London/South East UK AD Advice

[UKDan]

Hi All - New to the forum and the world of Rolex and was hoping to get some input from any other London/South East UK members regarding AD's and their experiences/relationships.

I'm looking to start a relationship with an AD in London/South East and thought I'd ask if anyone would recommend a particular AD in terms of service/availability/wait times etc?

Along with half the rest of the planet, I do want a SS sports model, and am well aware of the documented current supply issues but I'm also after another PM model I like and also a model the wife is after.

With regards to the SS lists/wait times etc, basically am I better off building a relationship/buying history with a central London AD, where I would have thought supply would/will be higher but obviously so will demand and people that are likely to spend a truck load more than me over time or go for an AD a bit out of town where in theory demand "may" be lower but also supply?

As I said, new to all this so just looking for some guidance/pointers!

Thanks

[Flying Doctor]

What a great question and one with no answer.
So the UK is one of the hottest markets for Rolex - so welcome to the world of cajoling, negotiating and generally spending time trying to work out how you can get your hands on the elusive SS Sports models along with the rest of us!
So you have 2 basic choices:
1) the large London ADs are obviously larger, get more stock and also tend to sell more brands (so if ever you branch out to AP or PP etc much more likely they will stock them etc). However, they also by default have a larger customer base and some will have customers that will spend a packet each year, and I mean a real packet. So the down side is you can struggle to get on lists for anything (or at least a place on a list which means you might actually get a call for anything......)
2) The smaller ADs out of town are the converse.
Reality is take your pick! Personally I would shop around and see where you hit a good relationship with someone. That will work best in the end. Then keep in contact occasionally and something one day will come trumps....

FD.

[DP63]

You mention that you think supply would be higher for a London AD than for an AD a little out of town, so I'm interested to hear if this is in fact the case from the other members here as I have always assumed that the AD's received the same contract for how much they must purchase from Rolex per annum to be given the title of approved dealer, the only exception being a Rolex boutique?

[Zakalwe]

I reckon I've been to every AD in the South East in the past two years and the one that ended up being "my" AD was one of the nearest ones to me. The best advice I'd give would be to pick one close to you and stick with them. I would actively avoid Central London AD's personally because of the high footfall meaning they may have less time for you and also as you point out because they must deal with some absolute monster clients, including massive whale tourists. Unless of course you yourself are an absolute monster, in which case the world of Rolex AD's is probably your oyster. There is definitely some correlation between the total volume of Rolex sales and the number of allocation watches an AD will get, so small town AD's (the one in Horsham is lovely) might seem a good target but they will get very few desirable pieces and they're more likely to prioritise local customers e.g. the AD in Bournemouth would want proof of address before even discussing waiting lists. Hence my advice to pick a local AD, because you won't find that unicorn AD with great supply but relatively low demand.

Once you've made your AD choice, go in, introduce yourself, make yourself known, talk watches and go from there. I absolutely don't advocate buying stuff for the sake of it, but since you're planning on buying stuff anyway, do so through the AD of your choice - I managed to get a few desirable pieces in relatively short order from zero relationship through initially buying an OP for the wife and subsequently showing an interest in stuff for me. If you start off buying PM and jewellery you will mark yourself out as being a potentially good customer for future watch purchases. I got the number and email of the particular salesperson who counts me as "her" client and I have been in the habit of contacting her once in a while to ask about watches and just generally remind her I'm alive, well and ready to make her a commission.

The one absolute no-no is do not make yourself look like a flipper. My AD's priority, probably as high as keeping high net spend clients happy - if not higher, is not having desirable Rolex watches flipped. So I wouldn't go in and present a shopping list of allocation pieces straight away - they'll run a mile. Or more likely they'll put you on the imaginary, 6-year long waiting list for whichever watches you're after.

Good luck

[AK797]

Really I'd just keep saving and buy a used or grey one, an AD now will be years in the South and just not worth the wait time.

[CK9366]

London too many tourists .... u may try like
Glasgow / Cardiff .... AD

[jaySL350]

Originally Posted by AK797

Really I'd just keep saving and buy a used or grey one, an AD now will be years in the South and just not worth the wait time.

