Wait lists are a myth... you're not getting any steel sports Rolex unless you are a regular ongoing customer, UNLESS you just happen to walk in to the store when they put one in the case as a matter of luck.

You can get to know the dealer and hopefully garner enough good will to get a call from him when something comes in... like what happened to me when I scored my Air King, but more than likely production is not going to increase beyond where it is today... though the 'mix/ratio' of steel sports to other models might change going forward. My same AD did also offer me a 'no date' submariner, but they want way over msrp... which they are allowed to do when a watch is 'pre-owned'... my air king was NEW so that means msrp only.

Rolex is opening a new factory soon, but it probably doesn't mean more piece volume but might mean more parts/movement volume. Production is already around a million pieces per year... which is plenty before you begin entering market saturation and therefore lower overall demand.

What is happening is that some dealers are making/have made deals where the high demand watches are being sold to gray market seller's directly before they make it into the AD's display cases... either by negotiations with the re-seller to split profits or by setting up a re-seller (eg: family member, close friend etc).

Here is an example... a 126710blro has an MSRP of $9500us... that watch costs the dealer roughly $4750-$5200us... the gray market sells this same watch as 'pre-owned' with no warranty for roughly $18,000us. All you have to do is follow the monies.

That being said, the biggest reason that there is little stock for sale at MSRP in authorized dealers show rooms is because the Chinese market has absolutely exploded for steel sports watches within this last year and they are literally buying every single piece they can get they're hands on.

There are some reports where a Chinese buyer will come in and buy an AD's entire Rolex shipment as soon as it hits that dealer... regardless of what's in the shipment... just so they can get the 'hard to get' pieces. That is the world we live in right now.

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I'm in love.

Rafa also wears Richard Mille watches during his matches, sometimes worth upwards of $700k. One specifically was worn to demonstrate its ability to absorb shock or something like that.

been eyeing one of these for a while now, whenever i look though they are out of stock

He 100% is doing this as a spokesman, he was recently seen at an event they hosted

Meh, seems like you are incorrect about this. He's confirmed not to be a brand representative, and just a "valued client."

I would have guessed there was zero chance he appears at their event and then wears their watch later that week but I could. A lot of these players are turning themselves into promotional and marketing vehicles because the stats on the amount who go broke is shockingly high.

In all the AB discussion, a lot of it was focused over how JuJu makes far more through social media than through Football (as did Gronk who never touched his salary) and how some people theorized AB was just doing this to build his social platform. Not saying I agree with that but there's a signifcant amount of money out there for those guys.

How long has the Rolex market been out of whack? Assuming supply is fixed, if they were to double the sport MSRPs, then what happens when the nouveau riche Chinoise find something else to hoard? Because if the demand spike is transient, what you'll have is an ultra-luxury brand doing massive price drops and I'm not sure that's a good strategy.

mid 2017 it began... if you are patient there are still good buys at an AD on many 'Allocated' models. Just dont expect to get a 126710blro there.

there already has been a slight softening of the gray market over the last 2 weeks... maybe 5% or so, but now it's stable at that level.

got another Baldieri...it's good an chunky.

Q - Re watch repairs..

I sent my Nomos watch back to Nomos via a local Nomos watch retailer via what some of you said earlier ITT.

The jeweler originally said it should take 2-3 weeks to get ship/repaired/sent back.

At 3 weeks I called the jeweler asking what is happening, he said that they should hear back from Nomos any day now(first estimate already wrong).

Now at 4 weeks I have yet to hear from Nomos or the jeweler.

What do I do now? Is this normal? I have an original receipt incase anything goes horribly bad..

what do you do now? you keep waiting.

this is extremely normal.

Sorry for the bad photo but a Zenith El Primero.


It feels considerably more chunky and weighty than my current watch but it's very different and gives me a choice for something different on certain days.

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Had to send my VC back, I was convinced that there was a problem with the mechanism, losing time and the day window would occasionally just go blank. They took it for a day and called me to say they admit there is a fault and will send a new one to London. Now just playing the waiting game but I can't really fault their process in terms of admitting fault and approving a new one getting sent.

Has anyone else had something like this with this kind of watch?

very nice... a defy (1/100th) or Cronomaster is high on my to get list... as long as I can get it used. I dont want to be paying retail for that

what model Vacheron was it?

edit... I see from above. moon phase and day/date complication. very very nice.
the thing about these holy trinities and boutique watches is that they are nearly ALWAYS fragile. they are outstanding works of Horology but when one owns them, they MUST be prepared to have some nagging issues having to relate to brittleness etc. they are usually always fixable, but there is a cost of ownership associated with them as I am sure you no doubt know as an owner.

Absolutely, I think of them like classic cars, they need to be loved, looked after and there will always be issues! I use the VC as my daily wear now, again like cars I think having something like that and keeping it hidden in a safe is a crime. Replacement will apparently arrive on Tuesday so I get to do the collection all over again

Replacement arrived today and if I'm honest, couldn't be more pleased with the level of service in getting a replacement through them. They even threw in a business card holder from Mont Blanc / Vacheron as an apology.

Nice!
I've been eyeballing used Reverso's lately... maybe in a few months.

Nice, go for it!

How real is the thought of getting a watch stolen, lost or damaged?

How frequently do you get dressed in the morning and decide "i better not wear that one today"

Is this an imaginary scenario?

I wear mine daily and don’t really think about it. I’m aware it could happen but I could say the same about my car etc or whatever. If I know there is a good reason I shouldn’t wear a very expensive watch I won’t, I’m not going to be stupid, but day to day I want to enjoy the things I buy. I don’t see them as investments but just beautiful things to enjoy.


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I will sometimes choose an alternative watch for a weekend/trip away in Europe or elsewhere. In addition, if I know I'm going cycling and/or the gym etc., then I'll wear a more "durable" watch:



I live in the Isle of Man, so local crime is not really a concern of mine.

Anyone recognize this one? Did a google image search and came up dry