Rolex - What is a luxury experience?

[brandrea]

For those old enough to remember, two words ….

DIET COKE

[brian628]

I seek to buy watches.

If I want relationships or friends, I'll get a dog

[Marcjvr]

Getting a free snickers bar at checkout would be nice

[GoingPlaces]

Originally Posted by tomf1994

I tend to agree with this. Though I'm in for the watches themselves, not the experience of buying them. Not remotely interested in having someone puff me up. But certainly a pleasant rep and reasonable sales price (depending on the watch) is what I find meaningful. A luxury experience is something I look for if I'm going to a resort or something where the experience is the whole reason for being there.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

True luxury = pampering oneself, it's an experience.

[joeboy]

We had an outstanding luxury experience at Jamieson & Carry in Aberdeen. Marco & Angus along with the rest of the team there made what we thought was going to be a quick simple experience into a really nice event. My wife was over the moon and the whole experience underlined the reality of it being a luxury purchase regardless of the Tsunami of cash we may or may not have. I'm all for it and it was really nice. :)

These instances in life should be marked. Reducing it to a commodity means you have likely lost sight of what these truly are. Beautiful pieces which we are all fortunate to access/own.

[Tricolore66]

These brands seem to think that people want this “luxury experience” today, but the reality is that they want efficiency. They want what they want and when they want it. Time is the commodity that you can’t replace. Online shopping, food delivery, Uber…all about efficiency. I’m in the high-end business and can tell you that maybe 10% of the market cares about the dog and pony show, but most don’t care at all or see it as a burden to the process. There is a massive disconnect that the brands just can’t seem to wrap their heads around. Perhaps it comes full-circle at some point, but I don’t think so.

[tomf1994]

Originally Posted by Tricolore66

These brands seem to think that people want this “luxury experience” today, but the reality is that they want efficiency.

Yup, I also agree with this opinion as well. Sometimes the luxury aspect is not having to wait or dilly-dally at a store. When I bought my GO, it was from an AD, over the phone, and at a great price. The watch was mailed to my house and on my wrist about a week later. Since I was eyeing up the watch for years before I bought it, the phone conversation was this simple:
Me: Hi, do you have the GO I'm looking for in stock?
AD: Yes, I can get it to you in 7-10 days
Me: Great, what can you do on the price?
AD: Well, the MSRP is X and I can sell it to you for Y
Me: Great, let's do this
AD: I will need your CC # and mailing address

This is not exactly a luxury experience, it was a transaction. And in 20 mins, from start to finish, I had a new watch. It was perhaps the most efficient watch buying experience I ever had and it was fantastic.

[Ravager135]

Luxury is different to every single person. An item can be inexpensive, but hold immense value to others. An item may be expensive, but be poor quality. Are either luxury? Some might consider my Rolex watches luxury items. I might call them reliable, expensive, valuable, quality, etc...

Purchasing a watch has never been a luxury experience for me. It's little more than spending money of relative value to others for an item I desire. I think I have a pretty impressive and expensive collection. It's probably nothing compared to what many members of our community own. To be honest, faux luxury experiences offered from retailers or sellers tend to be overinflated by the buyer's ego. Is being offered a glass of champagne for purchasing a $30,000 watch really commensurate with the amount of money you are spending? Does it make you feel more luxurious because attention is being drawn to you in the store? I'd say both are superficial. Just treat me with respect and honesty. If that's luxury, I'll take more of that.

[Alimamy]

Originally Posted by Tricolore66

These brands seem to think that people want this “luxury experience” today, but the reality is that they want efficiency. They want what they want and when they want it. Time is the commodity that you can’t replace. Online shopping, food delivery, Uber…all about efficiency. I’m in the high-end business and can tell you that maybe 10% of the market cares about the dog and pony show, but most don’t care at all or see it as a burden to the process. There is a massive disconnect that the brands just can’t seem to wrap their heads around. Perhaps it comes full-circle at some point, but I don’t think so.

Why do you think it is that brands have this different conception of "luxury experience" that they won't update? Is it that we WIS are different from the usual customer? Is the idea different for the Swiss than for us in other countries? Is it that Rolex can't deliver because the watches are too popular right now?


When the Speedsmaster 3861 hesalite was announced, I registered my interest on the Omega website. A month later the boutique called me and said the watch was available and took payment. I picked it up a few days later. The sales assistant sat down with me and chatted for an hour about watch collecting, from vintage to Rolex, watchmaking, and about time abroad for service. I got to try on different watches in store, was tipped off on new watches not yet announced. It was great. I would love to buy Rolex watches this way.

[GoingPlaces]

Originally Posted by Alimamy

When the Speedsmaster 3861 hesalite was announced, I registered my interest on the Omega website. A month later the boutique called me and said the watch was available and took payment. I picked it up a few days later. The sales assistant sat down with me and chatted for an hour about watch collecting, from vintage to Rolex, watchmaking, and about time abroad for service. I got to try on different watches in store, was tipped off on new watches not yet announced. It was great. I would love to buy Rolex watches this way.

Sadly, this would be considered a "luxury" experience by many, however it wasn't long ago when this was simple customer service by dedicated professionals. It was the norm. Today we have to grovel and post on TRF how to establish AD relationships. All in the interest of "obtaining luxury".

[DJ2020]

All I know is (as this happened once) if I'm spending 7 to 30k on a watch, they darn well better be polite, may even a little butt kissing on there part. The first sign of snobbery or I feel I'm
being "judged or qualified " to buy one, no matter what I'm wearing - I'm out of there! My money is green and it spends anywhere.