I get the impression that Rolex is slowly turning into a Buyer's market!!

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Jocke

You talk about grey market dealers?

I see you're in a very frivolous and good mood, Jocke!! What's up, buddy........did you win the big LOTTO?

[BarkMaster]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

Well, if people go around burning 100-Dollar bills like the one in your avatar, no wonder the economy is in a slump!!

I thought all Rolex owners had money to burn?

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by mike

That Rolex makes one of the toughest most reliable watches out there I don't think can be debated. That said they make a LOT of watches.

Perhaps when pricing reaches a certain threshold buyers look for something a little more exclusive?

Congrats on your 17K posts, Mike!!

That said, it would be interesting to compare Rolexes sales for this year as compared with the same period last year............and check if there was a fall or rise in sales??

JJ

[Casey VP-26]

AD told me this past saturday . Things are really SLOOOOOOW.

[gaopa]

This is an interesting thread.

Lately I have been buying some less expensive micro watch company watches used on the forums as even those are not selling well. I can imagine that high line watches like Rolex are moving slowly.

I wonder when things will turn around. Cheers, Bill P.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Casey VP-26

AD told me this past saturday . Things are really SLOOOOOOW.

Yes, agreed.............same with my 2 local ADs. They are now getting desperate for customers to walk through their doors...........and will then do anything to hold back a potential customer.

JJ

[mike]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

Congrats on your 17K posts, Mike!!

That said, it would be interesting to compare Rolexes sales for this year as compared with the same period last year............and check if there was a fall or rise in sales??

JJ

JJ I can't recall the number, but I thought I read Rolex COSC certs were down from the previous year.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by mike

JJ I can't recall the number, but I thought I read Rolex COSC certs were down from the previous year.

Hmmmmmmmm........................which makes you wonder!! Thanks, Mike.

JJ

[Jocke]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

I see you're in a very frivolous and good mood, Jocke!! What's up, buddy........did you win the big LOTTO?

What big LOTTO? Over here we have to work hard for the money. Yes I'm in my normal mood so just watch out.

[Jocke]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

Yes, agreed.............same with my 2 local ADs. They are now getting desperate for customers to walk through their doors.
JJ

Did that mean they let you in?

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Jocke

Did that mean they let you in?

On a red carpet strewn with rose petals and dancing girls!!

[dannyp]

Originally Posted by mike

That Rolex makes one of the toughest most reliable watches out there I don't think can be debated. That said they make a LOT of watches.

Perhaps when pricing reaches a certain threshold buyers look for something a little more exclusive?

While I agree with this completely, I don't think this explains what JJ is seeing. I like very exclusive watches, and while my Rolex is usually my daily wearer, my Patek would be the hardest of my watches to part with. However, even as collectors seek more and more exclusive pieces, there will always be a place for a Rolex (or Omega, TAG, Panerai, other ultra-durable stainless watch) in every collection. In fact, I bought my IWC MK XVI after a very expensive repair to my PP that made me question its suitability for daily wear.

And Rolex has never been particularly exclusive in the way others have. It's like a Mercedes or BMW, not a Bentley Brooklands; sure it's expensive, but you can get pretty much any one you want without much difficulty.

My opinion is that Rolex has just saturated the market and their attempt to lure buyers to perhaps buy multiple watches by redesigning some of the classics isn't working out as well as they'd hoped. I, for one, prefer the more classic designs, but even if I didn't, I'd find it hard to justify adding the new Sub if I already had a perfectly good Sub, unless I sold the current one. If I sold the current one, then there'd be one more used Sub out there that someone would buy instead of buying a new Sub, thus continuing the cycle of tapering demand.

[Jocke]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

On a red carpet strewn with rose petals and dancing girls!!

Maybe they even let your butcher in?

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by dannyp

While I agree with this completely, I don't think this explains what JJ is seeing. I like very exclusive watches, and while my Rolex is usually my daily wearer, my Patek would be the hardest of my watches to part with. However, even as collectors seek more and more exclusive pieces, there will always be a place for a Rolex (or Omega, TAG, Panerai, other ultra-durable stainless watch) in every collection. In fact, I bought my IWC MK XVI after a very expensive repair to my PP that made me question its suitability for daily wear.

And Rolex has never been particularly exclusive in the way others have. It's like a Mercedes or BMW, not a Bentley Brooklands; sure it's expensive, but you can get pretty much any one you want without much difficulty.

My opinion is that Rolex has just saturated the market and their attempt to lure buyers to perhaps buy multiple watches by redesigning some of the classics isn't working out as well as they'd hoped. I, for one, prefer the more classic designs, but even if I didn't, I'd find it hard to justify adding the new Sub if I already had a perfectly good Sub, unless I sold the current one. If I sold the current one, then there'd be one more used Sub out there that someone would buy instead of buying a new Sub, thus continuing the cycle of tapering demand.

Good post, Danny!!

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by Jocke

Maybe they even let your butcher in?

With his scale!!

[Jocke]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

With his scale!!

That is desperate.

[rfknauss]

Hi JJ ....... wonder if the SS model sales are more affected by the slumping economy than the TT or solid gold models? Or do you think Rolex sales are affected across the board?

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by rfknauss

Hi JJ ....... wonder if the SS model sales are more affected by the slumping economy than the TT or solid gold models? Or do you think Rolex sales are affected across the board?

