Dubai duty free today

[VacherObsessive]

Just passing through on my way home as usual, always pop by but never expect anything. They don’t even have PM or TT sports anymore.

Walked by this morning and as usual, there was just a case full of TT DJs and DJ ladies, a few DD etc. It was about 2am and the attendant had just put out a few more watches into the cases, one of which was a Oyster perp blue dial. My colleague who was travelling with me who was a non Rolex owner & not a watch fan said out of the whole bunch *this one* was one he quite liked (the oyster perp). I pretty much agreed with him, aside from the DDs on the wall cabinets of course.

In the middle of our extremely brief comment on the oyster perp, a young Chinese girl came up behind us out of thin air with her phone in her hand and immediately tapped on the glass pointing to the oyster perp and said ‘do you have this in any other colours?’. The attendant said ‘no sorry, this all we have and I’ve only just put these out’. We moved out of the way to look at something else then seconds later her credit card was out and she purchased the watch.

Very extreme buying these days! Even for oyster perps!
Are even oyster perps selling for a premium in greys in China ?? I only assumed she was a flipper as she didn’t even have a Rolex on her wrist.

[WatchOut4It]

It’s difficult to judge people and transactions in an airport duty free shop. Those of us who have stalked those locations know that you need to be ready to pounce when something you want shows up. Heck, it’s like that with any Rolex AD these days. And I will say that blue dialed OP is beautiful; I bought one for my girlfriend a few years ago and often wonder if she would notice a few extra links put into the bracelet... ;-)

[madgpol]

I recall passing through Dubai duty free in 2017 and they had 7 BLNRs in that day and I managed to grab the 2nd to last one. Never seen anything of note since then.

[Andygmt2]

With the luxury tax in China, I suspect its a lot cheaper to buy ‘abroad’.

[ADB85]

I've passed thru Terminal 1 today, there was a Milgauss and a couple of OPs in the case available. As well as the usual DateJusts and ladies models.

[marselluswallace]

There wasn’t a single Rolex of interest when I passed through Dubai duty free a couple of weeks ago.

[grimps]

I picked a Sub date up in Dubai airport last month

I was in Rolex at Amsterdam airport last year and saw a guy in the shop with his wife , he was trying on the new 2018 James Cameron , his wife told him it was too big , he put it down on the counter and I jumped straight in and said 'I'll take it '

[Lifeisarolliecoaster]

While it sounds like she is buying it for somebody else, I’ve no idea of OP’s commanding a premium overseas. The benefits of phones means you can quickly notify others of availability in AD’s. Still think the hot models will be tucked away in the safe

[ninjin]

For mainland Chinese, helping friends buy stuff whilst overseas is common practice.

But there are also some who make a living out of it. They are nothing more than personal shoppers for those who cant/don't want to leave mainland China. They usually take 10-20% of the purchase price as commission charge. For the buyer in China, this is still cheaper than buying in China and with Expensive watches, they know it will be a 'real and not replica' when purchasing from an overseas AD or duty free.

[Peter Shore]

Cant afford to buy a watch at DDF

[Muxi]

Well some people are just affluent.

[ashokleyland]

Better try your luck on Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire ticket than Rolex.

Many stories of people transiting by Dubai airport won on this raffle.

[uansari1]

Just walked through Terminal A, and they have an Explorer and a Deep Sea Black available if anyone is interested.