Submariners In The UK

[solesman]

Hi All,

last week I was in central London and popped into a couple of AD's and none had any steel submariners for sale, both date and non date versions. They said they're having trouble getting hold of them?? This strikes me as strange as up until now I would always see both for sale in window displays.

Also they seem to be selling above the UK MSRP of £5000 pre owned for the no date on chrono24 and watchfinder. Am I missing something here?

[davidsuffolk]

I live in East Anglia and wanted a submariner.
AD 1 "none and 5 people on our waiting list",
AD2 "Might get one in a month or so",
AD 3 "we don't keep a list but we hope to have one in next week"
They did get one in (and I bought it, so not too long a delay).
As you say, pre owned are selling for +new prices and I saw one non AD dealer asking £6500 for a new one. When I asked them why he said he had to pay over the odds just to get from Europe.

[locutus49]

I'm glad I don't live in England. SS Rolexes are allegedly scarce.

[solesman]

And there I was thinking I was going crazy! £6500?!?! thats insane!!
Rumours of a price increase too due to the weak pound I've heard to.It's been a long time since the Sub no date price was set at £5000.

Originally Posted by davidsuffolk

I live in East Anglia and wanted a submariner.
AD 1 "none and 5 people on our waiting list",
AD2 "Might get one in a month or so",
AD 3 "we don't keep a list but we hope to have one in next week"
They did get one in (and I bought it, so not too long a delay).
As you say, pre owned are selling for +new prices and I saw one non AD dealer asking £6500 for a new one. When I asked them why he said he had to pay over the odds just to get from Europe.

[RRGHOST1]

Everybody selling Rolex in the UK are pushing up the prices,they seem on a daily basis. Even Iconic Watches arn't selling the LV anymore, its crazy !

[solesman]

Why are steel Subs suddenly so scarce?

[AK797]

Yes, Brexit has meant foreign raiders snapping up stock all summer and with a price rise imminent some retailers are holding back stock or reserving them for special clients. It's why I bought my subc now as there is already an unofficial price rise here and actually a real one would calm the market down. We have a couple of threads here and on TZ-UK where members spot popular Rolexes and post where they are. It was how I found mine in darkest Cheshire.

[JohnGreen300]

My ad is the same, waiting lists but I was pleasantly surprised when he managed to source a hulk in around 2 months

[solesman]

I did hear rumours of that happening but thought the price increase was just general chatter and nothing that could really happen anytime soon. it'll be interesting to see if the price does go up. Be great for anyone who's thinking of selling theirs on.

Originally Posted by AK797

Yes, Brexit has meant foreign raiders snapping up stock all summer and with a price rise imminent some retailers are holding back stock or reserving them for special clients. It's why I bought my subc now as there is already an unofficial price rise here and actually a real one would calm the market down. We have a couple of threads here and on TZ-UK where members spot popular Rolexes and post where they are. It was how I found mine in darkest Cheshire.

[Matt748]

Pre ceramic models are £7000 plus
What's that all about, the market is going crazy at the moment here.

[Ravager135]

Sounds terrible. I walked into my local AD a few months back on a whim one Saturday and had my choice of the Submariner, Submariner Date in green and black, Sea-Dweller, and DSSD. They also had all the precious metal options as well. I walked out with the 116610LV. Didn't get much of a discount but they waived tax.

[Lemieux66]

Sterling has dropped against the Swiss Franc and Euro since the Brexit vote by double digits. There will be a UK price rise sooner rather than later.

Phoned a few Midlands ADs last week. One had a Sub Date and another had a No date. I bought the No date.

There seems to have been a surge in interest in the BLNR and Hulk too. In sure they aren't this popular a year ago. Scarcity must be hyping up demand making them more desirable. They're both £1500 over rrp in resellers.

[Shaky]

Evan....we can walk into any AD in the U.K. And have our choice of sales assistant laugh at us when we ask for any of those models just about and it's free, no discount needed on that service !!!

It not great in the UK at the min for a potential SS Rolex purchaser

[TG3N]

Originally Posted by Lemieux66

Sterling has dropped against the Swiss Franc and Euro since the Brexit vote by double digits. There will be a UK price rise sooner rather than later.

I agree - post-Brexit, the discrepancy really is getting crazy.

An 114060 Sub C No Date has a RRP of GBP £5,000 in the UK, circa €6,900 across the Euro Zone, and USD $7,500 in the USA.

However, with the Pound's decline, GBP £5,000 equates to just Euro €5,600 / USD $6,100, at today rates.

If you are an overseas buyer, and can waive the Tax as well, the savings are even more astronomical.

Coupled with no UK price rise since 2012, an uplift must surely be unavoidable.

I was hunting my Sub for nearly 6 months, with none in the UK AD window. I found some at Amsterdam Schiphol, but even with their famous discount they would have cost me more than UK RRP. Thankfully, I got a call whilst on Holiday, and literally went straight to the AD from my return plane home.

Good luck to all UK hunters!

[OmegaJJH]

Originally Posted by locutus49

I'm glad I don't live in England. SS Rolexes are allegedly scarce.