+1,,,
Until the madness stops ,,
May have a chance if you bundle the pm piece you want and wife’s watch along with the original piece you wanted,,,
Very best of luck,,
It’s a sad state of affairs presently,,


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jaydav2306]

My advice is don't even bother in central London

[bestkepttime]

London is a nightmare stay far away.

[Sammers23]

Which SS Sports model are you after? I know Explorers are out there fairly regularly, and someone only waited a week for a sub recently on the South Coast.

[Nairn1980]

Originally Posted by CK9366

London too many tourists .... u may try like
Glasgow / Cardiff .... AD

we dont have SS pieces sitting around in Glasgow, and ADs here generally make a point of selling their SS sports models to local repeat customers. They let the tourists buy the DJs in the windows

[sutats]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Unless you are a whale of a spender you should avoid building a relationship with central London ADs as they'll be dedicating their time to more important customers.

[Flying Doctor]

Originally Posted by DP63

You mention that you think supply would be higher for a London AD than for an AD a little out of town, so I'm interested to hear if this is in fact the case from the other members here as I have always assumed that the AD's received the same contract for how much they must purchase from Rolex per annum to be given the title of approved dealer, the only exception being a Rolex boutique?

Yes it is but the London ADs will shift more hence get more of the desirable pieces, but you are correct the ratio will be the normal ratios. They of course also all have huge, huge, waits for everything.....

FD.

[Peter99]

Two years ago when I was looking everywhere in London for a SubC with date with no results, I phoned around the provinces.
It was a Friday. The voice said they were expecting one in this coming Monday at 11.00am. They would not except a deposit.
I was on the their door at 11.05 am that Monday.
Got the Sub. Paid list but got a freebie bottle of Moët Chandon.
It’s worth ringing around, but be prepared to travel!
Best of luck!

[UKDan]

Thanks for the advice. I work in central London but live a bit further out. I think I’ll try out the local AD’s first from the sounds of things, albeit most of them are Goldsmiths/Fraser Hart. I always thought they would get the “runts” of the models, being a bit more high street, but it sounds like every AD should get a reasonable allocation across the models so same sort of chances/ratios as a WOS or M&W...

[Wristwatcherboy]

From personal experience, and ended up with an SD43.

No need to necessarily avoid all the central London AD’s, but rather just the big chains like WOS and Maplin and Webb etc. Find the smaller indeoendentt stores, they do exist in london.

[koronet-kid]

I was talking to an ex Rolex account manager last week, now working in jewellery store come grey dealer, I was told that ADs are tiered and depending on their tier rating, is the basis on which models they receive and to what volume, he also stated that tier 2 ADs receive 6 Daytonas a year 3 of each colour and they have approximately 400 people chasing each one!

Could be BS however he was very knowledgeable and gave my honest advice in relation to my GMT BLRO

Sean

[DP63]

Originally Posted by Flying Doctor

Yes it is but the London ADs will shift more hence get more of the desirable pieces, but you are correct the ratio will be the normal ratios. They of course also all have huge, huge, waits for everything.....

FD.

Thank you, every day is a school day.

[rolexdream]

Awful experience of london ad’s most will not even entertain you unless you want a dj or milgaus. I got a sub nd outside london but all london ad’s were quoting me 1-2yr wait list and most wouldnt even put me on lists!

I personally think the best chance for sought after pieces is airports or abroad, some countries have put me on wl’s without visiting in person

[LPan]

I wouldnt necessarily say avoid London ADs, perhaps avoid the ones in tourist areas but my relationship has been built with an AD near my work in Central London. Through them I have bought everything I have wanted including the most sought after steels HOWEVER I did have to buy that relationship at least int he very beginning...
In my opinion every single dealer whether large or small will have lists for the sought after pieces and will have their go to customers. If you are going to get lucky, it could be anywhere...

[Zakalwe]

Originally Posted by rolexdream

Awful experience of london ad’s most will not even entertain you unless you want a dj or milgaus. I got a sub nd outside london but all london ad’s were quoting me 1-2yr wait list and most wouldnt even put me on lists!

I personally think the best chance for sought after pieces is airports or abroad, some countries have put me on wl’s without visiting in person

Tragically I’ve done some maths on this and I can’t say it looks good for you if you’re going to rely on an airport to get a sought after piece.

