Rolex should follow Apple's lead

[Rolex addict]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

i will never buy an AP again and a big part of it is the brand owned boutique model that they are moving to. I dont want to only buy one brand and i also refuse to build relationships with multiple sales outlets. I dont buy a lot of Rolex but i buy a lot of watches and as a result i got my AD's first BLRO in central london. No way that happens with a brand owned boutique as im not a mono brand purchaser. I would probably not buy another Rolex again.

A bad experience with the brand owned boutique and you get turned off of the brand entirely. Bad experience with an independent AD and you find another AD and your brand experience is not necessarily ruined. So its a lot more pressure on the brand to be customer facing.

Rolex in general is getting off pretty easy with the shortages as the blame is being projected onto AD's who have no control over how many watches they get or when. Why in the world would Rolex want to jump in front of that? Even your post is blaming the AD and implying Rolex could provide you watches, they wouldn't as they want them to be scarce.

Plus in my experience the politics of dealing with the brand directly is far worse than any games AD's play as those are small by comparison. Other brand owned boutiques i know of have flat out said buy a 250k watch to get a SS rare watch and thats the brand saying that, not some AD. They have way more leverage as they are holding all the stock themselves and are not competing with AD's so you can't shop somewhere else if you wanted.

I was pretty much told by an AP boutique that there isn't a snowball's chance in Hell I'll ever get a 15407. Not their exact words, but exactly what they meant. I love a few of their models, but not enough to deal with that.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by Rolex addict

I was pretty much told by an AP boutique that there isn't a snowball's chance in Hell I'll ever get a 15407. Not their exact words, but exactly what they meant. I love a few of their models, but not enough to deal with that.

Relax Chad. The next step after boutique is online factory direct orders. You should be able to order one up from the factory well before that snowball rolls all the way down the hill to hell.

[Rolex addict]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

Relax Chad. The next step after boutique is online factory direct orders. You should be able to order one up from the factory well before that snowball rolls all the way down the hill to hell.

If I get one ok, if not ok. There are many other cool watches out there to buy.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by Abdullah71601

Relax Chad. The next step after boutique is online factory direct orders. You should be able to order one up from the factory well before that snowball rolls all the way down the hill to hell.

my guess is its stuff that sits on AD's shelves currently that will be available online. I would be shocked if you could order a WL piece over the internet as a simple queue removes all their leverage to make you buy a certain amount of watches first.

Millenary yes... 15407 probably not

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by Rolex addict

I was pretty much told by an AP boutique that there isn't a snowball's chance in Hell I'll ever get a 15407. Not their exact words, but exactly what they meant. I love a few of their models, but not enough to deal with that.

yep. I probably have the AD relationship to get one if they sold them to AD's. With the brand directly, not a chance.

[dysert]

My intent for the post has been met by each expressing your perspectives. I can’t disagree that the current state of the world economy has played well for the Rolex approach. And as was pointed out if they were not a trust and answered to shareholders they would be doing everything they could to satiate market demand. For those with shareholders the list is growing on the company store approach, Tesla as an example but they see their customers to be the end user and not the dealer network. Keep the opinions coming I enjoy and learn from your responses.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by Rolex addict

If I get one ok, if not ok. There are many other cool watches out there to buy.

You need a PP 5208p to go with your platona.

[Burlington]

Originally Posted by 79280_116520

Rolex is a luxury goods brand. Apple is a "consumer" goods brand.

Fully correct - iPhone/Apple is ubiquitous. Rolex isn’t.