There's plenty of other reasons why you should be glad you don't live in England

[OmegaJJH]

Originally Posted by AK797

It's why I bought my subc now

Congrats on the incoming Neil

Personally I don't buy it.

When I bought my Sub C (3 years ago) they weren't available in any AD's either. Miraculously within 2 weeks they had one. (Exactly the same when I bought my DJ).

My friend bought a Sub C in London a couple of months ago and was told the same thing, 5 month wait yada yada. He put his name down at a few AD's.

Within a week he'd had several calls saying that they'd managed to get one in for him.

They definitely have the stock they just aren't displaying it so nothing has really changed IMO.

[CJ01]

I think the only thing to have changed is that this tactic was reserved for certain models and niw Deena to include almost all SS sports pieces. Weird.

[Devildog]

Its been "difficult" to get SS sports Rolexes in the UK for years. As above though, I'm not sure just how "difficult" it really is.

Its a very rare day you'll see a new Steel (or TT for that matter) Sub (date or no date) or GMT II in an AD's window in Scotland. SD's just as "rare" and te only Daytona's will be TT or PM. EXP II a little more common.

[4lx]

I was lucky enough to walk into an AD the day i purchased my ND Sub (March this year) and they happened to have one to sell straight away. They also had a Date. This was before i joined the forum so i had no idea there was such a thing as a waiting list and it all seemed normal to me. since then i haven't spotted one at any AD and just looking at prices for fun earlier and the same age ND sub pre-owned was £5.495 on one particular website. Crazy.

[mapalfa]

Not the Sub, but similar.

I'd asked at quite a few ADs about the Black Bay Bronze and been told there was none available. In the same way as I ask at any Rolex dealer I pass if they've got a cancelled-order Daytona C to sell, I went into a Tudor dealer and asked about the Bronze. The lady I spoke to said no, but one of her colleagues said yes. Cue loads of quiet, but angry, whispers and the manager got called over and he told the first woman to get the watch out for me. If Only I'd not thought it was too big I'd have been a happy bunny.

Moral of the story - I suspect there's more of them around than we think and that they're being held back by some people either for their regulars, for people willing to pay retail+ or for added margin after a price rise.

[AK797]

Originally Posted by OmegaJJH

Congrats on the incoming Neil

Personally I don't buy it.

When I bought my Sub C (3 years ago) they weren't available in any AD's either. Miraculously within 2 weeks they had one. (Exactly the same when I bought my DJ).

My friend bought a Sub C in London a couple of months ago and was told the same thing, 5 month wait yada yada. He put his name down at a few AD's.

Within a week he'd had several calls saying that they'd managed to get one in for him.

They definitely have the stock they just aren't displaying it so nothing has really changed IMO.

The big difference now is the falling pound, which is still falling, which means all the EU sourced watches like Iconic Watches and the like now charge more than retail so ADs are the cheapest way to buy, not resellers. Thus AD demand has shot up so there really are waiting lists and ADs playing preferential games with stock, and this is on a different level to previous years as it is systemic. And yes while stock is available if you hunt around, as I found one, walking into ADs, esp in cities, is now pointless and that is a crazy situation to have for 3 months now for Rolex's signature and iconic watch.

As I've said before it is better to have a price rise than all this nonsense... esp now I am sorted.

[strafer_kid]

Originally Posted by Devildog

Its been "difficult" to get SS sports Rolexes in the UK for years. As above though, I'm not sure just how "difficult" it really is.

Its a very rare day you'll see a new Steel (or TT for that matter) Sub (date or no date) or GMT II in an AD's window in Scotland. SD's just as "rare" and te only Daytona's will be TT or PM. EXP II a little more common.

Situation here in Northern Ireland sounds very similar. A few years back you would rarely have seen a Sub or SD on display, then earlier this year I noticed all of them along with some Explorers and GMTs including the BLNR. Over the last few weeks interestingly, they seem to have 'disappeared' again although this does beg the question as to how difficult these are to locate?

[Matt748]

Originally Posted by Shaky

Evan....we can walk into any AD in the U.K. And have our choice of sales assistant laugh at us when we ask for any of those models just about and it's free, no discount needed on that service !!!

It not great in the UK at the min for a potential SS Rolex purchaser

[Ravager135]

Originally Posted by Shaky

Evan....we can walk into any AD in the U.K. And have our choice of sales assistant laugh at us when we ask for any of those models just about and it's free, no discount needed on that service !!!

It not great in the UK at the min for a potential SS Rolex purchaser

That's not cool at all. Are ADs that snobbish in the UK? I mean I've seen and heard some pretty poor etiquette here in the states but if I ever walked into any dealer and they laughed at me when I inquired about one of the most popular models Rolex makes, I'd be pretty upset.

Huge generalizations ahead, but I've never been to an AD that didn't have at least several Submariners, GMT-Master IIs, etc in the display. The only watch I have never seen in a display case was the stainless steel Daytona. I have seen plenty of two tone and precious metal options.

[RRGHOST1]

Nothing to do with Brexit, its been the same for years. Haywood Milton says there IS a price rise on the 1st November !