New Purchase from AD London

[MisterDave]

Hi all,

This is my first post, so apologies if I'm in the incorrect thread.

I wanted to share my experience (and frustration) of purchasing a Rolex from an AD in London without prior history. This is really for those who are in a similar position that I was.

Over the past 12 months I have been trying to purchase a Rolex Explorer 1 or Blue DJ 36mm from an AD in London. I dropped into to every AD in town, a couple of whom seemed promising, Harrods Fine Watches and Bucherer Selfridges especially. Weirdly, these 2 stores told me that they would not put me on the waitlist and that I should contact them via WhatsApp instead. However, when I did they would seldom respond. I ended up losing 6 months of my search on these guys as they gave me the smooth chat and made it seem like it they would be fairly straight forward watches to obtain. Which it wasn't.

Bucherer, Geneva who I spoke with on email and phone were super friendly and I was due to visit them in Jan 2022 to try my luck there.

Watches of Switzerland, Regent Street had nothing to try on and not overly helpful staff.

Mappin & Webb, Bond Street were really friendly and had most models to try on.

One Saturday morning I popped into a store in Covent Garden that I hadn't tried yet and spoke to the sales assistant. She was friendly and we small talked about Covid and watches and what I was interested in. After about 15 minutes she told me she had one available and asked if I was interested. A stupid question. Naturally I was, so I proceeded with the purchase.

So after nearly a year of searching, phones calls, emails and trips to ADs, my purchase came down to pure chance and luck. I was able to purchase the blue 36mm Datejust fluted on Oyster Bracelet from a London AD for retail and am over the moon with it.

Essentially the advice I would offer to those who are getting frustrated, as I was (so much so I even wrote a letter to Rolex) is to just keep trying. I had registered interest for a VC Overseas as I was getting pretty annoyed with the whole "experience" of buying a high-end watch in 2021. But due to persistence, some small talk with the AD's and a bit of luck/timing you never know.