Audemars Piguet Boutique Preferred Clients

[Octagon Guy]

Hi all, anyone can shed some light exactly how one become a Boutique VIP? I know spending tons of money is the basic requirement but is there a guage of how much is the entry level and is spending the only consideration? And what are the perks that comes with this status? Also how does a Boutique client know for sure he/she is already in that tier? Does the Boutique inform you upfront?

[Commandopat]

Everything in life is tiered; I’d say you’re a VIP when you get what you ask for.

[APhound]

I don’t think it’s an actually that hard if you buy the expensive pieces, which aren’t very hard to get.
I know a guy who is definitely VIP now, can get anything, and he doesn’t know anything about watches. He was just willing and able to spend 350k on his first piece and that pretty much did it.


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[Vince_76]

They want your dollars. That’s it.

[Vivalas]

I see myself as an AP VIP client!

Unfortunately AP has yet to realise this

[eiesh]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

I see myself as an AP VIP client!

Unfortunately AP has yet to realise this

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[In-N-Out]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

I see myself as an AP VIP client!

Unfortunately AP has yet to realise this

As long as you identify as a VIP that’s all that matters these days

[GW44]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

I see myself as an AP VIP client!

Unfortunately AP has yet to realise this

"One day Rodney, we'll be millionaires"

[messikens]

Originally Posted by GW44

"One day Rodney, we'll be millionaires"

I see your Fools and Horses and raise you the "we're not drunks, we're multimillionaires"


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[GW44]

Originally Posted by messikens

I see your Fools and Horses and raise you the "we're not drunks, we're multimillionaires"


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Touché sir

[Michael1968]

Originally Posted by Vince_76

They want your dollars. That’s it.

Agree with you. Nothing to add

[Reign]

They’ll never tell you, you can tell for yourself when you’re there - your watch requests are filled and you get event invites.

A couple ways to get there, spend a ton upfront or gradually build up your collection over time so that your cumulative spend gets into the mid 6 figs and you also have relationship years under your belt.

I can’t speak for other brands but at AP, relationship, strength and duration of relationship absolutely has a meaningful role in your allocations.


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[mickyd329]

Originally Posted by Reign

They’ll never tell you, you can tell for yourself when you’re there - your watch requests are filled and you get event invites.

A couple ways to get there, spend a ton upfront or gradually build up your collection over time so that your cumulative spend gets into the mid 6 figs and you also have relationship years under your belt.

I can’t speak for other brands but at AP, relationship, strength and duration of relationship absolutely has a meaningful role in your allocations.


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This is as accurate of an answer as you're going to get.

[eonflux]

$$$$$

[Steele]

I feel that today it is a lot easier to get to the VIP status than over the last 2-3 years

you have less competition out there now with the FLIPPERS! thats a huge thing right now in your favor with the flippers SLOWING or STOPPING the Flipping because they are not moving the pieces quickly anymore! so I feel your coming into the market at a good time to establish that relationship.

@reign is correct on all of his points but you have to still put in the work and stay on your SA to keep the relationship fresh and let them know your always looking for pieces.

also be careful saying no to the hard to get pieces that are gonna be at the 100k or close to range or over! if your only fishing for the SS pieces then your gonna get moved to the lower end of the list with everyone and their mother looking for the same pieces

[TheHolyLuck]

There are 10 tiers. You start tier 1 as a « newbie » and you move gradually to tier 10 aka the « vip ». To move 1 tier you have to defeat the boss aka to buy a low in demand watch.
When you are in tier 10 you can die happy, knowing your life is finally complete. Be carefull every « high demand » watch you buy moves you 1 tier lower !!
At tier 11 you may ask to be part of the « special lottery » and maybe become manager at an AP house of your choice.
That’s the basic. Sometimes you have to draw « chance card ». Sometimes they are good, Sometimes bad.
But this story is for an other day folks !

[AvGeek]

If you're a VIP you know you're a VIP, you don't need to be told so.