Good point, Richard. I think the full gold and TT models will always be slow as compared with the SS ones, especially in a large market like the USA.

Over here in NZ, the TT models seem to go well with the Asian community some of who are well and truly loaded and have actually picked up like 6~7 Rolexes in one fell sweep!!

JJ

[rfknauss]

Originally Posted by Jocke

That is desperate.

Hey ...... that's my screen saver picture!

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by rfknauss

Hey ...... that's my screen saver picture!

YIKES!!

[dannyp]

Originally Posted by rfknauss

Hi JJ ....... wonder if the SS model sales are more affected by the slumping economy than the TT or solid gold models? Or do you think Rolex sales are affected across the board?

I think the market for precious metal Rolexes is less changed for two reasons:

1. The guy who could afford a solid gold Daytona in '06 probably still can, it's the guy who was saving for a SS DJ that he was planning on financing part of whose buying habbits have changed.

2. Sales on these models were always softer, and discounts on them aren't new. I'm sure production was proportional as well, since Rolex had to know they'd sell fewer gold watches than stainless regardless of the economy (other than PP, AP, Blancpain, Breguet and a few others, this is probably true for all watchmakers).

[dysondiver]

anything is only ever worth what someone else will / can pay for it .
i think a lot of gold rolexes are coming out of the safes as times get hard ,,, but the worst still lays ahead.
a bargains only a bargain if you need it , otherwise its still an extravagence.

[Yazo]

Originally Posted by JEC

Too bad the same isn't true for the vintage market. It's been steadily going up for the last year. I bought and sold a 5500 less than a year ago and now it's gotten out of my price range. I wanted a 1675 when they were around 3K, now it's hard to get a good one under 5.

It's all ebays fault, I say.

For real... but that's one of the reasons I got into vintage!

[Watch Professor]

I stopped in an Ad looking at the new Sub C, wearing my 16610. They offered to take my Sub in trade for the new one, offering more $ than I paid for it with a discount on the new one. I guess the economy is having a large effect on business, even Rolexes. Incidentally, I didn't take the offer because I like my traditional Sub Date too much to sell it.

[Welshwatchman]

I don't know about the other UK members but local dealers are not jumping over backwards to get your business, nothing like it.

[esm]

Originally Posted by Welshwatchman

I don't know about the other UK members but local dealers are not jumping over backwards to get your business, nothing like it.

Agreed. Some of them even think that the customers should be grateful walking in their store.... They are generally the ones with loads of old stock in the window.

[JUSTROLEXES]

JJ ,
Sales are still solid in this part of the world
Here is what you have to consider that every time there is a price increase guys think that the same day the prices change they should get more $$$ for whatever they have listed for sale...
By doing that they increase the asking price and you can see that nobody is willing to buy at the new price
Now after they do that for few weeks they will go back and drop the prices a little and things will move again.
Also it does take about 60 days for buyer to adjust to the new asking price... Keep in mind if 2 weeks ago you were able to find a Mint SS GMT for $5500 you as a buyer are not willing to Spend $6000 for the same watch today.
But after 2 to 3 months when you can not find the $5500 price then you find yourself with no chose but to pay the $6000 and say i guess the prices did go up
Also you have to keep in mind some part of the world are still expecting a price increase in the few coming weeks

[exxondus]

Here in Asia, sales are still pretty strong. Not only for Rolex, but for many other higher or mid range brands as well. We even see many grey dealers taking advantage of the lower Euro (in the pass few months) to bring in watches to sell locally at a lower price.

In my view, get the rolex that you want now rather than later. All the speculation of price going to drop, etc are nothing more than mere speculation. Last year, there wasnt a price increase in Singapore by Rolex due to the bad economy. This tells me that they know what they are doing and the recent increase is probably in anticipation of the growing economy in Asia. I doubt they blindly increase just for the sake of increasing annually. The spending power of China and India is really really incredible!!! You have to see to believe! And those rich guys really like exclusitivity. If Rolex continues to allow any one to afford one, they will be affected by this part of the growing market in future.

From what it seems to be, Rolex is probably trying to push it out of reach for the general public in the long run. This creates a notion of exclusitivity and attracts the uber rich. Same as how PAM managed to in the initial stages but as production gets more, the base models start to become less attractive.

To begin with, Rolex (or luxury goods for that matter) was never meant to be within reach for the average joe. This becomes more evident when the income gap widens in many parts of the world. Harsh as it seems, but the same goes for Mercs, BMW, PP, AP, VC, LV and many other brands of luxury goods.

[Dan2010]

Seems like this has been debated to death already. It's basic supply and demand. I'm a finance guy and I am here to tell you that if Rolex didn't think they could sell their watches for the price they are charging they wouldn't increase them. Think of it like this. There are over 5,000,000,000 people in this world. They make around 900,000 watches a year we estimate. I'm here to tell you there are 900,000 of the 5,000,000,000 people on this globe that can afford their watches and have not been drastically effected by the current economic downturn we have been in. Thankfully, I am one of them and I know lots of people like me and I'm just in little ole South Carolina.

So I guess the lesson is, there is no time like the present to buy because the price is only going to go up, up, up!

[htc8p]

hush hush....i dont like to admit it but my wife calls the shots.

if i had it my way i would buy a watch right now.

seriously. buyers should not hurry because they have other things to worry about than just watches. and i would like my watches to have a personal meaning