1st time buyer...

[red.earth]

Hi All

I've just has the most dreadful 12 months of my life, but I've made it out the other side in one piece and to mark this moment I have decided to buy myself my first Rolex.

I've settled on a white faced Explorer II (the most stunning watch I've ever seen) and have been investigating the price. During my investigation, and if I'm wrong I'm happy to be corrected, I discovered that ADs get the watches at wholesale prices, add approx' 70% and then sell them on to customers. So, the ExpII currently retails for £3,770 but I understand that ADs pay just £2,200 or thereabouts.

Now, I don't mean to bash ADs as I presume that Rolex tells them what they are allowed to sell the watches for and if they get caught selling them for any less, they breach their contract. However, I think it's pretty criminal that Rolex enforces this. How can £1,500 profit on the sale of 1 watch costing less than £4,000 be justifiable, even if the sale took 8 hours?

I have discovered other sources of what appear to be genuine ExpIIs for up to almost £800 less that the RRP, but where does that leave me in terms of the Rolex guarantee? Could Rolex determine, via the serial number, that it was not purchased via an AD and refuse to honour the guarantee?

I have read on these forums of a few sellers which come highly recommended but is my concern about the guarantee valid? And I suppose the obvious one is how I could possibly know that what I was getting was not 100% genuine?

I am sure these are questions which many have considered and have been satisfied before but I would be immensely grateful for any comments which would help. This will be a one off purchase for me.

Final question - to have the back engraved, does it need to be removed and then replaced, pressure tested etc or can it be done with just the strap removed?

I welcome an education.

Thanks very much all.

Adam