There is no Rolex shortage

[Greg 59]

When companies like Bucherer can re-open their 2-storey boutique dedicated to the brand in the most exclusive part of Knightsbridge, London after a 3 month refurbishment, you realise that there is no Rolex shortage. The store is claimed to be the largest in Europe and the second most exclusive after the Rolex store in Dubai. You don't spend this kind of money plus the ongoing operating costs associated with running these outlets unless you get a serious amount of stock and are able to offload and recoup your expenditure quickly.
The simple fact is that you and I won't be sold to but those who have some form of celebrity or financial status can walk in anytime and get what they want.
Welcome to the New World Order.

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[MrPear]

It's business strategy. Not shortage.

[PJitz]

Yes, believe it or not Rolex is doing well.

[CharlesN]

Originally Posted by GregShakeshaft

there is no Rolex shortage.

I hear what you say .. And the store has many cabinets and they are all full of SS Daytona's and the new GMT II.

Now, If you believe that you will believe anything.

The refurbished store is quite a bit nicer than its previous incarnation.

I was fortunate enough to be invited by Rolex to the opening of the old Bucherer store on the same site. A fabulous champagne opening.

The store is in a VERY prestigious spot. Not where one would expect though. Most of the watch brand boutiques are on Bond Street in Central London.

This new store is on Knightsbridge almost opposite Harrods (A world famous upmarket department store).

I am sure they will do VERY well in that location.
The only problem is that area is very much so a tourist area (because of Harrods) and the vast majority of the customers will be tourists. It certainly was with the old butcherer shop on that site.
I pity the sales staff there as they are going to get asked literally 100's of times if they have the hard to get models. They are going to get driven nuts.

The Rolex Boutique in Bond Street is quite small in size, much small er than this new Bucherer and they get dozens of people in every day asking for the rarities.
I have suggested to them that they run a weekly sweepstake in store to see which sales member guesses nearest to the number of enquiries they get in a week. They should each put £1 in the kitty and winner takes all. That'll make some fun in-house.

Personally, I will carry on going to the Rolex Boutique - its a very friendly store and you get to become "friends" with the staff where there is little change in personell.

[jrs146]

Well it’s good advertising?!

[Rocket_Man]

I think Rolex is making just as many watches as in years past. They go to AD's as in the past. The difference is the hot watches never make it into the display cases. They are already spoken for, or held for VIPs, or sold out the back door for far over MSRP to grey market dealers. Even some DJ's don't make it to the display case. I think the effect here is that the margin that ADs make on average per watch is much higher than in the past. This is due to discounts that were once common on many watches are now almost non existent. And more hot watches that ADs can now sell out the back door above MSRP where in the past they used as bait for greys to off load slow movers at a discount. Not many slow movers any more. No discount need to be made to sell their stock. So AD's make more per watch now than in the past. So fancy refurbished buildings are not a problem.

[s7horton]

The AD’s I’ve spoken with are all selling more watches now than they ever have before. Just because the professional model isn’t in the case doesn’t mean they aren’t making money.

No one knows the numbers for sure, but I bet they move way more DJ’s (that are available or easily ordered) than any other.

[peterpl]

No shit. Everyone knows there is no shortage now. These guys are just flipping to their big gray dealers/customers and sharing in the profits selling to suckers like us.

They are making a killing on the gray market why would they sell to a regular joe like us? Money talks and bullshit walks.

[iliketime]

could always strike back, if everyone boycotted, and stopped looking,calling,asking. let them starve a little bit. it would be a massive concerted effort but it would be interesting to see. dont buy from any shop, ad or grey. vote with your hard earned dollars/rubles/pesos/francs/pounds/shekels/dinars/cowryshells

[Coolex]

Originally Posted by GregShakeshaft

those who have some form of celebrity or financial status can walk in anytime and get what they want.
Welcome to the New World Order.

It's a universal form of "sesame credit"

We will soon start to see those with 'social status' (whether celebrity, money, or social media influencers) have access to that which normal people will never.

[train-time]

It's pretty clear that the Stainless Steel Professional Series fans on the Forums and Internet are not part of the overall Rolex marketing plan in the big scheme of things.

[Jacobson]

This store is more interested in selling PM rather than SS.

[dxbtousa]

I visited the AD in Dubai - that you referenced and It was a lack luster experience to say the least. Perhaps I need to visit again, but needless to say they didnt have any professional models (apart from their wall display, which is not for sale) and also did not have any interest in trying to make a sale on something else.

Instead I went down to another AD and bought a YM40, built a relationship... and was recently offered the YM42 OF - so will stay the course with them..

[Starhutch]

That is a good looking store

[zaydans]

The issue is the supply chain. There is no shortage at all. It’s a mass produced product.

[Jamie1111]

Hour glass in Sydney are going to open a boutique in Pitt st within 12 months aswell by the way


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[askdanny]

Rolex are underpriced that's why they seem to be in short supply.

[GP13]

Supply is up from years past. The issue is those looking to make a quick dollar. ADs and flippers...

[jaySL350]

Originally Posted by CharlesN

I hear what you say .. And the store has many cabinets and they are all full of SS Daytona's and the new GMT II.

Now, If you believe that you will believe anything.

The refurbished store is quite a bit nicer than its previous incarnation.

I was fortunate enough to be invited by Rolex to the opening of the old Bucherer store on the same site. A fabulous champagne opening.

The store is in a VERY prestigious spot. Not where one would expect though. Most of the watch brand boutiques are on Bond Street in Central London.

This new store is on Knightsbridge almost opposite Harrods (A world famous upmarket department store).

