Great AD and watch too. Enjoy Andy.
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That is an absurdly short-sighted way of selling because they will never get any new customers! I find the arrogant attitude of both Rolex, as manufacturers, and that of the dealers, a real turn-off as they play their customers for entry-level Rolexes. I'm not playing their game.
I must admit I'm not enjoying the experience I've had trying to buy a BLNR from the UK AD network. I may be a nobody but there's no need to make me feel like one! :-)
You say that but why would they act any different? Certain models are hard to come by and AD's are limited in what they get so it makes sense to supply to regular customers who actually spend money with them ongoing. A few of these models are being bought to just to sell on at a profit. The AD I use gets dozens of calls from people all over the country who just want the latest model that's hard to get hold of. Far more logical from a business point of view to sell to someone they know will come back for other things.
You might not be prepared to play their game, others will.
The fact is all of these shops are individual, independent businesses and each is run in its own particular way. Neither are they affiliated with Rolex. So we can only make limited generalisations about them.
That said it generally doesn't hurt to make friends with your local dealer and pop in every so often for a chat and try on a couple of watches. If you are a known face as opposed to a complete stranger off the street, they'll probably make that much more effort to get you the watch you want.
I'll be picking up a blnr next week from a local AD I've bought from numerous times over the years. I was first quoted upto nine months wait but it's been around eight weeks.
I called at least 30 uk ads to no avail I ended up buying second hand
I was unwilling to wait
I didnt have such a positive response from Tarratts when as a new customer to them, I asked if I could be placed on a list for the new SD43.
"with the likes of steel Daytona, GMT BLNR, DeepSea Blue etc, a customer has to establish a relationship with Tarratt with jewellery purchases before being invited to purchase one of the super-desirable Rolex Professional series."
I took my business elsewhere
Can I just ask, was this on the phone or in person?
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This is a direct quote from an email just after It was announced.
I had been into the store prior to this to register my interest if the watch was announced and followed this up with phone calls and exchanged emails a number of times prior to the watches actual release
Agreed but far more logical from a business point of view to make a few more watches and sell them to people who have the money to buy them.
I do understand the Rolex model of making the brand more exclusive by making the products hard to buy but just by upping production by 10-20% they would keep their exclusivity and not loose sales to their competitors.
Old ground I know, this has been discussed many times on here and Rolex seem to be doing ok so what do I know.
I'm not a big Rolex fan, I don't own one, but if it were me buying I wouldn't play their game.
I want to pick a new Subc Date up for my 30th birthday in April 2018.
Is it worth going onto an AD list now or do I risk alienating myself by being offered one too early and not being in a position to buy at that time?
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Without doubt, as I said I fully understand the logic.
My point was they aren't selling as many watches as they could now when people want them, the argument about it affecting their standing as a premium brand and their future sales would remain to be seen.
D M Robinson Manchester has on display today:
GMT 116710LN
Explorer
Air King
Deepsea 116660
Wow, now that's poor service.
"Yes, we sell Rolex watches sir"
"Ok, can I buy one please?"
"There's a waiting list and you'll need to pay a deposit"
"That's fine, I'll do that then"
"Sorry sir, we don't know you as you haven't been here before, so we can't sell to you"
They sound like a bunch of snobby tossers to me. Like Windsor Bishop in Norwich.
If you were running a business, and some goods were in short supply, who would you sell them too.....established, long-term customers, or total strangers?
It also depends who you speak to in the AD. I was told the same no, we only deal and prefer our existing clients whom we have a relationship with. However, another sales person from the same AD was very welcoming!
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Just put my name down today for a blnr told 2-3 year wait.
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Well, that's your problem, not theirs.
I'm not a watch dealer, but I would guess that the clientele follows the usual sort of power law: 20% of the customers are responsible for 80% of sales. It makes sense that they would prioritise that 20%, even if it's annoying for you—but of course you can just go to another dealer.
There's always advice on here about how Rolex should be running their business, should up production, should sell more and shouldn't alienate customers by not supplying the watches they want. With so many people not prepared to play the 'Rolex' game it's a surprise they are still in business 🤔
How many of the top 10/20 selling watches in the U.K. are made by Rolex? Mr M will know 😜
There are lots of other Rolexes in the range which an AD will be delighted to supply just as fast as he is able, never mind a shop-full of jewellery and other watches in most instances. One may thus build a relationship. It is potty that so many hope to start a relationship with an AD by walking in and making a gloriously one-sided series of purchases of only the rarest and most financially worthwhile models.
Even grey dealers commonly have to take a few watches they aren't to keen on in order to pick up some more desirable pieces.
The expectation that one should without any prior relationship be able to demand immediately a model whose supply is limited and which is so popular that it can be resold for more is rather unrealistic. If you manage it, you're lucky. If you don't, it is no more a right than it is that you have Sky television, three holidays a year, season tickets and a dog.
