There are several categories of "newness" for Daytonas. In descending order, they are: (1) A new watch which you bought directly from a Rolex dealer. (2) A watch that someone else bought new from a dealer, which is now being flipped on eBay, chrono24, etc. These have all stickers, box, papers, etc. They are (incorrectly) listed as "new," "brand new," "NOS," etc. (3) A used watch. It may have box and papers, but it has been worn and has no stickers. The well-known dealer Takuya just listed a category 3 Daytona for $33,875 TimeZone : TZ Showcase » FSOT:LNIB Rolex 116500 COSMOGRAPH DAYTONA CERAMIC BEZEL WHITE DIAL 2021 WARRANTY
Why disturbing? He can offer any watch at any price he thinks reflects the market price. He's also offering an unworn Black dial Daytona at $29,575, a bargain by comparison.
The fact of grey market prices for Rolex Daytonas and other brands/models does not, in and of itself, disturb me. The seemingly endless threads on the topic, however...
I’m not super bothered by it, partly because my brother and I have 4 of them between us and paid well under MSRP on all of them but what I will say is in Rolex’s lineup which I’ve owned many of, the Daytona is easily the best watch to own and wear and if you’re going to overpay for any Rolex IMO it should be the Daytona. I wear the 116520 more than any other watch and at one point I had both the Hulk and the Batman GMT as well and never wore either because both had objectively much worse movements, didn’t fit under a shirt cuff as well, were more prone to expensive dings, took too long to set in the mornings (far too long for the GMT) and had a short power reserve that couldn’t survive being taken off on a Friday night and put back on Monday morning. I sold the Hulk and Batman and both have since gone way up on what sold them for as tends to happen when I sell watches but I have no regrets and will never sell the Daytona as its just that damned good, comfortable, well made and reliable. Also the 4130 Calibres are now around 20 years old, mine is 15 years old and they have proven to be extremely long term durable and I’ve yet to even hear of someone having a significant issue with one unlike many other Rolex calibres. It’s a great watch and frankly it deserves its money far more than many of their more mediocre 3-handers, and definitely more than some of the odd junk Rolex make like the Sky-Dweller and YM2.
It’s not grey market... flippers are not grey market. grey market are people that get watches from dealers under MSRP and sell them. Normally these watches are extra and unsold from yearly allocation.
We need a Reddit type intervention....it’s gone beyond the point of return. Seems like the price in ceramic Daytona’s are increasing on a weekly basis.
That infinite question can be asked of Tesla, Bitcoin, digital 'art', tulips and every other high flying 'greatest thing since sliced bread' investment. As the economist Herb Stein once said, 'If something cannot go on forever, it will stop'
Regarding your category two, Yes too many watches that are purchased and un worn but are being resold, are listed as new on the secondary market. A new watch can only come from an authorized dealer. Stickers are supposed to be removed by the AD, but if you look online you can find these pre owned watches with the stickers intact. If the stickers are intact that means the AD mistakenly did not remove them as is the procedure, or they could be fake stickers re applied. If we can have fake boxes, books, tags, movements and watches we can have fake stickers too.
Welcome to a capitalist society. Even Omega is starting to move into this realm. Is anyone able to buy a Snoopy at MSRP right now? The answer is Sure, if you want to pay close to double MSRP in the secondary market.
I thinkv116520 are a bargain at the moment considering Hulks and Pepsi prices. What’s the forums market price thoughts for a recently serviced (Rolex London2019) black chromalight from 2014 still with the service stickers attached. Full set and LNIB from a private seller? Thanks
White dials are more preferred to black these days. If the seller is looking for less than $20k, that would probably be considered "fair" in the current insane bubble.
I just can’t believe only about 4 or 5 years ago I had a white Daytona for 9g I sold it 2 years ago for 16..... it is now 20g I was looking to get a ceramic and ready to pay premium but 34g damn.!
The bubble will only stop expanding when people stop putting they hard earned savings in those SS Rolexes. In the meantime, there are a handful of other interesting and quality brands around.
I personally prefer the SS 16520 over the 116520 models. Zenith movements are where the $ is at from here on in IMO.