[saltyandwet]

Originally Posted by Octagon Guy

Hi all, anyone can shed some light exactly how one become a Boutique VIP? I know spending tons of money is the basic requirement but is there a guage of how much is the entry level and is spending the only consideration? And what are the perks that comes with this status? Also how does a Boutique client know for sure he/she is already in that tier? Does the Boutique inform you upfront?

They are a store that sells products. Spending IS the only consideration. What else is there?

[Octagon Guy]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

I see myself as an AP VIP client!

Unfortunately AP has yet to realise this

Originally Posted by Reign

They’ll never tell you, you can tell for yourself when you’re there - your watch requests are filled and you get event invites.

A couple ways to get there, spend a ton upfront or gradually build up your collection over time so that your cumulative spend gets into the mid 6 figs and you also have relationship years under your belt.

I can’t speak for other brands but at AP, relationship, strength and duration of relationship absolutely has a meaningful role in your allocations.


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Very insightful

Originally Posted by Steele

I feel that today it is a lot easier to get to the VIP status than over the last 2-3 years

you have less competition out there now with the FLIPPERS! thats a huge thing right now in your favor with the flippers SLOWING or STOPPING the Flipping because they are not moving the pieces quickly anymore! so I feel your coming into the market at a good time to establish that relationship.

@reign is correct on all of his points but you have to still put in the work and stay on your SA to keep the relationship fresh and let them know your always looking for pieces.

also be careful saying no to the hard to get pieces that are gonna be at the 100k or close to range or over! if your only fishing for the SS pieces then your gonna get moved to the lower end of the list with everyone and their mother looking for the same pieces

Originally Posted by saltyandwet

They are a store that sells products. Spending IS the only consideration. What else is there?

I heard besides spending, there are other factors which I believe so. No one person who spend the same $1mil are the same. There gotta be something else they are looking at. Else how are they gonna prioritise the one timepiece (eg LE 250 Marvel) that both $1mil spenders are both looking to be allocated.

[psm11]

Originally Posted by Octagon Guy

Very insightful







I heard besides spending, there are other factors which I believe so. No one person who spend the same $1mil are the same. There gotta be something else they are looking at. Else how are they gonna prioritise the one timepiece (eg LE 250 Marvel) that both $1mil spenders are both looking to be allocated.

At that point they probably look at other metrics - job/industry, social media presence, etc. With FHB it was pretty clear he wanted important/popular celebs wearing AP. I imagine that trickles down and if two VIPs with similar spend want the same watch I’d imagine if one of them was a celeb or had a large social media presence they’d get it.


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[VogelPhoenix]

Originally Posted by saltyandwet

They are a store that sells products. Spending IS the only consideration. What else is there?

I'm fairly certain if spending were the only consideration we would not have gotten our 3 latest allocations (34mm ceramic LE, ceramic ROC and steel openworked). The watches are allocated by people, not according to a single number.

[mickyd329]

Originally Posted by saltyandwet

They are a store that sells products. Spending IS the only consideration. What else is there?

I will respectfully disagree. Relationship is just as important as spend IMO. Yes, they sell products, but PEOPLE sell them. If spend history was the main qualifier, I would have nothing to show for.

I've gotten a 15500st, 26574st QP, 50th 16202 Jumbo, 15416 CE, 77350 CE, 50th 15551st, and 15550st in the last 2 years. That's 7 allocations in a 2 year span. I've even turned out allocations. I've even suggested I purchase a CODE to strengthen my profile to get harder to get pieces and was told not to buy anything I didn't love.

My spend history before that was 1 ROO 42or and that was before they became a corporate owned boutique. All my AP purchases prior to that were through AD's. Clearly, spend history was not on my side. I do have an amazing relationship with my SA and boutique and I count my blessings everyday. To sum it up, it comes down to people. If you show true passion for the brand, respect for the SA and what they go through, and if you create genuine friendships, good things happen.

[watchman124]

Originally Posted by mickyd329

I will respectfully disagree. Relationship is just as important as spend IMO. Yes, they sell products, but PEOPLE sell them. If spend history was the main qualifier, I would have nothing to show for.

