Rolex at Costco?

[bscepter]

Look what I found just a minute ago...

[HL65]

Yep--some Costco's sell them--pretty crazy.

[Darlinboy]

Costco seems to have a Rolex now and then. Have not seen one at our local store.

I'd pass on that one, not my style!

[JohnAndrew]

How much would that go for at an AD?

[upstater]

A while back I listened to an "Hour Time" podcast where they discussed licensing between Costco and Omega. Omega sued Costco for some detail I can't remember, but Omega's problem was that Costco's prices were lower than the AD's.

[bscepter]

I remember the Omega suit. And I've seen everything from Tag to Breitling to even a $25k Patek here, but never Rolex. I thought they had that stuff locked down pretty right.

[imono]

[QUOTE=bscepter;3287081]Look what I found just a minute ago...

It is a ladies DateJust 31mm.
46 Diamonds on WG Bezel.
Model 178384 with 63160 Jubilee.
MSRP $12550.00

[JGX]

THIS BABY was spotted at a Costco a few weeks ago

[IMG2]

Having worked for a large manufacturer, I know that we couldn't tell our independent distributors what price to charge for our products, even though we had a suggested contractor price. I believe it had to do with the Sherman/Clayton act and price fixing or racketeering. Now, while we couldn't tell them what price to sell our stuff, if they sold it out of their territory or for less than we thought they should be selling it for we could limit the number of popular items they received. So a distributor who is known to ship products out of their territory may find that even though they ordered 100 of that popular item, they may only get 5 or 10.

[bscepter]

Originally Posted by JGX

THIS BABY was spotted at a Costco a few weeks ago

whoa!

i had no idea. like i said - if costco sells patek, why not rolex? what's next, a lange or a vacheron?

[bayerische]

So MSRP is lower than the costco price? ? ?

[JGX]

Originally Posted by bayerische

So MSRP is lower than the costco price? ? ?

178384 is £10,280 GBP which works out a lot more than $12,550 USD so I'm confused by imono's pricing too?

[Trouble15]

I wish the Costco by me would get a Sub in stock haha

[ersnyder]

Every now and then, one will turn up on a Costco shelf but that is the first diamond one I've seen.

[bewithabob]

Buy a case of 'em

[Casey VP-26]

I wonder if Costco will be required to have a Boutique like all the AD's were required to do or have their Rolex Dealership taken away by Rolex.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by upstater

A while back I listened to an "Hour Time" podcast where they discussed licensing between Costco and Omega. Omega sued Costco for some detail I can't remember, but Omega's problem was that Costco's prices were lower than the AD's.

Originally Posted by bscepter

I remember the Omega suit. And I've seen everything from Tag to Breitling to even a $25k Patek here, but never Rolex. I thought they had that stuff locked down pretty right.

In this so called free market world today manufacturers like most of the high end watches today have such a strangle hold on who can sell there products.So today its not a free world retail market for all products,high end watch prices are mostly kept artificially high by these manufactures, much like the diamond trade today.Myself don't care where any Rolex is sold, its a retail product just like a TV or tin of beans, except for the price difference. And myself the price paid is the main factor for me when buying any retailed product.

And the Law suite by Omega has not been settled 100%
A tie vote by the Supreme Court on Dec. 13 2010 means that watch brand Omega can prevent “grey market” versions of its watches from being sold at retailer Costco.

The court evenly split 4-4 on the case of Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Omega S.A, in effect upholding a September 2008 U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit ruling in favor of Omega. Justice Elana Kagan sat out the case.

Because the court did not issue an opinion, this ruling will not have the power of precedent, which means the grey market issue has not been settled, commentators said.

The case began in 2004, when Omega sued Costco in federal court in California over its sales of grey market watches. The term refers to a practice in which retailers buy brands from unauthorized dealers located overseas and resell them at lower prices in the United States.

The case differed from past fights in that Omega used copyright infringement to fight its case. Since Omega watches sold by Costco carry the watch company’s copyrighted icon, the company argued that selling them without its authorization violates U.S. copyright law.

But Costco argued that the case could impede the ability of retailers to sell products without authorization, and court briefs supporting Costco were filed by eBay, which argued that the ruling “permit[s] copyright owners to control downstream sales.”

Costco did not respond to a request from JCK for comment. The Swatch Group, Omega's parent, sent out a statement saying it "commend[s] the decision as it provides a legal mechanism to help control the spread of grey market trading.