Solutions to Rolex Prices, Availability and Grey Market? (Soap Box)

[believelandcle]

People want what they can't have. Period. It's not a price issue if you took the blue SS sky dweller and it was sitting on the shelves at 22k no one would want it. If it was in stock at every dealer at 10k no one would buy it.

[believelandcle]

Originally Posted by Calatrava r

I agree bringing out the Pepsi in SS where folks had bought the same watch in WG as that was all that was available was not very nice. Seems like the steel should have come first. That's a good way to end the Rolex mania.

I do not like the idea of ADs selling for whatever the market will bear but it would end the flipping that is for sure.

Just saw a SS Daytona white dial go for 25.500 USD, new and unworn. You could have bought a PM model for that slightly used.

Sure but there are 2 models of the SS Daytona. You can get hundreds of combinations of it in PM. It's not rare and you can walk into any dealer and order one and have it in a month or less.

[AK797]

Originally Posted by uhren917

This IS NOT a free market, this IS a luxury market where Supply and Demand are not allowed to reach market equilibrium.

YES IT IS, greys are selling stock continuously so the dem/sup market is operating fine.

[beshannon]

Solutions for buying expensive high-end luxury jewelry?

[VicLeChic]

I prefer the current situation to what OP is suggesting. I'd rather wait years and pay retail than pay well over the odds for the models I'm interested in. That would be the end of Rolex for me.

[kitsgq]

Agreed. Prices need to move up until equilibrium is reached in the marketplace.

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[dtwer]

Interesting ideas, not going to work though.

For price increases this significant, Rolex would price its products out of the range of a segment of it's customer base; these customers are no longer able to or willing to afford the watches. It would also make it harder for younger customers to enter and become the Rolex customers. It's one thing to buy a $10K watch, it's quite another to pay $20K for the same watch. When the price tag is significant enough, people change their priorities accordingly.

Smaller customer base and higher threshold to enter = higher susceptibility to market volatility.

So when the next economic downturn hits and Rolex is struggling to move their $22K Daytona or whatever, what are they supposed to do? Discount the price down to $13K again for a fire sale or just hold on to their high-priced stock?

[tjs00]

Originally Posted by dtwer

Interesting ideas, not going to work though.

For price increases this significant, Rolex would price its products out of the range of a segment of it's customer base; these customers are no longer able to or willing to afford the watches. It would also make it harder for younger customers to enter and become the Rolex customers. It's one thing to buy a $10K watch, it's quite another to pay $20K for the same watch. When the price tag is significant enough, people change their priorities accordingly.

Smaller customer base and higher threshold to enter = higher susceptibility to market volatility.

So when the next economic downturn hits and Rolex is struggling to move their $22K Daytona or whatever, what are they supposed to do? Discount the price down to $13K again for a fire sale or just hold on to their high-priced stock?

Tudor comes in to play to satisfy those demands....

[oldman2005]

As a Rolex consumer, you have little or no choice:

- Rolex only allocates single digit of number of its SS sports ie 2-4 BLRO, 2 SS Sky Dweller,...With so little watches on the market you can't do much except:
- Stop buying Rolex SS sport watches.

[JR16]

Originally Posted by tjs00

Tudor comes in to play to satisfy those demands....

Having owned a few Tudors, I don’t think Tudor quenches the thirst of wanting a Rolex, at least in the long run. At least it’s been my experience.


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[77T]

And now we return you to our scheduled programming: Solving Global Warming.

A semi-serious way to say that’d be easier than cracking the Rolex market lock-up.


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[SlideRacker]

MSRP means absolutely nothing in this market. It's only a "suggested" price. PMs generally sell below that price, unless you're talking about a YG/Green dial Daytona or an oysterflex. SS sell above it. TTs sell right at MSRP.

There is no free lunch in this market. And like Wall Street, there are no inefficiencies. One way or another you will end up paying the true market price or more if you're not careful or don't care. You will either buy from a grey at market, have to bundle with PMs, which is generally worse, or have to spend tens or hundreds of thousands to build a one-way totalitarian relationship, which is worse still. Many in here have tried to beat the market and continue to try. But I really don't think it can be done. If you can score a Sub Date, count your blessings and call it a day.

[68deluxe]

Originally Posted by oldman2005

As a Rolex consumer, you have little or no choice:

- Rolex only allocates single digit of number of its SS sports ie 2-4 BLRO, 2 SS Sky Dweller,...With so little watches on the market you can't do much except:
- Stop buying Rolex SS sport watches.

If everyone just stopped buying grey market the problem would be solved. The problem started with demand increasing after a production slowdown. Rolex is making about 20-25% more steel watches than they did 6 years ago. The world population goes up about 1% a year. People are now too impatient to wait for a watch so they pay an upcharge to the grey market.

If people would stop buying grey mkt, prices would go down and you would see more watches at the AD’s. Rolex has slowly been increasing output, tons of current owners will scream bloody murder when this trend reverses and their watch values go down.

[Harry-57]

I won't stop using the grey market. It has been good to me. A very few current production watches go for a premium on the grey market. If people want to pay these prices they have every right to do so. The normal situation is that the grey market sells current production models at a significant discount. Right now, they can make bigger profits on a few hot models. Good for them.

[eco8gator]

Don't worry I think 45 is going to fix the problem for you. I have this bad feeling we are headed into a recession late 2019 through 2020+. Death by tariff...but at least we might be able to buy a SS watch (if we can still afford to:)).

[InitialAndPitch]

Originally Posted by uhren917

This IS NOT a free market, this IS a luxury market where Supply and Demand are not allowed to reach market equilibrium.

It is a free market obeying the laws of supply and demand sadly and this is what they look like. Rolex are free to produce and sell what they want and they have access to information. A bit of interference from governments in the disguise of tariffs etc. The consumer is informed, has access to resources and can choose to participate or not. Being a luxury market doesn’t make it less free.

This is what equilibrium looks like sometimes.