Sub Date or No Date Wait Time?

[cvo]

My recommendation is to start randomly calling AD’s in small cities for the model you want. You’ll be surprised how lucky you will be. Once you confirm an AD has your watch in hand, you’ll probably need to make an nice weekend vacation to enjoy purchasing your Rolex. Plan to fly in order to open up more opportunities. Make a goal to call a few AD’s everyday. It will only take a few minutes. Track who you call and the rep you speak to. It is okay to call the same AD every few weeks or months. That is exactly how I purchased my Sub Date. I live in Atlanta GA and I flew to Houston TX to purchase my watch.

Think about it as an adventure. I have to post my Rolex purchase journey with photos sometime. I tell my story when people ask where I purchased my Sub and/or how long did I wait to purchase it.

Best of luck - the Sub Hunt is On!

[Hulkhunter]

Originally Posted by cvo

My recommendation is to start randomly calling AD’s in small cities for the model you want. You’ll be surprised how lucky you will be. Once you confirm an AD has your watch in hand, you’ll probably need to make an nice weekend vacation to enjoy purchasing your Rolex. Plan to fly in order to open up more opportunities. Make a goal to call a few AD’s everyday. It will only take a few minutes. Track who you call and the rep you speak to. It is okay to call the same AD every few weeks or months. That is exactly how I purchased my Sub Date. I live in Atlanta GA and I flew to Houston TX to purchase my watch.

Think about it as an adventure. I have to post my Rolex purchase journey with photos sometime. I tell my story when people ask where I purchased my Sub and/or how long did I wait to purchase it.

Best of luck - the Sub Hunt is On!

Genuine question, Does this actually work for in demand pieces?

I can see it working for the more expensive gold pieces and maybe some lesser desired stuff they are struggling to shift but can’t see why an AD would do it for a hot model. They are supposed to serve the local market. Can’t see why they would allocate it to a random who has never been in the store. From my experience would never happen at any ADs I use.

[blufinz52]

I went into an AD in June and asked for the 124060. I had no history there, but the SA was very nice and told me she could get one in 3-4 months. When 2 months passed, I went back and purchased an inexpensive necklace for my wife from the same SA and she again said that she would call me when the Sub came in. A month ago, I got the call and picked up the 124060, so 7 months from initial request.

[NYC2023]

Originally Posted by blufinz52

I went into an AD in June and asked for the 124060. I had no history there, but the SA was very nice and told me she could get one in 3-4 months. When 2 months passed, I went back and purchased an inexpensive necklace for my wife from the same SA and she again said that she would call me when the Sub came in. A month ago, I got the call and picked up the 124060, so 7 months from initial request.

Thanks- nice two watch collection by the way! Love the green crystal Milgauss.

[NYC2023]

Originally Posted by cvo

My recommendation is to start randomly calling AD’s in small cities for the model you want. You’ll be surprised how lucky you will be. Once you confirm an AD has your watch in hand, you’ll probably need to make an nice weekend vacation to enjoy purchasing your Rolex. Plan to fly in order to open up more opportunities. Make a goal to call a few AD’s everyday. It will only take a few minutes. Track who you call and the rep you speak to. It is okay to call the same AD every few weeks or months. That is exactly how I purchased my Sub Date. I live in Atlanta GA and I flew to Houston TX to purchase my watch.

Think about it as an adventure. I have to post my Rolex purchase journey with photos sometime. I tell my story when people ask where I purchased my Sub and/or how long did I wait to purchase it.

Best of luck - the Sub Hunt is On!

Thanks! I like the idea of finding one as an adventure. My guess is I probably have 25+ ADs within a 4-5 hour drive. Unfortunately, most of them are either in big cities (NY/Boston/Philly), or very affluent suburbs, which I imagine would be about as tough.

With that being said, I can already see a few that are in smaller cities or less affluent areas. Might be worth starting there assuming today’s NYC search fails as everyone expects.

I know what everyone is thinking- by the time I am done with this I will have spent way more time and money then simply buying from a grey. I have no budgetary restrictions that would prevent me from paying well above MSRP. However, I’d still like to at least try this route to establish a relationship for future watches, as I’ve heard once you buy your first one things can get easier from there.

[Encoreprop]

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=812214

However, it is for a Starbucks in NYC.

[Steve260]

I have a significant Rolex purchase history over 20+ years with my AD. I registered my interest in a no-date Sub about 18 months ago, and stop in periodically to chat and purchase other jewelry for my wife. But so far I have not gotten the call.

Interesting side note - in a discussion with the owner of my AD several months ago, he informed me that Rolex "strongly encourages" ADs to sell at least 50% of the watches they receive to first-time buyers. (Rolex has been consistently decreasing the number of ADs in the US for a number of years now, so if an AD is "strongly encouraged" to do something by Rolex, it's not too hard to read between the lines.)
So, ADs often have to walk a tightrope between keeping their existing Rolex customers happy, and making sure a high enough percentage of new watches go to first-time customers.

[Travis29]

Originally Posted by NYC2023

Thanks Travis. Can I go to multiple ADs of the same parent brand? In NYC there are several Bucherers and multiple WOS as well. Or should I only go to one of each brand?

NYC2023

I don’t see why it would be an issue.

[bosphorus]

Originally Posted by NYC2023

Hello All,

I am going to an AD tomorrow to register my interest on a black sub. I like both date and no date. Any idea what estimated wait time would be with no purchase history (NYC area)? Is one easier to get than the other?

Thanks,

NYC2023

No date is hard to get, it could take you 12months plus, especially without a purchase history.