earthdragon
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2006
- Messages
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Thanks Dino. Very informative...I wish that I had the watch bug when I lived in Hong Kong + 20 years ago. My first “nice” watch was a Breitling and IIRC the discount was 25 or 30%!Policies seem to be different around the world. In the US for example, at least years ago you could call an AD to see if they had the watch in stock, but you could not give them your credit card and purchase it over the phone and have it shipped. I had this happen once, and had to send a friend who lived in state to complete the purchase for me. In addition, in Europe it is/was common to for example purchase a different color dial or a different bezel and keep your old one. In the US, Rolex USA insists on keeping the old parts. In the past I've had dealers who did not care about taking off the protective stickers and they would give you the bezel protector. My last purchase, they insisted it was a new Rolex policy to remove all protective stickers. A few years ago I heard some one on a Rolex forum complain that to buy a new steel Rolex his ADs insisted on engraving his initials on the case back. IIRC, if you refused to have the watch engraved and you still wanted to purchase it, they would sell it to you, but they would keep the papers/warranty card etc...to be sure you were not buying and flipping it immediately.
As for discounts, no one in the US that I've dealt with in recent years was willing to discount a steel model. Years ago, I used to encounter some ADs that said Rolex insists on no discounts, other dealers would do a 5% discount if you asked (provided it wasn't a steel Daytona) and you could get larger discounts on two tones models and an even larger discount on all gold or platinum models. Another dealer I used to purchase from would have a tag on the watch with the MSRP and a second price that was a 10% discount on all steel watches (except steel Daytonas and green Subs, there was no GMT craze at that point). I think he did 15% on tutone and 20%+ on all gold. So in my experience, it all depended on the dealer and they kind of made up the rules as they went along.