I should be doing cartwheels or something….

[Harry-57]

But I’m not. I’m numb. I’m stunned. I’m dumbfounded. I’m trying to believe my eyes but I’m not sure I can.



10 months after I got the phone call to ask which bracelet I wanted and 15 months total wait time. I thought it would be years. I guess it will sink in. Eventually.

The “my AD says” bit:

The volume of enquiries keeps going up. The narratives which accompany some enquiries are starting to look very stale and recycled; life story, terminally ill, begging, special event (I’m the only person in the world with a wedding anniversary coming up who deserves your service and attention), threats, insults, you name it….. First order of the day is to divide the emails equally and start sending standard replies. This may take all day as they fit it between other activities. Often, they don’t get through them all in a day and it runs over.

More than a few enquirers come back with something like “OK then, what have you got? I’m looking for (insert a shopping list of hot models). While they try to remain slick and professional, tolerance levels are being destruct tested. The temptation to reply with something like “are you serious?!” is resisted for something more along the lines of “well, you asked for something, we told you that regretfully we can’t help you, we have queues of loyal and valued customers, we’re not a self-service outlet for speculative buyers”. Sometimes the enquiries/exchanges are so blunt and blatant that they must politely respond through gritted teeth. Rolex send spoof enquiries in by phone and email to assess how ADs respond and behave. My AD isn’t rude or unprofessional. But it pays to remember that all enquiries may not be genuine and there is more than one kind of fishing expedition going on out there.

They maintain that once an item is bought, it is entirely the owner’s business what they do with it. Keep, sell, trade, gouge. Obviously, they don’t intentionally sell to people who are only buying to flip and gouge. And if any such “entrepreneurs” slip through and are subsequently identified, they won’t get another chance to do it again. This is simplified for the hot stuff by their policy (NB their policy not Rolex policy) of now only selling to people they know/trust, AKA mostly existing customers plus anyone obviously genuine and on the level. Being a local business of over 100 years standing, the owners are multi-generational and some of their customers also span generations of families and offshoots.

They were curious to know what the reaction online had been to demo display watches, of which they had plenty. I said to my surprise it had been mixed. They said it didn’t surprise them and there was just no pleasing some people. They also said that they don’t do much forum browsing any more because about 45% of it is conspiracy theory noise, detached from reality and about another 45% looks more like stock trading speculation. They wonder why watch lovers even bother. I said I suspected that less and less do.

In my AD’s demographic the Jubilee bracelet is more popular on the GMT Master. My preference for Oyster put me in the minority and pushed me towards the front of my queue faster than if I’d asked for Jubilee. They will be taking orders for alternative bracelets next year on Sky Dwellers and GMT Masters, providing the watches were bought from them and still owned by the original purchaser.

The demand situation is as tiresome as it is ridiculous. They are dealing with more and more people who are displaying toxic levels of entitlement, being pushier and are generally pissing off the very people they should be getting friendly with to stand any chance. And they reckon that most of online (in general, not just discussion forums like TRF) is now not worth even toilet time unless you are flexing or speculating on value.

Fun fact. I didn't know but you probably did. Under UV the BLRO bezel is all RO. Is this because the blue wavelengths are neutralised leaving only red? Or is it because the bezel is dyed red and the blue is added over it?