BLNR - Buy Now at AD, or wait until trip in May

[530ExplorerII]

Hello everyone - I bought my first Rolex, a Polar Explorer II for my 36th birthday and an early 5 year wedding anniversary. Well, I should say my wife got it for me ;-). I got a little break off full retail that didn't even really cover tax. I was a bit naive and didn't haggle too much, but wish I would have.

Since then, I've been a bit obsessed and find that I'm not wearing any of my other watches anymore. I love the Explorer II as my daily, fly under the radar watch, but I'd like to have one that dresses up a bit. I tend to wear a lot of blue and grey suits when travelling for work and have landed on the BLNR.

There are two local ADs that have them in stock and both have said they'd likely give me a bit of a break if I've got cash. Neither will commit to a price over the phone (which I expect), but they've both basically said, come on in and let's figure it out.

We are also going on a cruise in May to the Southern Caribbean and I was thinking about potentially looking around down there.

I'd love any advice on what I should do for the best deal and if anyone can give me a ballpark on what I should pay in either location. I'm inclined to haggle a bit harder on this one because it's purely a luxury and will be an uphill battle to justify with the Mrs....I had to buy a 1ct anniversary band to win her over on the Polar....

[Slippy Chips]

I would contact a trusted seller like Thanh Do (AKA Takuya) or another trusted seller on here and get it BNIB now for about the same price (or less) than you would get in the Caribbean. You also wouldn't have the hassle of dealing with customs. Just my thoughts on how you could have your cake and eat it too.

Congrats in advance! A great choice! I travel too and use the GMT more than I thought I would.

[DRKBC]

I would buy it in your City for a couple of reasons:

- for the little bit you are going to save you may lose that on the duty that you have to pay to bring it back into the country. (I am only assuming that is the case but I would check, it is that way in Canada)
- It is always good to develop a bit of a relationship with an AD that is close by.
- You may not be able to find a BLNR on your Vacation and you may not get much of deal on it if you do. There as it is in pretty high demand all over for that model these days.

All that said, I would think your best deal is probably with a trusted seller here.

[racer24]

I'd buy from your local AD. you won't save much on a BNIB BLNR either way. Why not start to build a relationship with a local AD. A good relationship with your AD will go a long way. In fact, some ADs offer prices lower than the trusted sellers here.

[GMT Aviator]

Don't bother buying in the Caribbean. I checked out the price on a TT GMT and the BLNR a couple of months back in Barbados. Firstly, no BLNR, they get few. They would give the std Rolex AD discount on the TT GMT. The BLNR actually worked out slightly more expensive than list price here in the U.K.

You have to remember, cruise ships dock in these places daily and there's plenty of people with fat wallets and no sense and the jewellers take full advantage of that.

[Wrist Watcher]

If you want a brand new one or basically new, given the high resale value of the BLNR, I would just buy from your local AD to establish a relationship with them.

[sensui]

Originally Posted by racer24

I'd buy from your local AD. you won't save much on a BNIB BLNR either way. Why not start to build a relationship with a local AD. A good relationship with your AD will go a long way. In fact, some ADs offer prices lower than the trusted sellers here.

I'd agree with this. Trusted seller pricing on this piece isn't far off from ads without tax.

[Amex4711]

Originally Posted by 530ExplorerII

Hello everyone - I bought my first Rolex, a Polar Explorer II for my 36th birthday and an early 5 year wedding anniversary. Well, I should say my wife got it for me ;-). I got a little break off full retail that didn't even really cover tax. I was a bit naive and didn't haggle too much, but wish I would have.

Since then, I've been a bit obsessed and find that I'm not wearing any of my other watches anymore. I love the Explorer II as my daily, fly under the radar watch, but I'd like to have one that dresses up a bit. I tend to wear a lot of blue and grey suits when travelling for work and have landed on the BLNR.

There are two local ADs that have them in stock and both have said they'd likely give me a bit of a break if I've got cash. Neither will commit to a price over the phone (which I expect), but they've both basically said, come on in and let's figure it out.

We are also going on a cruise in May to the Southern Caribbean and I was thinking about potentially looking around down there.

I'd love any advice on what I should do for the best deal and if anyone can give me a ballpark on what I should pay in either location. I'm inclined to haggle a bit harder on this one because it's purely a luxury and will be an uphill battle to justify with the Mrs....I had to buy a 1ct anniversary band to win her over on the Polar....

My wife and I made a cruise in february to St. Thomas, Tortula and Nassau and we saw really nice Rolex AD, but we didn't by a rolex.

[Coffes4closers]

I'd gothe route if your AD... sometimes they surprise you and will give exceptional pricing if you play your cards right. Otherwise I'd hit up Takuya or one of the other TDs. Too much stress buying overseas for me.

[brandrea]

I'd focus on working out the best deal possible with your AD.

You're not likely to realize any meaningful savings on this reference as it's still a strong seller.

[gregmoeck]

Here is my prediction, you waste a lot of your wonderful vacation chasing a watch and end up settling and buying a different model. I would personally wait to see what's on your trip if I was you, the chase is fun.

[Snow-Dweller]

Buy now, enjoy your vacation.

[Investr]

Local! Done

[JRT]

Buy it now and enjoy wearing the stunning BLNR right away.

[maximus1]

Contact a trusted seller and save some time. Buy local if the price is not much more and you might be able to claim the sales tax deduction back on next years tax return.

[530ExplorerII]

Aaaand she's on her way!

[ocwatching]

congrats! you will love it
glad Goldfarb can help!

[ejvette]

[530ExplorerII]

Originally Posted by ocwatching

congrats! you will love it
glad Goldfarb can help!

Yes, much better experience than my local AD so far. Thank you so much for the recommendation!

[faz]

Well, this was easy!

Congrats!

[indy78]

This past May I went to Goldfinger in St Maarten and the Caribbean retail price for the 116610 is $8150 vs the US retail of $8550. Goldfinger would discount an additional 5% off the Caribbean retail for a duty free out the door price of $7742.

I priced the same watch during a recent trip to a Rolex retailer in CA and found they would not discount the watch. Therefore, the price with sales tax would be $9234. A Caribbean savings of $1492.