My beloved AD latest Rolex victim

[eus6267]

Originally Posted by tpool

I didn’t want to provide the location until the AD was officially dropped after the end of April. And I never said it was in Houston. They are a nice family & I hoped their efforts to negotiate with Rolex would be successful, but it seems to no avail. It’s the Huntsville location.
So those of you that want a good deal on DJs and such, (remaining stock) perhaps check them out. Those of you acting like vultures, pls show some class.


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That was a nice AD! I dealt with Jennifer there.

[ArtNouveau]

Originally Posted by tpool

I didn’t want to provide the location until the AD was officially dropped after the end of April. And I never said it was in Houston. They are a nice family & I hoped their efforts to negotiate with Rolex would be successful, but it seems to no avail. It’s the Huntsville location.
So those of you that want a good deal on DJs and such, (remaining stock) perhaps check them out. Those of you acting like vultures, pls show some class.


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Never been there but I’m familiar with them. Been there forever and one of the ever dwindling numbers of small town dealers. I am pretty baffled as to why RolexUSA seems to be dropping all of the smaller markets.

[ynos1000]

Amen, that's why i am so sad to hear this AD go, bought my first one there years ago :(

[ynos1000]

Originally Posted by tx02ag

Sorry to hear about the trouble parking. Not sure how recently it was but now they have reserved parking spots immediately in front and the thing just to the left is an entrance for a free parking garage. For me it has been a lot more convenient that navigating through galleria traffic and then the mall.

As a moderate spender, I think I am better served by smaller family owned places than the Boutique who has more whales to take care of. I don’t want to hijack the thread, but I have gotten many watches from smaller places while still waiting for my first call from the boutique.

Let me know next time you are in town. Would love to have a beer and talk watches.

Amen, that's why i am so sad to hear this AD go, bought my first one there years ago

[Sub-Marine]

Originally Posted by tpool

I don’t think he sold to “greys” and had a very strong customer base. The business has been in the family for multiple generations. And families of multiple generations were customers. I think Rolex is following other luxury brands with redirecting to large corporate boutiques thereby cutting out dealers. It’s sad.


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I just learned that on a similar note, a family run Rolex AD in the Northeast is no-longer an official AD as of 5/1. It's unfortunate as they've been an AD for a long time. I think you're right and Rolex is consolidating their ADs to urban, large-scale chain ADs, at the expense of the mom-and-pops.

[Waxtactic]

Originally Posted by Sub-Marine

I just learned that on a similar note, a family run Rolex AD in the Northeast is no-longer an official AD as of 5/1. It's unfortunate as they've been an AD for a long time. I think you're right and Rolex is consolidating their ADs to urban, large-scale chain ADs, at the expense of the mom-and-pops.

Which one if you don't mind me asking? I'm in Boston too and am curious which of our limited supply are getting the axe.

Thanks!

[shortsqueeze]

Originally Posted by Waxtactic

Which one if you don't mind me asking? I'm in Boston too and am curious which of our limited supply are getting the axe.

Thanks!

Ditto.

[Sub-Marine]

Hingham Jewelers.

They only have 12 watches left in their inventory, no steel professional, only PM and TT.

[Waxtactic]

Originally Posted by Sub-Marine

Hingham Jewelers.

They only have 12 watches left in their inventory, no steel professional, only PM and TT.

Haven't been there personally but any time we lose an AD in our area that just compounds the difficulties of any one of us finding something we'd like. *sigh.

[sond86]

Close to half the AD’s in the Northern California have been cutoff over the past 7 years or so. Several were AD’s for 40+ years too.

[platinum574]

Rolex is currently culling 1/3 of their ADs worldwide. The dealer that I spoke to who was closed was told by Rolex: "It was a business decision" .. Whatever that means.

[Kh114060]

Kind of makes sense though.

With the supplies where they're at. It would make more sense for Rolex to cut ties with some of these ADs and keep their own boutiques stocked.


Went to the boutique in South Coast over the weekend and some of their cases were completely empty.

That makes them look really bad imho.

[Calatrava r]

I would think Rolex closes a location because that store is not complying with their everchanging myriad of polices of who they can sell to, just locals, presentation of the watches, removing stickers, etc.

Rolex sends people out to visit the stores and grade them on all their compliance and overall ambience and presentation.

