The Watch Appreciation Thread - Part two (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger LeCoultre,

[mimo]

Happily volunteers

What colour, Buffy?

Any sweepstake bets on how many months/years they will quote me in this desert corner?

 

[tigerpac]

^Easily over a year... but will they say over two years?!? The drama!

 

[Keith T]



Anyone have a spare $45K to give me for the Hodinkee VC? Glad it's so expensive that it's not a temptation.

Yeah, not to mention there's only, what? 36 of them being offered.

Tasty, though. Especially on the brown strap for me.



Re: wait lists, I've only been on two, both for SS Daytonas.

One of them, I got the call in about 3-4 months time and jumped with my credit card info as soon as I answered the phone.

The second one...I'm still waiting LOL. And I have to say for that one that I want to see it on the wrist before purchasing.

 

[bigbadbuff]



What colour, Buffy?  

Any sweepstake bets on how many months/years they will quote me in this desert corner?

White... thanks for checking

 

[Omega Male]

Re wait lists, can only relate my own experience here in London.

Called the Rolex boutique on Bond St. about 15 minutes after the ceramic Daytona announcement last year. Put down 10% deposit. Was told I was #3 for a white dial.

Since then, crickets. Checked in last a few months ago and the sales person said I was now #2. Whoop de do.

Asked how long the list was at that point and they said it was in the thousands. They also said Rolex HQ had specifically told them not to close it. Assuming they are still requiring deposits (which I don't know to be the case), one could argue Rolex have hit upon quite a neat negative interest rate financing structure.

Anyway, later talked to one of the bigger London grey dealers, who said he'd picked up several 116500s that were immediately flipped by customers of WoS (which runs the Bond St. boutique). Asked how they were coming by them and he said he just assumed they bought a few gold Day-Dates that day too.

So it's the same old story.

 

[BLAUGRANA]

Perhaps a stupid question, but is the deposit refundable on a Daytona?

 

[Omega Male]

Yes, absolutely.

I'm moving back to the States in June and will let it ride until then. Really not too exercised about whether or not I get the watch in the end, but the experience hasn't made me think any better of Rolex in general.

 

[Dino944]

About 3 months ago, I went to try on some watches to see some stuff in the metal and whittle down my list of potential wedding watches(oh to be young again; the sky was the limit before I knew how much a ******* florist cost). I was able to try on most pieces I liked, but was told by the employees of Wempe NYC that there was an absolutely 0% chance I'd be able to get a BLNR before my wedding in June. The vibe from other NYC ADs was similar. I bet things have calmed down a little since then, particularly with the rumors of a ceramic coke, but I was still shocked. I think it's just such a high traffic area that nary a day goes by that they don't have a potential buyer in the store. The same cannot be said for smaller ADs in lower traffic areas.

I'm not quite sure what your point was in reference to the ADs saying that they couldn't get you a BLNR before June...and then saying "Its a high traffic...nary a day goes by that they don't have a potential buyer in the store. The same cannot be said for smaller ADs..."

Personally, I've never had luck with NYC dealers be it in terms of allocations or pricing. I've always done better both in terms of availability, shorter waits, and pricing outside in NYC.

I remember when I just started to looking for watch (a year ago?), one of the first thng I wanted to try was Sub no date, went to Rolex AD, told me they don't have any, not even display model to just try. Walk across the street to Wempe, the guy showed me and offered me discount without I even ask, so I guess the lesson is I have no idea...

Where I live you can walk into just about any Rolex AD and find a ND Sub, a Sub Date, an Explorer, Explorer II, black bezel GMT, Milguasses, and some form of SD. BLNRs, pop up occasionally...Daytonas I never see in the show case. As someone mentioned a few places do keep one or 2 hard to get watches in the back just in case a high roller or good client stop in to make a purchase.

Is it true they don't get commission on certain watches at the Rolex AD?

I've never heard of that.

Oh, I'm sure it does. Still then they should be allocating them better. I'm sure there's a lot of factors into how they're allocated, but I would think they could improve on that and that's not to mention the production end.

Allocations do depend on the size of the store, and I believe on sales goals being met. Years, ago a friend who worked at a large AD for high end brands VC, Rolex, JLC, Panerai, Lange, etc...said that when they are doing really well, Rolex would send them an extra Sub Date, Kermit Green Sub, or steel Daytona. Sort of as a reward they would be sent the easy to sell watches. He said, if you weren't doing well, they might send you some jewel encrusted stuff that would sit in your inventory or other pieces that were tougher sales (like a Rootbeer GMT...now people like them, but years ago no one wanted them.

Exactly what I would expect: let's not forget that Rolex in particular manages a deliberate scarcity of popular and new models - and the cheaper and more celebrated they are, the scarcer they need to appear to maintain their prestige value. There is definitely some truth in that every AD has a limited allocation, and that they are supposed to sell them in order to those on the waiting list. But there are a lot of variables in that: plenty of customers put down their names to either flip the watch, or in the hope that they might buy it. As Dino said, when the AD calls and says "now", a lot drop out. Some ADs also reserve one or two for regular big-ticket buyers just in case they want one. Often, they don't - but they'd be annoyed if they had been forgotten.

I don't think there's any doubt that it might take a few weeks or even months to get a new Daytona. But years? I suspect that the line will shrink very quickly if you're ever actually in it!

