Reply With Quoteyup, I got told that too a couple of weeks ago.
Wandered into Watches of Switzerland at T3 Heathrow last week with a view to looking at the 42mm Explorer II, only to be told they no longer carry steel sports Rolex.
Bang goes the chance of getting one duty free then... :(
yup, I got told that too a couple of weeks ago.
uh?
I seem to be good at dumb questions but ...
Why ?
Last edited by bigbaddes; 23rd October 2012 at 22:25. Reason: can't type either :-)
Rolex have always been paranoid about the potential for falling residuals on their SS sports models. One sure way to protect against that is to prevent all forms of discounting.Originally Posted by bigbaddes
Sucky doo-daa.
I heard the same thing at T4 on Monday. Though they did have a white dial Milgauss which pre dated the new rules.
z
Blimey, I'd love to be in a business where you can intentionally throw away sales (what must be a quite a lot of sales, in fact) merely to retain prices elsewhere.
There are plenty in Dubai airport. Well there was last week
Only last week Rolex terminated their affiliation with my local AD. The AD had been a Rolex stockist for over 30 years. Service has always far exceeded that of the large jewellery chains like Goldsmiths. Such a pity Rolex has decided to take this path and drop the independents. I believe Omega is also doing the same thing.
Isn't/wasn't the "infamous" steel Daytona waiting list another example of the strategy?
______
Jim.
I managed to pick up a Rolex MilGauss 116400GV tax free in Guernsey.
No airports ADs were stocking Them (Zurich, Geneva, LHR-T5, etc)
Might be worth calling Mappin and Webb in St Peters Port and getting a £100 day return to Guernsey to save the VAT :-)
Mind you Omega have a special shop at T5 promoting the Bond association with their full range (tax free)
Always are, good selection as well, and always some cute filaminas serving there!!Mike
I have heard omega are taking watches out of certain shops and opening own boutiques
with more high end watches. looks like Rolex following the same strategy as my local gldsmiths also lost rolex franchise and then closed soon after
I was confused by the high end watches, who can tell me what is high end watches?
Thank you!
A little jeweller in my home town, Horsham, West Sussex, has just been given a Rolex Franchise. Opening next month. Yippee for me, not great for the long suffering wife!
I can't imagine a Goldsmiths branch would close just because it no longer stocked Rolex - they sell an awful lot more brands than Rolex for a start and have many successful branches that don't stock the brand (Goldsmiths are still a Rolex AD as a whole). Think it's more likely Goldsmiths head office decided to close that specific branch and shaking off stock / brands was just part of the run down process.
Last edited by Mr Stoat; 25th October 2012 at 11:53.
Which jeweller is that please, and do you know what other brands they stock?
(I live over in East Surrey so might pop over for a look when i get a free Saturday)
I don't know what Terminal it is, but I understand you can order a watch through Mappin & Webb and have it delivered to the terminal where they have a branch and get it at the reduced rate.
Has anyone tried Mappin and Webb at Heathrow - do they have any?
Mappin & Webb and Watches of Switzerland are under the same chain so it will apply to all outlets in Heathrow. As far as I know they are the sole supplier of Rolex to all Heathrow terminals.
Mappin and Web at LHR will hold an item IF they have it in. But certain watches (Rolex MilGauss for example), I was told, are never shipped to or sold at Airport Duty Free.
If you're visiting the channel islands though, they will ship and hold for you there :-)
Wakefields. They are having a open evening in November
Was is really much cheaper though? I was in Jersey this year, and the prices were not a simple case of UK RRP less the VAT.
They wanted £4500 for the new Sub-ND when the price I was expecting was £4150, for example.
I think Jersey have introduced their own VAT (but at a much lower % than UK)
Guernsey is totally VAT free.
did Rolex buy back the old stock?
Very useful if you can order in a Rolex watch they don't have in stock.
Has anyone actually done this or know of someone who has done this ?
Last edited by UKWatchGuy; 26th October 2012 at 10:16.