Take the following assumptions with a pinch of salt, but they illustrate the point. I enquired after a BLNR in T2 a couple of years ago. The sales assistant told me I missed one by a couple of days. I asked how long it was in the window and she replied “2 minutes”. She also told me she couldn’t reliably say how many they would get in a year but that was the first BLNR in 6 months that they received. But for the sake of argument let’s say the AD puts every watch in the case and doesn’t hold it in the safe to bundle with a PM. Assume the BLNR would on average sit in the case for 5 minutes before being snapped up and let’s say they are going to get 3 in the next year and you will visit that terminal once. The AD is open all year for 16 hours a day so approximately 6000 hours total. Let’s also assume they receive their deliveries at random times (they clearly don’t, but still...).

Using those numbers, in that time a BLNR will be sitting in the case for a total of 0.25 hours, so your chances of randomly stumbling on one are 1 in 24000.

I reckon getting friendly with a local AD is a better bet.

[peterskinner]

Originally Posted by AK797

Really I'd just keep saving and buy a used or grey one, an AD now will be years in the South and just not worth the wait time.

Sad, but probably the most practical advice. You just can’t be sure of any ‘relationship’ with an AD. The pressure on them is too great. If you are determined to pay retail, find a Jewellers outside London, use the purchase of a gold model to lever a steel one.
I tried that, didn’t work! Good luck.
Btw: you can get an easy 10% off a PM model, maybe 15%.

[Daveclock]

Originally Posted by UKDan

Thanks for the advice. I work in central London but live a bit further out. I think I’ll try out the local AD’s first from the sounds of things, albeit most of them are Goldsmiths/Fraser Hart. I always thought they would get the “runts” of the models, being a bit more high street, but it sounds like every AD should get a reasonable allocation across the models so same sort of chances/ratios as a WOS or M&W...

Don’t knock Goldsmiths or FH as a large chain they are MASSIVE Rolex AD’s
I do say this in the belief that my “intent of interest” will get me a LVc or BLNR (this year I hope!)😀

[Flying Doctor]

Originally Posted by Zakalwe

Tragically I’ve done some maths on this and I can’t say it looks good for you if you’re going to rely on an airport to get a sought after piece.

Take the following assumptions with a pinch of salt, but they illustrate the point. I enquired after a BLNR in T2 a couple of years ago. The sales assistant told me I missed one by a couple of days. I asked how long it was in the window and she replied “2 minutes”. She also told me she couldn’t reliably say how many they would get in a year but that was the first BLNR in 6 months that they received. But for the sake of argument let’s say the AD puts every watch in the case and doesn’t hold it in the safe to bundle with a PM. Assume the BLNR would on average sit in the case for 5 minutes before being snapped up and let’s say they are going to get 3 in the next year and you will visit that terminal once. The AD is open all year for 16 hours a day so approximately 6000 hours total. Let’s also assume they receive their deliveries at random times (they clearly don’t, but still...).

Using those numbers, in that time a BLNR will be sitting in the case for a total of 0.25 hours, so your chances of randomly stumbling on one are 1 in 24000.

I reckon getting friendly with a local AD is a better bet.

Yes - about as likely as winning the lottery. You have literally got to walk past the second it goes on display. They don't reserve stock and so you have one chance there and then to pounce. Don't pass go, don't go and buy the duty free, don't even think of needing to go to the ablution facilities because it will be gone when you come back and you will just see who has beaten you to it. Just run in, get your card out and get it - and don't mill and pussy foot around in the boutique either - just say I want that and get someone to grab it before someone else does.......

Sad but true - what a sorry state of affairs!!!!!

FD.

[m j b]

I'll throw in this thought: a couple of years ago I had a hankering to get a YM with the rhodium dial, so I stopped at a local AD (not my usual AD, since I was at lunch and in a different town) to see if they had one. I knew the manager there from when he managed a store in my town in the past. Anyway... they didn't have one, but another store in their chain did, so he had it sent over and a couple of days later I stopped by to see it.

It was, unfortunately, one of those things where it looks better in the pictures and it didn't speak to me (not for $11K) like I had hoped, so I took a pass.

Point being: don't discount chains just because they are chains. Sometimes that can work to your advantage.