Rumor? Rolex ending partnerships with hundreds of ADs, focusing on boutiques

[Flypanam]

Well, I have some possible bad news regarding the distribution and availability of Rolex watches. PLEASE TAKE IT ALL WITH A GRAIN OF SALT BECAUSE IT'S JUST INFORMATION I GOT FROM MY SA, PLUS A BIT OF SPECULATION ON BOTH OUR PART.

I went to the AD today to get a link removed from my Daytona. While the watchmaker in back was working on it, I was chatting with the SA. I noticed that they removed their Cartier section completely and that the Rolex section had even fewer than usual exhibition pieces. It was downright bare. I asked about it, and she said they "lost" Cartier and Rolex.

I asked what the heck does that mean... "lost"?? Where did you lose them!? She mentioned that Cartier pulled out of their store completely, citing plans focusing more on selling watches primarily through boutiques rather than jewelers. I asked what about Rolex, and she said they are doing the same thing.

While admittedly she is an SA and not one of the big bosses, she was involved in conversation because she is THE Rolex SA at this particular jewelry store, very knowledgeable not just some glorified sales clerk. They are apparently quite concerned about their business, and understandably so. This store is one of two remaining ADs in my state, with many customers coming from far and wide, and Rolex watches alone made up 60% of the store's revenue (the other 40% from their jewelry, diamonds, and other watch brands including Omega and Tag). It also sucks because they have a Rolex certified watchmaker on staff, and I believe they just hired a second one, and were really advertising how they could service watches professionally in-house without having to send them out.

Apparently they are no longer receiving shipments of new Rolex watches for the rest of the year, stuck with just their remaining stock, and according to her the plan is for Rolex to end partnership with 300-500 ADs worldwide over the course of the next year. The store's management is thinking that with the acquisition of Bucherer / Tourneau, Rolex's plan to expand and sell more from dedicated Rolex boutiques instead. This AD is in a bit of a holding pattern now to see what the end of the year brings as this all just kind of blindsided them.

Wonder if this is a bit of a hubris move on Rolex's part, or it it's part of some plan to try to cut down on ADs that Rolex has no direct control over (such as no oversight against selling to gray market retailers)... or both.. it's not mutually exclusive. I think this might be a credible idea, since back when the acquisition occurred the thought was "The Bucherer deal will give the brand a direct line to its customers and more control and oversight for distribution, allocations as well as pricing for pre-owned timepieces." per an August 2023 article. The other thing the SA thought was that Rolex seems to want big, opulent stores in big cities, rather than being distributed by random (though high-end) jewelers in suburbs, etc, for "brand image". My AD being one of these suburban high end jewelry stores. We agreed this is stupid, people don't want to drive into a busy city just to shop for watches when they used to be able to at their local jeweler, but on the other hand we also don't know what's going on in Rolex marketing's mind.

As mentioned, not sure if this is all 100% true (or even partially true) and it's partly speculation on my and the SA's behalf, but the store itself looked rather bleak and I can't really think of any ulterior motive for the SA to share all of this with me.

Wondering if anyone else has heard anything similar?