I am sure they will do VERY well in that location.
The only problem is that area is very much so a tourist area (because of Harrods) and the vast majority of the customers will be tourists. It certainly was with the old butcherer shop on that site.
I pity the sales staff there as they are going to get asked literally 100's of times if they have the hard to get models. They are going to get driven nuts.

The Rolex Boutique in Bond Street is quite small in size, much small er than this new Bucherer and they get dozens of people in every day asking for the rarities.
I have suggested to them that they run a weekly sweepstake in store to see which sales member guesses nearest to the number of enquiries they get in a week. They should each put £1 in the kitty and winner takes all. That'll make some fun in-house.

Personally, I will carry on going to the Rolex Boutique - its a very friendly store and you get to become "friends" with the staff where there is little change in personell.

Yes and a very good time to have a W1 postcode if ADs are only allocating
to locals,,,

[Toivonen]

Originally Posted by GregShakeshaft

When companies like Bucherer can re-open their 2-storey boutique dedicated to the brand in the most exclusive part of Knightsbridge, London after a 3 month refurbishment, you realise that there is no Rolex shortage. The store is claimed to be the largest in Europe and the second most exclusive after the Rolex store in Dubai. You don't spend this kind of money plus the ongoing operating costs associated with running these outlets unless you get a serious amount of stock and are able to offload and recoup your expenditure quickly.
The simple fact is that you and I won't be sold to but those who have some form of celebrity or financial status can walk in anytime and get what they want.
Welcome to the New World Order.

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No. You realize there's no Rolex Shortage when ADs say "we got no one" but you find millions of them in the grey market, at a xxxx premium over the Official Retail Price.

[breitlings]

Out of curiosity. How long have you been following or interested in Rolex?

[Tavli3]

So out of curiosity what are they putting in this giant two story Rolex store? Can’t be Rolex watches!! They could do that in one 6’ long show case. Has anybody been inside yet?

Maybe it’s an iPix Rolex theatre where you go in and your surrounded by giant 3D images of all the watches you’ll never be able to buy!!

The new Rolex experience!! You can now at least see them at an AD.


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[Fleetlord]

Originally Posted by Jacobson

This store is more interested in selling PM rather than SS.

That's right.

The most frustrating thing to me at the moment is the WIS self absorbed attitude revolving around SS Sports Rolex.

OMG>>>>"How can the stores stay open without 10 Submariners in the case" ???!!!!!

Rolex WANTS to sell PM. The AD PREFERS to SELL PM. The general public will BUY PM.

Rolex has been underselling its brand for a while. As hard as that is to believe, the market is showing what people will really spend on Rolex.

I think that the potential was always there, but when offered pieces priced lower than their expectations, people bought those instead.

Now the availability of lower priced options are greatly reduced and the general public are spending MORE on Rolex...which makes everyone happy, except the WIS...

[eltonbalch]

Here’s a picture of one of their display cases...

[Tavli3]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

That's right.

The most frustrating thing to me at the moment is the WIS self absorbed attitude revolving around SS Sports Rolex.

OMG>>>>"How can the stores stay open without 10 Submariners in the case" ???!!!!!

Rolex WANTS to sell PM. The AD PREFERS to SELL PM. The general public will BUY PM.

Rolex has been underselling its brand for a while. As hard as that is to believe, the market is showing what people will really spend on Rolex.

I think that the potential was always there, but when offered pieces priced lower than their expectations, people bought those instead.

Now the availability of lower priced options are greatly reduced and the general public are spending MORE on Rolex...which makes everyone happy, except the WIS...

Agree Rolex and their ADs want to sell PMs. Only makes sense, bigger sale bigger profit.
But the public wants to buy PM? Not too sure about that. Why are the PMs sitting unsold in the cases and why don’t you see very many PMs in the wild?

So maybe it will be two stories full of PMs.


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[fsprow]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

That's right.

The most frustrating thing to me at the moment is the WIS self absorbed attitude revolving around SS Sports Rolex.

OMG>>>>"How can the stores stay open without 10 Submariners in the case" ???!!!!!

Rolex WANTS to sell PM. The AD PREFERS to SELL PM. The general public will BUY PM.

Rolex has been underselling its brand for a while. As hard as that is to believe, the market is showing what people will really spend on Rolex.

I think that the potential was always there, but when offered pieces priced lower than their expectations, people bought those instead.

Now the availability of lower priced options are greatly reduced and the general public are spending MORE on Rolex...which makes everyone happy, except the WIS...

Agree 100%

[Shaky]

In relation to a shortage I spoke to a Rolex regional manager recently. He told me something that came as a surprise to me....I hadn’t considered it tbh.

He was adamant that Rolex can’t make anymore watches as their factory is already running 3 shifts 24hrs per day !!

I have no reason to disbelieve him so that brings us down to which models are they making and do they keep some as sought after models and keep production low or is it just they can’t keep pace.

How many dealerships world wide and how many do they get per month ??


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[fsprow]

If demand was such that you could manufacture at full capacity, wouldn't you make the product models with the highest producer and dealer margins?

I believe so.

[Lemieux66]

With all this talk of Rolex wanting to sell proportionally fewer SS and more PM watches, I wonder if the next Baselworld will be a watershed moment, with the whole range going for TT and PM, with SS models dropped?

[Tavli3]

Not if they’re not selling. My AD has a rose gold oysterflex YM sitting the case for over a year now. What good is high margin if you don’t sell it. No sale equals zero margin.

And by the way it was offered to us at substantial discount and there’s another point against bigger margins.

By the way I think Rolex knows exactly what they’re doing. You don’t get to be king of the mountain by being stupid.


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