I'm in London City Airport right now, staring at a stainless Sea Dweller in the display for £6708. White dialled Milguass is £4291. Yauchtmaster £6541 plus a couple of 2-tones (sub and GMT... 7450 & 7200).
Full range of sports rolex in Geneva airport tax free this week.
Had both the white and black dial explorers.
First time i have seen so many tbh.
here in Gibraltar (not airport the main dealer) plenty of sports SS models always and no VAT but we have import tax which has recently gone down to 3%
of course you'd have to pay import duty when you return... unless you use the fishy pencil case trick....
Some people actualy put them on their wrist.
Why would you put it on your wrist - thats not what they are designed for - they are supposed to go in the safe!!
Surely if Rolex are getting the AD to remove them from sale to keep the prices high, then that is a form of price fixing - an illegal practice?
It seems that Rolex is charging an extortionate amount for their SS sport model and the discount makes it more palatable. Not any more!
I got told early in the summer that Rolex had stopped them at LHR and I'd now have to pay full price on the high street. I like the fishy Gib idea tho.
No - this was due to the number of movements Rolex could buy from Zenith and then modify - once they made their own 4030 movements and brought production up the waiting lists dropped.
The issue was the airport shops were discounting 20% off RRP - there is no duty free - it is essentially discounted, or VAT off for non EU customers and Rolex wants to cut all forms of discounting just like all luxury brands would love to do ;)
Last edited by Omegamanic; 27th October 2012 at 02:56.
It's just a matter of time...
Why were you expecting VAT off prices? - Jersey has sales tax instead of VAT.
- - - Updated - - -
Why were you expecting VAT off prices? - Jersey has sales tax instead of VAT.
It's just a matter of time...
They found plenty of movements, either Zenith based (4030, from 1988) or their own (4130, from 2000) , to put in TT or
precious metal to stick in ADs' windows when the punter wanted SS. In the late noughties, people were posting on this
forum that there were still long waiting lists for SS models. In fact, there are still posts enquiring if anyone knows an AD
with an SS Daytona in stock.
The waiting lists dropped as the watch fell out fashion with the non-WIS. Limited availability probably didn't help that.
______
Jim.
Dear OP and any interested parties
If you ring round the terminals at LHR and they have the model you want, let me know and I can pick it up for you.
As for my sins I work there, regrettably not in a watch related occupation.
Regards
Ben
Ps To any interested parties, I can email from work address to put your mind at ease and am sure a few members on here will vouch for my past form
Sorry, I meant to say 4130. Of course they put most of the Zenith movements in the precious metal watches as these had much higher profit levels - even after the 4130's came the waiting lists were still huge from most chains - it wasn't too hard to ask to see them and they were all full for quite some time - 5- 7 years was not a made up figure. Although there was always those who could get one at short notice.
I am not sure the watch has fallen out of fashion that much - just like most steel Rolex the price is fairly high - I have noticed at least three in the last week and I'm not in the city at the minute.
It's just a matter of time...
The guy that told me to order through M&W ordered a SS Daytona. That was about two years ago.
It's a decision by Aurum Group not Rolex UK.
This is the point. The stores offer the same price whether you are flying EU or ex-EU. If ex-EU you are buying duty free, if you are flying EU then you are getting a discount equivalent to the VAT saving.
If you were Aurum Group, and you were getting X number of 116610LN/V and X number of 116520, all of which you can sell at full price at your UK mainland stores. Why would you want to offer any, where you would have to give an unnecessary discount?
I agree, Fraser Hart now will not give interest free credit on Sports Rolex
Last edited by awright101; 28th October 2012 at 21:45.
What would piss me off is if I bought a new SS sports at the airport it wouldn't be too long before the same watch appears on SC for a lot less money!
Not on a Sub or GMT I would assume 20% off RRP would still be a great price I am sure - but then I am not about to do the math and see what SC's prices are ;)
It's just a matter of time...
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