then again, it depends on ones priorities and what you value. If you really just want that watch and don’t care about the money, then go grey and be happy and go on with your life and do other things. Could be a good story to tell your children to cherish that watch you’ll give them because of how much work (ass kissing?) you’ve done to get it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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11 August 2020, 04:37 AM | #90 | |
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In the Patek world, I have read of owners not registering their watches, especially if they are not true watch enthusiasts, but are buying watches to diversify their assets. This probably happens more in some parts of the world. |
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