I've gotten a 15500st, 26574st QP, 50th 16202 Jumbo, 15416 CE, 77350 CE, 50th 15551st, and 15550st in the last 2 years. That's 7 allocations in a 2 year span. I've even turned out allocations. I've even suggested I purchase a CODE to strengthen my profile to get harder to get pieces and was told not to buy anything I didn't love.

My spend history before that was 1 ROO 42or and that was before they became a corporate owned boutique. All my AP purchases prior to that were through AD's. Clearly, spend history was not on my side. I do have an amazing relationship with my SA and boutique and I count my blessings everyday. To sum it up, it comes down to people. If you show true passion for the brand, respect for the SA and what they go through, and if you create genuine friendships, good things happen.

Your picture has two Ferrari's in your garage and you just rattled off like 8 watches. That is SPEND history lol. You are the exact profile of client AP wants. If you're not a nice person then yea of course they won't sell to you, but to say you've somehow built this otherwise amazing relationship in which someone's extracted half a million or a million dollars from you is off base. I believe it comes down to spend history and future spend capacity outside of variables like being an influencer, celebrity, athlete, etc. Which is arguably just another form of currency. But being nice always helps.

[mickyd329]

Originally Posted by watchman124

Your picture has two Ferrari's in your garage and you just rattled off like 8 watches. That is SPEND history lol. You are the exact profile of client AP wants. If you're not a nice person then yea of course they won't sell to you, but to say you've somehow built this otherwise amazing relationship in which someone's extracted half a million or a million dollars from you is off base. I believe it comes down to spend history and future spend capacity outside of variables like being an influencer, celebrity, athlete, etc. Which is arguably just another form of currency. But being nice always helps.

I don't understand how my cars has anything to do with spend history at AP?
The point of rattling off those allocations was to prove a point where I didn't have the SPEND history you speak of with AP in the beginning. You think I'm the only one that walked into that boutique with nice cars in their garage? Listen to yourself....

[In-N-Out]

Originally Posted by mickyd329

I don't understand how my cars has anything to do with spend history at AP?
The point of rattling off those allocations was to prove a point where I didn't have the SPEND history you speak of with AP in the beginning. You think I'm the only one that walked into that boutique with nice cars in their garage? Listen to yourself....

Haha I think he was just saying that while you claimed that purchase history isn’t the most important thing to become a VIP,, you have an anecdotal (personal) example where you did indeed spend a lot to get to a VIP status.

For the cars, he probably meant that the SA probably assumed you would be a heavy spender based on your other (expensive) hobbies, and that may have played a role in her treating you very well etc

[Vince_76]

Originally Posted by mickyd329

I don't understand how my cars has anything to do with spend history at AP?
The point of rattling off those allocations was to prove a point where I didn't have the SPEND history you speak of with AP in the beginning. You think I'm the only one that walked into that boutique with nice cars in their garage? Listen to yourself....

You just substantiated Watchman124’s point. Your spend would put you in the top echelon… and such a spend is even more impressive in such a short amount of time. Your cars matter because it’s another input into the SA sizing you up and getting to your customer lifetime value. Your spend in such a short amount of time also goes to this aforementioned point.

It’s a business at the end of the day - cash is king and I’m sure big spenders have a lot more leeway. Of course there are fringe cases, but cmon. They dangle the carrot and know what they’re doing. Pay to play unfortunately.

[Henrimontgomery]

Food. As soon as you arrive they bring food.

A friend of mine is a VVIP and when I go with her, the staff scrambles to bring out food, which I didn't even know they had.

[lucasalce]

Originally Posted by Henrimontgomery

Food. As soon as you arrive they bring food.

A friend of mine is a VVIP and when I go with her, the staff scrambles to bring out food, which I didn't even know they had.

Food? That's actually super cool haha.
I don't think nuts and mini cakes count as that's the kind of stuff I receive when visiting.

[Octagon Guy]

Do VIPs still have the need to express interest on any watches? Or do Boutique just call to allocate?

[GTS-R]

Any chance of ever getting a ceramic anything as a second watch?