Rolex buying "experience" has left me kinda sour

[6SpeedTA95]

Hi everyone, I guess I'm here to vent supreme frustrations with the whole "experience" of trying to buy a Rolex. I'm not definitely not the first with these issues but I guess it just kinda culminated into a crescendo this week and my frustrations have boiled over and finally reached the breaking point.

Been trying to get a GMT Master II for quite some time. Tried to get a Rolex 39mm Explorer locally the year I turned 40, that was a mess. I walked in about 9 months before my birthday, they had one on Display I knew sometimes there was a wait so I asked if it was available he said no, I asked to get on the list he said ok. He supposedly took down my phone number and my email. I followed up a few times and then it was discontinued.

I don't want a 36mm so I went into a holding pattern and just focused my efforts on a GMT. This guy never followed up, always wanted to show me Tag's, Nomos (I actually like Nomos) and a few others. I politely declined. Got on the list of the same stuff at another location because I was told even though it's the same dealer they treat each location independently.

So I got on the list for a 40mm Explorer when it was announced, as Rootbeer and a Batman. Every time I'm in I get asked to buy something I don't want, I get told it's the fastest way to "Move up the list". So I had a buddy make an introduction to the AD he uses a few hundred miles away. In short order (6 weeks) I had my 40mm Explorer. That was a good experience but the AD is quite small. Their number of display pieces is between 8 and 12 every time I'm in there, it's a tiny shop. But they're great to deal with. Needless to say I also asked about the Rootbeer and Batman.

I've since hit another career milestone that I planned to celebrate with a watch, the reason I got on the list for the Rootbeer! Needless to say no Rootbeer obviously.

This week on vacation we've visited a couple of Rolex ADs along with numerous other jewelers and watch shops. I've found several Rootbeers, Batman's and Pepsi's for sale. On a couple of occasions I've walked it down the aisle to see/gather information. The cheapest Rootbeer was $26,800, most of them were right around 30k. All the Pepsi's regardless of shop were $30k for the modern rendition, I did find a 10-12 year old piece that was 22k. The Batman's were 21-23k. One individual flat and told me his pieces are from an AD but he sells them and splits the profits with the AD, he offered to show me the warranty cards and the information on all the pieces as well as letting me contact the AD if we decided to proceed, that way I could verify warranty information. This is when I basically decided what the hell am I doing? On a list, trying to get a company to take my money? Being pushed all kinds of other garbage or getting told I can buy what I want at 60-80% markups? It's just insanity.


In the meantime I've found several pieces that I love, IWC, Zenith and Omega (Omega is probably my personal favorite to begin with) have some great stuff. All of these great pieces are available right now, the dealers actually treat you like you matter and like you're a paying customer. They break open champaign when you buy a new piece, they call you a week or two later to see how you like it, etc, etc, etc.

Most importantly the Omega piece I found is absolutely stunning and I know the place I normally buy my watches from will do it for a certain price. If they match it here I might do it to commemorate the trip with the family and my career milestone. I'd never seen it in person before this week but wow it's a looker.

Rolex needs to wake up, I know for a fact I'm not the only one that feels this way and they're turning off an entire generation of affluent buyers who value their own time and personal likes/dislikes and don't want to deal with bullshit. The watch company that's done a great job building a brand and building some timeless pieces along the way needs to get their AD network under control.