The resale market or gray market, as folks here so often call it, is mostly fed by retail buyers selling the watches to re-sellers for a quick profit. Only supply and demand can change that dynamic. Most watch companies like to see their watches selling used at a premium. They know they are in trouble when their used watches are being resold at heavy discounts. I do not believe any watch company can do much if people sell their own watches, at that point, for a loss or a profit. I can sell you a watch, but I cannot make you keep it. What you do with it once its sold and your property is your affair.

[SlideRacker]

Originally Posted by Kh114060

Kind of makes sense though.

With the supplies where they're at. It would make more sense for Rolex to cut ties with some of these ADs and keep their own boutiques stocked.


Went to the boutique in South Coast over the weekend and some of their cases were completely empty.

That makes them look really bad imho.

Don't worry about them. They’ll be fine. Most of their watches are gone before they ever hit the cases.

[shortsqueeze]

Originally Posted by Sub-Marine

Hingham Jewelers.

They only have 12 watches left in their inventory, no steel professional, only PM and TT.

That was my guess, sad.

[FrontHeadlock]

Originally Posted by Kh114060

Kind of makes sense though.

With the supplies where they're at. It would make more sense for Rolex to cut ties with some of these ADs and keep their own boutiques stocked.


Went to the boutique in South Coast over the weekend and some of their cases were completely empty.

That makes them look really bad imho.

But Rolex could allocate more watches to their boutiques if they wanted, right?

At the very least, a Rolex boutique could hold a set of watches as show pieces for appearances and so that customers could try them on.

[casadecamporolex]

Another fine jewelry business that as been selling Rolex for decades in Rochester, New York is no longer an AD. I bought several from this company over the years.
They are Mann’s Jewelers.

[s_haverford]

Rolex going to the botique model? My thought is that they are slowly phasing out some AD's in favour of standing up their own boutiques in the coming year.

[BillA]

I wonder how this affects the Rolex sales rep? Would think he/she is on commission.

[fjack88]

Originally Posted by Calatrava r

I would think Rolex closes a location because that store is not complying with their everchanging myriad of polices of who they can sell to, just locals, presentation of the watches, removing stickers, etc.



Rolex sends people out to visit the stores and grade them on all their compliance and overall ambience and presentation.



The resale market or gray market, as folks here so often call it, is mostly fed by retail buyers selling the watches to re-sellers for a quick profit. Only supply and demand can change that dynamic. Most watch companies like to see their watches selling used at a premium. They know they are in trouble when their used watches are being resold at heavy discounts. I do not believe any watch company can do much if people sell their own watches, at that point, for a loss or a profit. I can sell you a watch, but I cannot make you keep it. What you do with it once its sold and your property is your affair.

+1


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[18●20●22●▼●2●4●6]

Originally Posted by s_haverford

Rolex going to the botique model? My thought is that they are slowly phasing out some AD's in favour of standing up their own boutiques in the coming year.

I am hoping and wishing that too...

[Solo118]

Originally Posted by s_haverford

Rolex going to the botique model? My thought is that they are slowly phasing out some AD's in favour of standing up their own boutiques in the coming year.

Just curious, are there any boutiques that are fully owned/run by Rolex? I do know the one even in their own building in NYC is run by Wempe.

I do not mind them going the boutique route to keep things exclusive, but how about having some dummy watches on display (all models) and then having some sort of system where they order what you want and give you a delivery date to come back and pick it up (when not in stock of course!)

[Boothroyd]

The dummy watch idea would be great, but if you think it through, they would have to take cases, dials, bracelets out of supply to make those, which would limit actual watch production even further. Plus, they would never get their money out of those parts used to manufacture dummy models.

[Solo118]

Originally Posted by Boothroyd

The dummy watch idea would be great, but if you think it through, they would have to take cases, dials, bracelets out of supply to make those, which would limit actual watch production even further. Plus, they would never get their money out of those parts used to manufacture dummy models.

It would not need to go to every AD in the world, but if they had their own network of boutiques (1 in every large city for example)

the parts do not have to be 100% genuine, plated steel for the gold, etc. Think of the cell phone stores in the 90s

[HogwldFLTR]

I'm pretty certain that the closure is just part of doing smart business for Rolex. If an AD is a really high producer for Rolex it makes sense to reward them with greater allocation than a smaller dealer. With limited supply the extra allocation has to come from somewhere. I work in the semiconductor industry and have used pure play foundries for supply at times. During lean times we could get as much as we wanted however when times were good and there was high demand we got squeezed until we were bought out by a large company. Then we could get what ever we wanted.