Random AD Notes

[ChipotleBanana]

Originally Posted by No SUBctitute

I visited the AD yesterday and talked to a SA I know. Here are few things he said:

-He feels like his job is mostly explaining to customers why he can't get them the watch they want.
-His customers that spend $150,000 can't get a SS Daytona and many are ticked.
-Customers that spend $500,000 to $1,000,000 can't even get SS Daytonas when they want them. The store gets 2 per year.
-There is a SS Daytona waiting list of 300 people. And they don't go by the list. They sell the watches to the biggest spenders.
-He is selling more PM than ever and the situation from his perspective is good, but he knows its frustrating for customers.
-Their Rolex Rep told them that Rolex is doing nothing to increase production capacity as they are happy with the numbers produced.
-There is a rumor they will be getting more SS watches as China gets less.
-He showed me a pre-owned BLNR on Oyster. Price tag said $15,000.
-The only other larger SS models he had was a white dial DJ41 and a blue diamond dial DJ41.

Every AD claiming they only get 2 Daytona's per year is lying. They probably recieve somewhere around 12-15 annually. Otherwise I totally believe the rest of this.

[Pantheon]

Originally Posted by No SUBctitute

Wow. Five people saying that a Rolex AD claiming they get 2 SS Daytonas a year is ridiculous. Maybe you're right then. I thought I had read anecdotal evidence here to indicate that 2/year was about right. But, yours gets 30 a year???

More than 30 depending, they usually get them in pairs from what I'm told. So that's averaging 2 or 4 a month. Of course the data point isn't as representative as my AD is in NYC so even if they get 50 I would believe they still have a massive wait list.

I can imagine an AD telling you that they receive very little amounts like 1 or 2 is probably a nice way of telling you that you wouldn't be considered for one. In this market climate I can't blame them. Its a tough situation as per my conversations with my SA. They have to be very selective as they can get in trouble if pieces that go out their doors to flippers will get tracked down by Rolex. They're too big to lose their AD status but they can get reduced desirable allocation pieces. The SAs are just as frustrated with the situation as the consumers. Rolex can probably double their shipment for them and they'll still be backlogged.

[vgs]

Originally Posted by Harry-57

Agreed.

There is no predicting taste and bias, but if I was able to slam down 1M on jewellery/watches I doubt I'd be looking for a SS Daytona.

Exactly what I was thinking...with that kind of money my focus would shift easily for hard to get models...

[Nadi090]

This sounds funny but that's actually a good option.

[mykii]

Where is everyone getting their info from, whom say the ADs are lying?

My AD in Melb Aus told me it would be a 1yr wait for a Sub in 2015/2016. I never got one in a year then.

I just got a Pepsi and they told me it is basically impossible to get those, and they're getting as many Pepsi's as Daytona's ATM.

I don't know where this "30" a year numbers are coming from, especially for small-time dealers, who can't even get more than a couple Subs a year in at the moment.

It's so geographic, as well.

[WatchLurv]

There are 3 tiers of Rolex dealerships. Where your "local" AD is placed is not up to me to say. Ask them with this newfound knowledge. If it's a new SA, then find the manager. Whether they want to disclose it or not is up to them, but normally you can have a good guess where they're placed by just seeing the size of their store and allocated placement for Rolex.

This is also why the small-timers won't survive if they get small allocation of hot pieces if they don't bundle. It's a math-game and NOT a "I'll wear this watch until the bracelet comes off" - Because that doesn't matter for the survival of the shop. If I was an owner I'd take that "I'll wear it"-line and stick it up where the sun doesn't shine, because you won't clear the 40 female DJ's I have on display that won't sell.

Rolex catching on to flipped watches? Please. They don't. Only time they've caught out flipped watches were when they had stickers on and serial numbers weren't hidden, so the Rolex-affiliate were able to note down and then trace it back to an AD for further inquiries. A lot of things have happened since then, e.g. Rolex shot itself in the foot when they made it mandatory to peel off these stickers; how do you know it is new or refurbished when it goes on display? The only thing they enforce are the rules they put upon ADs by using "mystery" shoppers, either via walk-in OR phonecalls. They've never gone to a grey dealer to scoop up all their stock to then pin it on ADs. This is laughable.

[ArtNouveau]

First off RolexUSA policies, inventory, and practices are indeed useless to compare with elsewhere. AD's in the US are on a tiered system with the biggest/highest volume dealers obviously getting more than a smaller independent. It's pretty clear though that the smallest dealers are dwindling more each passing year.
I just don't believe any dealer in the US only gets two Daytonas a year, or only two of any other sport model. If that's all they can sell their days with Rolex are numbered. My AD is the highest tier, they are supposed to "carry" an inventory of 275 pieces. That doesn't mean there will always be that many in the store but they are receiving new stock regularly. My SA also threw out the 30 Daytonas a year number, I got one last year but had to wait 9 months. But I was updated throughout the wait as to where I was and it was actually earlier than originally estimated. My BLRO in December 2018 was their 12th piece delivered after receiving the first one in June and they have delivered many more since.
The "problem" is they still have way more potential customers than watches so it can still be tough for a newbie.

