Rot has not set in for Rolex secondary market prices in North America

roadwarrior

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https://usa.watchpro.com/rot-not-set-rolex-secondary-market-prices-north-america-say-us-traders/

Bob’s Watches is one of the most respected pre-owned watch traders in the United States, and 90% of its sales come from Rolex. Bob’s Watches‘ founder and CEO, Mr Altieri, is not seeing any sign of prices weakening in North America, where the company does 80% of its business. “I have to tell you that in North America right now you cannot go into any Rolex store and find any supply at all of their sports watches. There has been no supply and that is why there is still a healthy $10,000 premium,” he told WatchPro.


https://www.fratellowatches.com/you-asked-us-no-stainless-steel-rolex-watches-available/

When we asked Rolex about this during our meeting with them in Baselworld, they just acknowledged these watches are in high demand and that they were aware of the availability problem.

We suspect that Rolex is only delivering in very limited quantities to their dealers partly to fight the grey market. In recent years, Rolex has sent out letters to their dealers on how to prevent selling to (grey market) dealers and speculators. Drying out the grey market by not delivering your watches to dealers might be a solution, of course. But just like organizing a strike, you also hurt the innocent with these actions. Customers that walk into a Rolex boutique or dealer and get a ‘No’ if they inquire about a GMT-Master, Submariner or Daytona. Does that make the watch even more desirable than it already is? Perhaps that’s the case for some people, and they might go for a bi-color or more accessible model (e.g. Datejust) instead. But getting a no over and over again, what does that lead to?

Mystery
In the end, it remains a bit of a mystery why certain Rolex watches aren’t available. After all, they’re a company that produces so many watches per year in-house. Could Rolex perhaps, with all the bi-colour models in stock, limit production for those and increase production for all stainless steel? We will never know for sure as Rolex remains silent. Also authorized dealers (we asked a few) keep coming back with the same answer, that the demand is simply too high for these watches. We just hope that Rolex can solve this issue and start the delivery of their stainless steel sports watches. We’d love to see it for the new models, like the GMT-Master II with Pepsi bezel, but also for longstanding models like the GMT-Master II, the blue & black version of that watch, the Submariners, etc.

We are a bit reluctant to believe that the demand is too high because this has been going on for quite a while now, so measurements could have been taken during that time. We also fear that this is Rolex’s answer to grey market, but at what cost? Rolex makes great products, incredibly reliable and attractive watches, we hope they are able to fix this issue of delivering them to the end consumers.
 
Kinda reminds me of De Beers controlling the diamond trade. Both a challenge I can easily afford to stay out of.
 
Rolex and their shady business practices can go pound sand.


Sent from the White House on the tax payers dime.
 
I still love the brand and have 6 models now in the collection. I’m not going to be one of the angry ones because, plain and simple, business is business, even, in this case if it comes down to just not wanting to increase production. Remember, Rolex is a perpetual family trust. If it’s happy making $100B per year for the family, for whatever reason, then it has the unbridled right to do that. In the meantime, to the extent a particular model I want is scarce at retail, it’s Omega time for me!
 
No reason for anger, but I can see how people with several Rolex watches would be feeling pretty good because of what's currently going on. Hypothetically, I wonder if Rolex was flooding the market causing the value to be going in the opposite direction and the prices paid were dropping thousands, how some would feel. It wouldn't be hard to imagine those same happy Rolex owners possibly feeling a little different losing a nice chunk of change. No one should be buying watches for investments anyhow. I can see how the rise in value could be positive for many owners, but not too good for someone buying a Rolex for the first time.
 
There's plenty of reason to get annoyed with Rolex IMO... though product scarcity isn't necessarily one of them to me. ROlex is all about impressions (which is not to say their products aren't great) they want you to think its special to get one. The supposedly reduce production so you can't get one.

But they basically hold their ADs to ridiculous standards. They don't want them to sell watches to people from out of town, they can't advertise what they have. So a mom and pop jeweler in DeMoines might have 3 subs sitting but they can't advertise them and if they sell them to someone from NY they might lose their status.

Rolex won't let people have their hang tags so they don't re-sell. So you can be on a wait list for 7 years but then when you finally get your Daytona you're forced to keep it for two years.

it's no skin off my back really but I do think its poor form and if I were a Rolex fan or a retailer I wouldn't be happy.

If you can get mad at Invicta for inflating their MSRP you might has well get mad at Rolex for artificially inflating their value IMHO
 
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Market manipulation has been around ever since there were buyers and sellers for all things. Rolex sounds like a brand to stay away from at least for me. I'm not mad, just amazed at all this hype.
They are laughing all the way to the bank. There are many more worthy brands out there to consider.
 
The real issue is that people are to blame for wearing a Rolex to feel special and to flaunt wealth, instead of wearing it because they really enjoy the brand. Remember, Patek’s credo is that you don’t really own a Patek, but merely keep it for the next generation. I love Patek, but there’s a real head that can’t get through the door and it is meant to imbue every buyer with that sense that the watch is more important than just you, will outlive you and, if you can afford one, you must be special to have it. Rolex does not have a monopoly on attitude.
 
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