I don't understand the recent Rolex SS craze/shortage. What am I missing?

Not directly watch related, but there are reports that Hermes recently reopened it's flagship store in Guangzhou and took $2.7m in sales that weekend. Comparable average daily revenue is estimated to be about $100k.

Luxury goods, watches included, simply become more desireable the harder they are to obtain. The vast majority of the wealthy will remain wealthy when the Covid-19 crisis ends and contonue to spend as they always did.

Coupled with the factory closures, obtaining a SS Rolex is bound to be just as difficult as it was before..

lol

such a mess rolex

we all know it happens...we just are helpless to do anything about it.


hong kong as well

lulz

How much truth is in this, do you think?

sounds like clickbait

We already have a larger Submariner. It's called the Sea Dweller 43mm 50th anniversary model.

i am unsure of the possibility of a larger sub. to go back to the origin of the thread. It gets on my nerves that some watches like the Daytona SS are impossible to find at ADs yet there are plenty of the that do not sell because too expensive in the gray market.

I heard the same, from a source close to Genève. A larger Daytona may be coming as well. Without a date thankfully. True or not, time will tell.


BTT:
Covid will not burst anything. The wealthy will stay wealthy, if not even profiting from it. Demand for new(ish) Rolex watches is as high as ever. Also, more people are moving away from cash into tangible assets.

Cheers,

Max

Also the Explorer 1 now 39mm. Too big.

From the FT this morning...


Exports of Swiss watches fell 81 per cent in April, in the industry's worst sales contraction on record, as factories in Switzerland shut their doors and wealthy consumers across the world stayed at home. Swiss watchmaking is critical to the Swiss economy; behind gold and pharmaceuticals, watches are the third largest category of products exported from the wealthy alpine state. In 2019 watch exports were worth SFr22bn ($22.7bn).

The sector has been "stopped in [its] tracks," the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said in a statement, adding that it believed the decline to reflect an "exceptional situation rather than a trend in demand." Analysts are less sanguine. "We believe trends are unlikely to improve materially until the back half of the year," said Thomas Chauvet of Citi.

The impact will be significant given the existing structural challenges Swiss watchmaking faces, Mr Chauvet added, citing among them: "risks of production overcapacity, slow pace of innovation and limited product newness, reluctance to embrace technology, unattractive pricing architecture, limited control over distribution, low e-commerce penetration and conservative communication."

Switzerland has been among the first of developed economies to roll-back lockdown measures as a result of the coronavirus pandemic as Bern has sought to revive business activity and limit the financial fallout of the crisis. The grim outlook for the country's watchmaking industry, however, highlights the extent to which the country's economic recovery is highly geared to the global economic outlook.

vintage all the way!!!

In line with the title theme of this thread - looks like SS sports rolex prices are going down!

Kermit like this is usually seen at 14ish. We might be getting out of stratosphere

I echo that. It looks more like the readjustment to the reality. For last few years all the gray and second hand dealers were enjoying good profits. But now, some of them started to panic and prices were dropped. I'm getting emails from Crown and Caliber every other day with the "sale" prices. "Spring" sale,"Spring end" sale, "weekend" sale, "summer is almost here" sale, "Friday" sale, "afternoon" sale, etc.

For people who made purchases at high this is sucks, for watch enthusiasts without extra deep pockets - this might be a good sign.

https://www.crownandcaliber.com/collections/rolex-watches

In Switzerland the ADs say that after the lockdown it is even more difficult to acquire models like subs cause the demand is the same if not even higher than before and only the supply has changed during that period. Yesterday I saw that video claiming footage of the new sub and I am really curious what will happen with the new wish lists as soon as the new models are released.
Do you think that there is any chance there are releases from Rolex during 2020? Would it make sense for people looking at acquiring a sub to wait for the new release?

You couldn't purchase a SS sports watch from a Rolex AD pre-pandemic and won't be able to purchase one post-pandemic. It seems like nothing has changed for the consumer.

I think Rolex will hold off on releases like Patek but that’s just a random opinion based on 70+ days without them selling a watch