Sometimes one must step into the real world from the unrealistic world of watch fora.
The last figures I saw confirmed that the top 20 best selling watches over £5,000 in the U.K. were all Rolex models. Some of those commenting in these threads must be wondering how the company gets it so wrong year after year and why it doesn't learn from such failure.
H
You do need something to catch the AD's attention. I managed to get a SD50 yesterday from an AD I've never dealt with before, but it was part of a 4 watch order, the other 3 were all bi-metal models. The other 3 watches were for work collegues / business acquaintances so see if you can get a few people together who want a Rolex and take the reins and do the deal with an AD. If I had ordered just the SD50 I would be right down the list.
I had a similar experience with them. I had purchased with them before but only a Tudor black bay, probably the cheapest watch in the shop. I phoned them on the day they announced the new sea dweller to be put on the list, which I was. I then went to the shop a few days later just to make sure.
Fast forward a couple of months, when I went in to enquire where I was on the list I was told, after asking three times, 15. I said how can I be so far down when I contacted you on the day it was announced.We have customers that have spent over £50,000 with us and they go above you.
I left feeling rather unimportant and don't really want to go in there again. I think I might be even lower next year as anyone who has spent more than me will get priority, regardless of when they ask.
Not the feeling I was after buying a new watch.
Neil
I used to work very near Bond Street throughout the 90's and 00's and bought and sold about a dozen various submariners, Seadwellers, LV's - etc - all brought brand new from AD's over that time. And I didn't ever go on a waiting list, I just used to have a look in the window of the AD's I passed a few times a week and buy the watch I wanted when it appeared in the window. Every now and again a member of staff would pop out and ask if they could help and I'd be told the watch I wanted was 'incredibly hard to get, there's a waiting list' etc, and within a few months ( I can't remember ever waiting long) one of them would have the watch I wanted in the window and I'd buy it. Ok, I was in an advantageous position because I could pop out for a sandwich at lunchtime and look in half a dozen Rolex AD windows on the way, but i was left with the impression the whole thing was a bit of a game and frankly a lot of smoke and mirrors. I have never wanted a Daytona, just don't like choronographs and didn't ever see a steel one appear in an AD window, so maybe that would have been an exception - but the whole waiting list thing is largely marketing nonsense imho. And threads like this show how effective it is! - and funny enough, having bought and sold so many I've now reached a point where I have zero interest in them. But I remember feeling really lucky and my pulse quickening when I'd buy a Seadweller straight out of a display case when I'd been told there was a 5 year waiting list a month before!! When that excitement disappeared so did my desire to buy them, so maybe it worked very well?!
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Im sorry but the situation is drastically different now. The UK is now effectively the cheapest place in the entire world to purchase a rolex, more so for tourists. Tourists are descending into London at record breaking numbers, it is now generally VERY Difficult even to get a submariner and it is NOT just marketing. If you were Rolex, are you gonna send your stock to the lowest reveneu country??? No. You restrict supply into the UK because you know it makes you the least amount of profit. I feel genuinely that most ADs in the UK just don't get enough stock, EVEN standard submariners. Sure there may be an element of "favouritsm" with clients but generally they just dunt have enough watches to sell.
The UK surely isn't the cheapest place if you happen to live here...because of the devalued pound. It's cheap for tourists as we turn ourselves into an international version of Poundland.
I think your logic is somewhat flawed - Rolex SA price their watches in Swiss Francs and get paid in Swiss Francs so it makes little difference to Rolex SA what the UK price is. I can see that there is some logic in Rolex limiting supply to the UK to stop sales leakage which would otherwise go to other overseas markets and I myself have experienced the difference in availability in other overseas markets.
There is no doubt that tourists are finding the UK and London in particular as an attractive place to buy luxury goods - this will undoubtedly affect availability of popular models such as SS Rolex but I suspect the AD culling which Rolex have carried out in the UK over the last several years has had more affect on shipments (and product availability) than tourists.
Well I've just this afternoon picked up my BLNR from my local Rolex AD. Total waiting time was about 10 weeks.
Very happy but I'm going to have to shift something to justify this. Either my Speedmaster pro (new big box version) or my BB black ETA. Love both but the Speedmaster will probably be easier to buy again in the future.
http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/...psfzmdoooh.jpg
Rolex invoices retailers in CHF so to them from financial standpoint it is irrelevant if GBP is weak or not. The only party losing here are retailers therefore it makes sense for them to withhold stock hoping that Rolex might increase local RRP. It happened last year in November when many stores received an unexpected delivery from Switzerland.
Weak GBP however increases demand from foreign buyers and increases competition on demand side of things therefore watches appear to be not as widely available as in other countries because they sell faster.
EDIT basically this is roughly what chris56 said above but I responded before reading the rest of the thread.
I notice that a sd50/43 on chrono 24 has been well cut in asking price. Supply must be beginning to filter through.
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