I've heard the deliberate scarcity/prestige thing before, but one could say that about any brand with hard to get pieces. Another factor is Rolex has a bigger margin on their gold or gold and stainless watches, so they would rather put more Daytona movements into gold ones or gold& steel ones.

There have been limited allocation of the hard to get watches for years. With respect to Rolex I've been on several wait lists several times for steel Daytonas in the past and for Green/Kermit Sub (when it was new). Back in late 2004 the the small dealer near me who took $500 deposits to limit the number of wannabees on the wait list who don't actually buy when they get the call, said he gets on average an average of 1 Green Subs per month and 1 steel Daytona every other month. I had my Green Sub in about 5 months and my steel Daytona in 11. That was when the Daytona with the inhouse movement 116520 had been on the market for nearly 5 years. He had said the list for Daytonas was longer, but sometimes when a Daytona arrives and he calls the person, he might have one with a white dial and the person on the list only wanted black...so that also affected when people got the call, and if he got another white one and not black...that person might still be waiting until a black one did come in. He said, sometimes Rolex sends what they send regardless of what he might want to order or have a wait list for.

I was also on 2 wait lists for the 16520 Steel Daytona in the 1990 ....one dealer I was on their list for more than 2 years and never got the call. Then I got on to a list and eventually did get a call in under a year, because the 4 people ahead of me couldn't be reached or didn't have the funds. Those were also in the days when one could flip a new SS Daytona in 24 hours and make a 50-100% profit selling it.

Things changed with the 2008 economic crisis...and because Rolex Daytonas were approaching $10K . One dealer told me anytime you hit major price barriers like $10K, 15K, 20K etc...the number of potential buyers who can afford a product drops off drastically. Back in 2009 when the economy in the US was bad and dealers weren't selling lots of luxury watches, my Dad called the same AD, they had gotten in a new steel Daytona white dial, and he was even able to get a 5% discount on it. In addition, by then it had been on the market for almost 9 years, and it was rumored production had increased with the 116520s because Rolex wasn't dependent on chronograph movements from an outside source (as they were with prior models).

I believe waiting list of 1-2 years are legitimate for now. Whether it will remain for a long time as they did with the 16520s (basically its entire production there were waiting lists), or whether the waiting list will shorten drastically after the watch has been in production 2-3 years (due to its higher price than the last model, possible large production), remains to be seen.

 

[Texasmade]

So bottom line, unless I'm a high roller I'm not getting a SS Daytona anytime soon for msrp. Maybe I'll just save up a little longer and make a trip to London for an AP RO chronograph.

 

[Keith T]

Plenty of us "low-rollers" still like the non-ceramic version But yeah, I'd like to get the new one. And I'm on a list. Or two.

I think one of the fun parts of this hobby sickness is "never being content" LOL.

Certainly a RO chronograph would be a fine consolation prize for most!

 

[Dino944]

So bottom line, unless I'm a high roller I'm not getting a SS Daytona anytime soon for msrp. Maybe I'll just save up a little longer and make a trip to London for an AP RO chronograph.

RO Chronograph is a great watch. If I were getting another RO, I'd give one some serious thought. If you have the patience, and a SS Daytona is what you want, then chase one down. That's what I did years ago, and they were much harder to get in the 1990s than in recent years. If I were traveling, I would find out where the nearest Rolex dealers would be and visit them. I got on some lists and some didn't work out, but you only need it to work out at one place. Over time I had it work out more than once. Good luck and happy travels!

 

[Texasmade]

As long as there's no waitlist for a RO chrono! And hopefully a decent discount off msrp.

Certainly a RO chronograph would be a fine consolation prize for most!

 

[Michigan Planner]

For the past couple years I had been searching for a quartz Heuer 1000m diver (980.023). Most every one I came across had either a horribly beat up dial, hands that appeared to be falling apart, a movement that had seized up completely, or a combination of the three. The few that I found that did appear acceptable turned out to be in bad condition upon closer inspection or ended up selling for much more than I was willing to pay. While looking at a thread about Omega or something on WUS, I saw somebody post a picture with a Heuer in the background that seemed to fit the bill. I reached out and found they had had it serviced relatively recently and had the hands re-lumed. The bezel was in great shape except that it was pretty faded (it's much more grey in person than the pictures below make it appear). The best part: they were local to me and open to a trade!

So after some negotiating, it's now on my wrist!

 

[roomiller]

I'm not quite sure what your point was in reference to the ADs saying that they couldn't get you a BLNR before June...and then saying "Its a high traffic...nary a day goes by that they don't have a potential buyer in the store. The same cannot be said for smaller ADs..."

Personally, I've never had luck with NYC dealers be it in terms of allocations or pricing. I've always done better both in terms of availability, shorter waits, and pricing outside in NYC.

I meant simply that there is a lot of foot traffic, so they are less reliant on their (probably massive) waitlist. There is a high probability that a random shopper will stop in on the day they receive the shipment and walk away with the BLNR, while #1 on the waitlist continues to twiddle their thumbs hoping for that phone call.

A sale in the store in worth 2 on the waitlist, or however you'd shoehorn that phrase into this situation.

 

[Michigan Planner]



A sale in the store in worth 2 on the waitlist, or however you'd shoehorn that phrase into this situation. 

One on the wrist is worth two on the list?