When will this end?

[dmash]

Originally Posted by boogiebot

@dmash I can totally appreciate your mindset and perspective. Maybe you and I are dying breed in this hobby. Officially I’m done too. Life’s too short for me to constantly be chasing and playing games.




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It’s sad honestly. I remember buying and selling watches 10-12 years ago and I would meet people and we would talk for 30 mins at transaction about watches and new models and what we enjoy about the timepiece. That sentiment is gone and people only focus on $$$ now. And the absurdity of this constant shouting of ‘this is my grail!’ when in reality, it’s completely a fabricated feeling driven by Instagram and TikTok. That Pepsi or white Daytona is not the ‘grail’ for the majority, you just like it because it’s cool. These same people are so consumed though, they don’t even themselves realize they don’t actually love the watch lol.

The hobby is ruined as of now, this is just a fact. It will come back though, just sad it has come to me wanting a hiatus as opposed to enjoying these trinkets I so thoroughly enjoyed since such a young age. Oh well, life goes on

[steveclr]

I've never considered it a privilege to view a watch, anymore than watching a commercial on TV. I like many Tudors, but their primary appeal is being a quality watch at an affordable price. The brand should distance itself from snobbery.

[teck21]

Originally Posted by steveclr

I've never considered it a privilege to view a watch, anymore than watching a commercial on TV. I like many Tudors, but their primary appeal is being a quality watch at an affordable price. The brand should distance itself from snobbery.

Nothing sells like snobbery.

They’re simply going down a well trodden path.


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[steveclr]

Originally Posted by teck21

Nothing sells like snobbery.

They’re simply going down a well trodden path.


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Unfortunately, I agree.

[kelv_w]

I was in Leamington Spa about 2 weeks ago and the new Tudors were just sitting at the ADs window. Not sure if it's still there now.

[minute_man]

I was invited to see the 925 and the gold one. Will probably drop by the AD on Saturday. That's central distribution here.
At the same time, I noticed the local AD near my office had almost a full house of hot Tudors on display, BB58, Blue Pelagos, GMT on strap, 925, 58 Blue, all available to purchase...

[Keanuchan]

Originally Posted by kacey1001

I have been very fortunate with my Rolex purchases and have not personally experienced some of the AD games that I have read about on these Forums. However, Yesterday I experienced something, that for me personally, took these games to a new level.

I visited the Trafford Centre, in Manchester, UK. I paid a visit to a few of the boutiques/AD’s to see if any of this years new releases (across all brands) where available to see. I stopped by Beaverbrooks to enquire if they had a Tudor BB58, in Silver, to see (even if they were “spoken for”). At the door of the AD, I was asked if I was a “previous customer” of the AD, as only existing customers would be able to view the Gold or Silver Tudor BB58 “at this time”.

Maybe when crypto crash!?

[turkeysub93]

This has got to be the AD playing a joke lol

[dtwer]

I doubt this economy will end. Through COVID we may have entered into a different kind of economy, a.k.a. YOLO economy.

This is a very interesting read on NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/t...o-economy.html

A friend of mine just bought a brand new Harley Davidson for the price of a Nissan Rogue; it's something he has always wanted but didn't have that final push to make him pull the trigger. COVID helps him pull the trigger, in a way.

[superspectral]

Originally Posted by TTbluesy

At this point yes.

2008 will happen again and lots of watches will again be 50% off. It’s just a luxury item and a large percentage of people over-paying today are highly leveraged. Far worse than 2008. Look how many threads here talk about being super savvy and financing your watch. Lol. Insanity.

Luxury items are the first things to fall when a crisis hits. Covid wasn’t a crisis, it was a windfall to most.


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Agree with this. Slightly restated, there will be a recession where professionals lose their jobs. That happened in 2008. That did not happen in 2020 - governments generally protected these jobs or they were in tech which wasn't hurt.

Now I do wonder if Rolex and/or their suppliers thought it was going to happen in 2020, so they cut back on critical parts orders a year ago and that really couldn't be reversed. So maybe the 2021 shortage is a combination of extreme demand and no production.

[jlovda]

I wonder what would have happened if you lied? Would the guard go in with your name and look you up in the computer?

[teck21]

Originally Posted by superspectral

Now I do wonder if Rolex and/or their suppliers thought it was going to happen in 2020, so they cut back on critical parts orders a year ago and that really couldn't be reversed. So maybe the 2021 shortage is a combination of extreme demand and no production.

Unlikely that Rolex decides on production numbers based on potentially short-lived expectations of economic recessions or booms.

More likely to be long dated consumer and economic trends.

No one knows how many or few watches were produced last year, but a research house (there’s a thread, maybe multiple threads on it here from a few weeks back) suggested a figure of 800,000, possibly down from a million.

If anything, Rolex has probably learnt that they can do more by selling less.


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[MDMH]

I think the minimum prices have been set. Which happened in housing as well. A $1.2M dollar house will never drop to $800K. That is now well in the past. If this happens we have an entire country in trouble.

Also Luxury items don’t necessarily hurt during “recession” like scenarios. The “Have’s” will always have. Like what’s going on right now. The “Haves” have MORE. Not to mention the USA and Rest of NA are only a fraction of what Luxury sales used to be. You know the sayings about Stats but the last one I saw was the USA accounting for 15% of Luxury sales (whatever that means) and China was 35%. I don’t see this ending anytime soon unfortunately.

[tle156]

Originally Posted by dmash

It’s sad honestly. I remember buying and selling watches 10-12 years ago and I would meet people and we would talk for 30 mins at transaction about watches and new models and what we enjoy about the timepiece. That sentiment is gone and people only focus on $$$ now. And the absurdity of this constant shouting of ‘this is my grail!’ when in reality, it’s completely a fabricated feeling driven by Instagram and TikTok. That Pepsi or white Daytona is not the ‘grail’ for the majority, you just like it because it’s cool. These same people are so consumed though, they don’t even themselves realize they don’t actually love the watch lol.

The hobby is ruined as of now, this is just a fact. It will come back though, just sad it has come to me wanting a hiatus as opposed to enjoying these trinkets I so thoroughly enjoyed since such a young age. Oh well, life goes on

I am on the same boat with you guys. Giving up playing AD’s game and refuse to pay even 1cent premium for gray dealers. Wearing apple watch now for fitness/health monitoring purposes and pull the trigger soon with the Omega watches that I used to love before being Rolex-only guy. My watch hobby is still there but not for Rolex given this circumstances at the moment

[SirOfVold]

All and all just such a frustrating experience for sure.


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[botsy]

Originally Posted by kelv_w

I was in Leamington Spa about 2 weeks ago and the new Tudors were just sitting at the ADs window. Not sure if it's still there now.

Was that Tustains?


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