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Old 12 July 2020, 06:58 PM   #61
GS93108
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I love art and I’m an avid golfer but how do I get invited to these events ? Would love nothing more. Big fan of Ian poulter, Hendrik Stenson And Victor L. ( Norwegian rookie). Would love nothing more to get invited to these events... how do I make that happen I’m assuming one or two watches won’t do it.
The AP events are invitation only from AP themselves. If you have an AP House or wholly owned AP boutique local to you then start there. That's the place you should be building your relationship and where you should introduce yourself and make known that you are a golfer etc. That's not to say that you won't get an invitation via your preferred AD, but that's one stepped removed from AP themselves.

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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Old 12 July 2020, 07:14 PM   #62
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Does AP house has a different client /allocation model than Corp Boutique?
In other words, is it easier to get a hot model via AP house?
AP House is typically, if not always, the AP distributor for that region and thus all allocations come from there.

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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Old 12 July 2020, 07:17 PM   #63
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It's amusing to me that so many 'hot' models are really only hot because they are scarce. Let's be honest, the 15202, to 15500 and 15407 are so over hyped on forums like this that its no wonder there's huge demand and the grey market prices are bonkers.
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So true.
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Old 13 July 2020, 12:24 AM   #64
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I don’t believe this is happening as AP are careful to make sure that people aren’t buying watches to flip, anyone who is buying a brand new watch every 2-3 weeks is more likely to be flipping them than keeping them. I doubt even Conkers buys that many watches, although I could be wrong.


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I can’t imagine buying that frequently just from one brand. Not least as stock levels being what they are at AP currently there wouldn’t be something worth buying every 2-3 weeks however high up the pecking order one might be.
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Old 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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Old 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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Old 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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Old 13 July 2020, 01:09 PM   #68
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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?
your welcome and I hope I did not come "too hot" a few home-made margaritas and a "WTF moment" caused me to bring this up. Ended up being a quiet interesting conversation for me as well, especially since I am brand new to the brand but a fan for decades - I am a VVIP of window shopping :)

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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Old 13 July 2020, 01:17 PM   #69
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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.
Something like this would work wonders. I am not a patient person, but I certainly can be if I get some assurance and confidence that it will work out.

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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Old 13 July 2020, 01:17 PM   #70
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your welcome and I hope I did not come "too hot" a few home-made margaritas and a "WTF moment" caused me to bring this up. Ended up being a quiet interesting conversation for me as well, especially since I am brand new to the brand but a fan for decades - I am a VVIP of window shopping :)

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.
OP, just out of curiosity which model are you looking for as the #1 to buy?
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Old 13 July 2020, 01:41 PM   #71
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OP, just out of curiosity which model are you looking for as the #1 to buy?
other than the customary blue 15500 answer (which of course is true), I was looking into buying my first 44mm ROO - black ceramic (discontinued but didn't know) #1 and # 2 any color 15500.
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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Old 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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Old 13 July 2020, 08:41 PM   #73
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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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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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Old 13 July 2020, 09:40 PM   #74
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AP House is typically, if not always, the AP distributor for that region and thus all allocations come from there.

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...
Thanks for posting - quite enlightening. By way of background, I am also interested in a 15450 (ideally blue dial...yes I know...) and have been lurking on here for a few months.

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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Old 13 July 2020, 09:51 PM   #75
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AP House is typically, if not always, the AP distributor for that region and thus all allocations come from there.

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...
Interesting insight. By way of background, I'm an optimist and hoping I can strike lucky and obtain a blue 15450.

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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Old 14 July 2020, 02:00 AM   #76
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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.
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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Old 14 July 2020, 02:06 AM   #77
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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.
As someone who has both - you can't go wrong with either! Both compete heavily for my daily wear spot.
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Old 14 July 2020, 02:15 AM   #78
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Maybe it's a "Westime phenomenon"
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
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Old 14 July 2020, 02:56 AM   #79
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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
same here everybody I interacted with was nice and pleasant but like many here shared that's not really the issue and frankly probably not even their fault. They run a business after all.
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Old 10 August 2020, 02:56 PM   #80
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That is not true. My entire purchase with NYC was done over phone, text and email. Shipped to my door in LA.

Curious. Does that mean you paid CA tax? Or NYC tax?


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Old 10 August 2020, 05:57 PM   #81
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other than the customary blue 15500 answer (which of course is true), I was looking into buying my first 44mm ROO - black ceramic (discontinued but didn't know) #1 and # 2 any color 15500.
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.
AP boutiques are a much better experience.
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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Old 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.
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Old 10 August 2020, 10:40 PM   #83
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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.
+1, You're absolutely right!
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Old 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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Old 11 August 2020, 04:03 AM   #85
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I don’t believe this is happening as AP are careful to make sure that people aren’t buying watches to flip, anyone who is buying a brand new watch every 2-3 weeks is more likely to be flipping them than keeping them. I doubt even Conkers buys that many watches, although I could be wrong.


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Just curious, how does AP keep track of flippers? We know there are many flippers for popular Rolex and some Patek watchss. Since Rolex produces so many watches, I can't imagine them tracking flippers, but closing down ADs that sell a lot through the backdoor. Patek often buys their own watches through the gray market and monitor flippers and ADs that sell to flippers.
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Old 11 August 2020, 04:14 AM   #86
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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 ��

Congrats! Wear in good health! What color did you get?


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Old 11 August 2020, 04:17 AM   #87
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Just curious, how does AP keep track of flippers? We know there are many flippers for popular Rolex and some Patek watchss. Since Rolex produces so many watches, I can't imagine them tracking flippers, but closing down ADs that sell a lot through the backdoor. Patek often buys their own watches through the gray market and monitor flippers and ADs that sell to flippers.

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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Old 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.
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Old 11 August 2020, 04:32 AM   #89
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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.

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.


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Old 11 August 2020, 04:37 AM   #90
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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
The registration part makes sense for AP watches and limiting flippers. I am not an AP owner, but I remember reading something about extended warranty with registration. It seems like a good way for AP to get to know their customers and keep in touch with them.

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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