AD Selling out the back door? - Here’s pictures!

[Calatrava r]

Originally Posted by alex2812

C'mon all those who are yet apologetic to AD "practices". The problem does exist and the problem isn't being solved despite all the necessary paperwork and frameworks between AD's and Rolex in place. Just saying, the ORJA clearly states that it's allowed to be selling stuff only over the counter and yet there's plenty of evidence that it's widely not the case. You can easily google the Official Rolex Jewelry Agreement and check.

Surely Rolex benefits short term from increased turnaround of "non-SS" and "non-sport" models, however in the years to come there's a possibility that if the hype goes away any time soon they are gonna be left with a huge stockpile of grey inventory which will ruin the demand for AD's/boutiques and consequently erode the prices / revenues topped up with market flooded with 32** sketchy movements.

That's probably not gonna happen any time soon or at all, but Rolex does understand the core of the problem otherwise they would've not been leaning towards slowly shifting distribution model from AD's to boutiques, selling "Certified preowned" etc.

I'm not a frequent poster, but I've experienced the AD's "service" in the recent years. Obviously even the discourse of "building a relationship" is a scam. Luxury is about playing the wicked game of course, but generally speaking it's a dealer who has to build a relationship not vice versa. Once I was not even recognized as a returning customer by one of the London AD's although I was wearing the very same watch that I bought from them directly and it was one database query away to check it. Just mental.

All in all it's not the case that I would not able to afford to pay some premium or even engage in "bending" for the ADs but I'm simply choosing to refrain from this. As many enthusiasts I'm just keeping an eye on what's happening and opting to reward with my money more customer focused companies.

If there is a downturn in the Rolex market and they just become no longer the hot thing to many folks, what will happen is many existing owners will try to protect their "investment" and sell to the used watch dealers. The first sellers will do somewhat okay if they see the downturn coming months in advance. Used watch dealers turn their inventory very quickly and as soon as they have less "visibility" on where prices are headed, they drastically reduce what they will pay for used watches. It is always a win/win situation for the used dealers as they buy at the current wholesale market and sell at the current retail market and when prices are down the added volume makes up for the per unit actual dollar profit shrink. As is the case in any market, lower prices mean more can afford the product.