[DaneMand]

Time for a new AD


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[WatchLurv]

Originally Posted by ArtNouveau

First off RolexUSA policies, inventory, and practices are indeed useless to compare with elsewhere. AD's in the US are on a tiered system with the biggest/highest volume dealers obviously getting more than a smaller independent. It's pretty clear though that the smallest dealers are dwindling more each passing year.
I just don't believe any dealer in the US only gets two Daytonas a year, or only two of any other sport model. If that's all they can sell their days with Rolex are numbered. My AD is the highest tier, they are supposed to "carry" an inventory of 275 pieces. That doesn't mean there will always be that many in the store but they are receiving new stock regularly. My SA also threw out the 30 Daytonas a year number, I got one last year but had to wait 9 months. But I was updated throughout the wait as to where I was and it was actually earlier than originally estimated. My BLRO in December 2018 was their 12th piece delivered after receiving the first one in June and they have delivered many more since.
The "problem" is they still have way more potential customers than watches so it can still be tough for a newbie.

Bang on.

You posted 3 minutes after my post . Ask your AD what they used to have allocated and how they would order 10 Subs and get 10 Subs upon the next delivery. Need to rewind back to 2015 for the inventory numbers and the request to fulfillment.

The tier system is somewhat applied to the rest of the world too. I remember a shop in Poland that still had a Hulk on display (I bought it) when it was rising in the grey market. They lost their dealership eventually. Mum and pop store that had no clue how to run the Rolex game and just got out.

[stlwatchlvr]

Originally Posted by No SUBctitute

I visited the AD yesterday and talked to a SA I know. Here are few things he said:

-He feels like his job is mostly explaining to customers why he can't get them the watch they want.
-His customers that spend $150,000 can't get a SS Daytona and many are ticked.
-Customers that spend $500,000 to $1,000,000 can't even get SS Daytonas when they want them. The store gets 2 per year.
-There is a SS Daytona waiting list of 300 people. And they don't go by the list. They sell the watches to the biggest spenders.
-He is selling more PM than ever and the situation from his perspective is good, but he knows its frustrating for customers.
-Their Rolex Rep told them that Rolex is doing nothing to increase production capacity as they are happy with the numbers produced.
-There is a rumor they will be getting more SS watches as China gets less.
-He showed me a pre-owned BLNR on Oyster. Price tag said $15,000.
-The only other larger SS models he had was a white dial DJ41 and a blue diamond dial DJ41.

I just picked up my FIRST ROLEX TODAY (DJ41 w/ Jubilee and Black dial)! After the sale was closed, my AD surprisingly (and proactively) mentioned that their Rolex rep indicated they should be getting much more inventory in the months to come because of the situation in HK and China.

He wanted me to keep in touch and said he would call as soon as he gets some of the watches I'm interested in. He was by no means discouraging me from having me come back soon to buy another watch and I can assure you that I have spent no where near the sums above with this AD (~$20K lifetime).

Not sure if things are really changing this quickly, but with such a huge part of the luxury watch market going into hibernation, I have to imagine even Rolex will want to keep some cash flowing in.

[Jabbo84]

Grey is close to black. Once you go to the greys you won’t come back. May be cheaper in the long run

[Abmatt2002]

Originally Posted by stlwatchlvr

I just picked up my FIRST ROLEX TODAY (DJ41 w/ Jubilee and Black dial)! After the sale was closed, my AD surprisingly (and proactively) mentioned that their Rolex rep indicated they should be getting much more inventory in the months to come because of the situation in HK and China.

He wanted me to keep in touch and said he would call as soon as he gets some of the watches I'm interested in. He was by no means discouraging me from having me come back soon to buy another watch and I can assure you that I have spent no where near the sums above with this AD (~$20K lifetime).

Not sure if things are really changing this quickly, but with such a huge part of the luxury watch market going into hibernation, I have to imagine even Rolex will want to keep some cash flowing in.

I had exactly the same patter from mine. Months later and I’ve heard sweet FA!

Been in a few times since and all they’ve has is a shed load of PM references, which he says is what they’d normally get. What they were promised and what arrives are two different things.

[Harry-57]

Originally Posted by Tricolore66

you can’t deny it’s happening.

Sure. Wherever people are involved!

That's people for you.

[Calatrava r]

From what I heard from the ADs I know is they typically get 1 or 2 SS Daytonas in each dial each year. It is why they are so hard to get at retail. If they were getting 30 per year as some suggest, they would be easy to get and sell used for roughly MSRP. I do think Daytona SS allocations will increase, why I have no idea. Just seems like the right to do.

[jb335]

I don’t believe someone that spend 1 million isn’t getting a Daytona....


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[No SUBctitute]

Originally Posted by NardinNut

I’d say find another AD. I don’t spend much money at my AD but I got a white Daytona and BLNR. I think I was able to get those because I befriended one of the SA. I’d text him every so often about various watch releases, or stop in the store when I had free time to see what’s new, and every so often drop the hint “I look forward to getting my Daytona!”. Ended up getting a text with a pic of it saying “here it is!”. It’s ridiculous that this market has us playing games to get a watch we want, but it is what it is. Just find a watch nerd among the SA and create a cordial relationship. It will pay off

Thanks for your input.

[Spcamno]

I am in Toronto one AD told me they received 29 SS Daytona last year and 12 being white dial and 17 in black and they get roughly same numbers of DSSD in total however the Blue SkyD is a different story was told they have only received 2 or 3 in the entire year.