Visited ADs in Calgary, AB Canada this week - great selection

[Suzy Cruisy]

Hubby and I were in Calgary for vacation with an afternoon to kill, so we decided to go gawking at some ADs in town.

The first place we went was called Brinkhaus and it was such a cool experience I decided to post about it. The jeweler is in an old stand-alone two-story house. You have to be buzzed into the front door, and then you're greeted by an actual person who assists you. Very old-fashioned like.

But not only was the service very different, once we were shown upstairs to the watch section by Deven Angne, our assigned sales associate, we could hardly believe our eyes. It was by far the largest Rolex selection we'd ever seen in one place (and we've been to a lot of dealers of late... including a bunch of the largest ones in LV). And, not only that, they were all displayed beautifully with little signs telling you what you were looking at.

Super impressive, and just fun to try the experience even if you DON'T plan to buy in Canada. The card also says they are a service center for fine swiss watches, a goldsmith, a jewelry designer, and gemologists. And they have a second location in Vancouver (although I have no idea what that one looks like).


The second AD was a whopping block from our Westin Calgary hotel - J Vair Anderson Jewelers. Amazingly, we were assisted by the owner, Ken Anderson, himself. We walked in wearing our Omegas (because we decided to leave the Rolexes at home for the vacation) and started looking at them first. As we moved to the Rolexes he was making noises about how we could get into a steel one for $5K or something as if Rolex was way beyond our budget. Then, as soon as I mentioned the model I had he changed tunes and started talking to us enthusiastically about all the different models.

Hubby was super impressed that he whipped out a solid everrose gold Day Date II without being asked to try on.

And he also volunteered that he'd knock 15% off any listed price when we were looking at the two tone models without even being prompted. We thought that was interesting.

So, he had a lot less inventory, but it was fun talking to him.


All that said the prices in Canada are inflated (and exchange is nearly dollar for dollar now, so there is no reason for Canadian prices to be higher). Plus there is GST tax and duty on bringing it back into the US, so we'd not likely buy there. We prefer to buy from TRF trusted sellers.

But these are great places to gawk! FYI!

Cheers!

[520Matt]

Very cool! Thanks for the info.

[dddrees]

Sounds like you had a good time window shopping.

[J.Alan]

Greetings, Suzy Criusy from North of the 49th!!

Thanks for your nice write-up and observations during your Calgary visit. I find personal experiences in posts such as yours very interesting.

Sadly, the Brinkhaus store in Vancouver is not as impressive as the Calgary branch. The store is not very big, and their Rolex display is on the smaller side ,and, they do not discount (exception - 2% for cash or bank draft -whoopdedoo!). The two other Rolex dealers within easy walking distance will discount if you are serious.

Not to say the staff at Brinkhaus Vancouver are not good. I have had excellent discussions with pleasant staff member Vijay who knows his stuff. He was wearing a Zenith Daytona, a real collectors item. There is a very nice salesgal who is also very informative and her personal wear is a very expensive Patek Philippe. You can tell both are watch fans. Last time I was in, Vijay gave me a nice polishing cloth and a jar of jewellery cleaner solution. I was wearing my Milguass GV and he picked up on it instantly (as if a GV is a sleeper, eh!).

They also have a decent display and inventory of Patek Philippe, and as far as I know, they are the only AD west of Toronto for PP.

Incidently, Brinkhaus is owned by Birks Jewellers, a large Canadian chain (I don't believe they are in the U.S. - I could be wrong). Some of the Birk stores are also Rolex AD's. The parent company is owned by an Italian count who lives in Italy.

You are right - Rolex prices in Canada do not make sense. Our dollar is doing much better against USD and the Swiss Franc, but we sure don't get any price breaks!
IMO, the small volume of Rolex Canada compared to the large volume of Rolex USA likely has an affect on pricing. There are more people living in California than all of Canada, so we don't have the purchasing power that south of the 49th has. And if you think the 7% GST hit is hard to take, in B.C. the HST hit is 12%!!

Hope you enjoyed your stay in Calgary. I lived in the city when it was mucher smaller, from 1964 to 1967. Were you there for the world famous Stampede?

If you ever plan a trip to Vancouver, let us know - there are a lot of friendly TFR members in the city.

J. Alan