I don’t think they are selling any less watches!! They are plenty of stainless steel sports models on the grey market selling for above MRSP . The ADs or boutiques are somehow selling them on to the grey markets..
I just wonder how much of a effect this demand for the Sports models is having on the Datejust and OP range.
or increased price.
Rolex isn't benefitting from the greymarket mark up.
The question here is, why haven't they either increased production, or increased price.
Rolex isn't benefitting from the greymarket mark up.
The question here is, why haven't they either increased production, or increased price.
Rumour is there's a price increase to be announced imminently in the UK
why increase production when the
To my convoluted way of thinking a small part of it might be: short answer(or not so short)...why should they? They sell what they make at whatever price they set. Demand is always high. They may or may not need advertising. Everyone at the "factory" gets a vacation , a paycheck . Life is good. Product recognition is high. They don't really have to get really creative. Come on...join in.
have fun
kfw
Edit...at the risk of sounding sillier. Why get greedy?
The more time goes by without a change, the more I have to say you are correct.
Interesting take on things. It is also a non-profit company so presumably there are no shareholders demanding higher profits, and there is probably already so much the president of Rolex can be paid without it looking like a total joke. Just thinking out loud.
@larryganz for that kind of money you could get a gilt 1675. Having seen the white gold one yesterday I thought it was bland, no character to it at all for me.
I don't really understand Rolex's strategy here, surely by constraining supply they are encouraging the vintage market which is far nicer to my tastes anyway.
Maybe they are so confident in the new "shiny bling" which is their target market of cachet and status that a side effect of vintage is of no consequence in their eyes.
They may not be constraining supply, rather their ADs may be quickly moving their stock of SS models to the grey dealers (possibly at above Retail price). There certainly does not seem to be a shortage of sports models sold at above retail prices in the grey market.
Friend of mine picked up a Batman GMT from UK dealer last week and was told they keep the warranty card for 12 months and they would like him to sign a 3 year non sale agreement.
Once back in store to collect they were saying that they also had another in the safe they were unable to sell because a previous customer who purchased it had sold it Grey and Rolex traced it to this dealer and requested that they purchase it back to clean the mess up and await further instruction.
Having made a point of visiting every Rolex dealer I pass (at least 7, London,Brighton,Guildford,tunbridge Wells etc..) I have not found one that has any sports stainless models in stock.......and although you meet some with the smug, “the waiting list is years” line, are they actually selling many watches? In most other businesses no stock/no sales would mean financial ruin.......?
This would mean just about the entire world wide AD network is dumping their entire stock to the grey market because everyone seems to be reporting zero inventory in multiple countries.
This really sounds like AD bullshit.
One more thing: this just shows you that online watch “journalism” is horseshit and really is just brand marketing. All the big online websites and no one can investigate what’s going on? No one can dig up a source? Everyone just quietly pretends there is nothing to see so they stay on the good side of the crown.
I don't think there's any shortage at all and the truth has been touched on above.
I think this is exactly what's happening. Why bother selling to the public when a) they try and haggle on price, b) they ask 'ridiculous' noob questions, and c) they sometimes ask to return a watch, when you can easily seek to a grey dealer who a) buys in bulk, b) agrees a set price, which is possible above rrp and c) almost never has buyers remorse.
Of course the AD has to play their part in this sharade by towing the party line of "ooh a stainless sports Rolex? No they're in extremely short supply. Your talking a couple of years at least until I can get you one.
The result of this is that 1) people flood to the grey market, paying above retail which keeps the greys and in turn, the AD's happy, or 2) people buy a couple of models the greys don't want in attempt to get the AD to throw them a bone and buy the watch they wanted in the first place.
Well I think there is some sort of shortage because up until fairly recently you could just walk into any AD on earth and buy a Sub or GMT for retail. Something changed. Demand didn’t organically increase exponentially overnight. There was a rough equilibrium for years.
You’ve also got to remember there are thousands and thousands of ADs worldwide. If all of them had the stock of 5 years ago and dumped it simultaneously on the gray market prices would plummet.
I refuse to believe that the same amount of watches are being manufacturing and allocated currently vs 3-5 years ago and that demand and has completely outpaced supply by orders of magnitude because of ceramic bezels
