Price Increases?

[SMD]

Originally Posted by Mainewatchman

Prices are dropping everyday! Most pieces will be under retail in the next month or two. Lots of deals/people looking to get out while they can but its already too late. Can't wait for things to get back to the buyer having the power and not chasing and dealing with the typical lines from AP sales teams!

Sure. Definitely have not heard this before.

[GW44]

Originally Posted by Vince_76

Interesting I haven’t been tracking. How so? Thought Asia was cheaper…

Bluntly speaking Vince I think most Uk/Eu dealers have a very narrow focus…..I.E. they “avoid” AP per se as they’d rather spread their risk/investment for stock in 3/4/5 Steel Rolex’s than 1/2 AP’s but my own is that the market in the West/East is less parsimonious.

[johnsonsxusfrt]

Originally Posted by fsprow

I believe, given recent price trends, it would not be prudent for ANY watch company to raise prices in the near future.

100% spot on. AP has already priced the new 43 ROOs much too high, and the discounts on the secondary market reflect this. The PM codes are getting slaughtered as well. Almost all Pateks outside the Nautilus and Aquanat lines are below retail as are pretty much all PM rolexes. Got offered 3 different PM Rolexes from my AD in the past 2 weeks and passed.

and not to mention the discontinued 42 ROOs are for the most part back to roughly precovid prices on the secondary market. The hype is pretty much over, which is great for true enthusiasts!

[Vince_76]

Originally Posted by GW44

Bluntly speaking Vince I think most Uk/Eu dealers have a very narrow focus…..I.E. they “avoid” AP per se as they’d rather spread their risk/investment for stock in 3/4/5 Steel Rolex’s than 1/2 AP’s but my own is that the market in the West/East is less parsimonious.

Helpful context. Thanks, Gareth.

[Zazzles]

Originally Posted by Vince_76

There are. On MODA for low-mid 30s

What is moda? Can someone send a link please. I'm looking to buy a rm67

[Vince_76]

Originally Posted by Zazzles

What is moda? Can someone send a link please. I'm looking to buy a rm67

It’s a private Facebook group. Just Google “Moda watch club” or type into FB search. Has 77k members. Request to join and you should get access quick

[Watchguynyc8300]

I for one think they should hike prices for the code 11.59 in particular at retail. It seems like that would be the optimal thing for them.

Think most of the discussion on prices is related to people trying to buy pieces on here to be fair, not someone worried about the grey market value of something they bought a while ago. Folks forget there are still people interested in buying pieces, just that it’s been tougher to buy from a trusted grey unless you go Moda

[psm11]

Originally Posted by Watchguynyc8300

I for one think they should hike prices for the code 11.59 in particular at retail. It seems like that would be the optimal thing for them.

Think most of the discussion on prices is related to people trying to buy pieces on here to be fair, not someone worried about the grey market value of something they bought a while ago. Folks forget there are still people interested in buying pieces, just that it’s been tougher to buy from a trusted grey unless you go Moda

Hike meaning raise them? Not sure how that would be a good idea since most codes are going for wayyyy under retail.


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[In-N-Out]

Originally Posted by psm11

Hike meaning raise them? Not sure how that would be a good idea since most codes are going for wayyyy under retail.


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haha yea raising Code prices would make them even more undesirable as market prices as % of msrp decline etc

[SRG89]

Code's are already too expensive as is

[GW44]

Noticed tonight that everything on the UK AP site is Price On Request

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by GW44

Noticed tonight that everything on the UK AP site is Price On Request

Same in the US.

Honestly, a price increase isn't warranted at this point given that secondary market values have been falling significantly. But whatever. It's all one big joke, anyway.

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by In-N-Out

haha yea raising Code prices would make them even more undesirable as market prices as % of msrp decline etc

Originally Posted by SRG89

Code's are already too expensive as is

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by fsprow

I believe, given recent price trends, it would not be prudent for ANY watch company to raise prices in the near future.

Completely agree!

That said, AP has never operated prudently, in my opinion.

Remember, in one recent year (was it 2022?) they did three (3!) price increases in the US.

[psm11]

I am scratching my head as to why they’d push out a price increase given the current market. Very concerned about the future of the brand.


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[dchang81]

10 years ago they dropped prices on all pm models by 17%, it was supposedly was the end of the brand according to TRF. Richemont was buying back stock from dealers and destroying/dismantling pieces with big oversupply. Who knows what's going to happen. As much as I used to think people have long memories, really doesn't seem that way.

[Vince_76]

Originally Posted by psm11

I am scratching my head as to why they’d push out a price increase given the current market. Very concerned about the future of the brand.


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So we think moving all pieces to “price on request” foreshadows a price increase? Guess we’ll find out fairly shortly. All I’ll say is that the price must be changing one way or another - why else would they do this?

Originally Posted by dchang81

10 years ago they dropped prices on all pm models by 17%, it was supposedly was the end of the brand according to TRF. Richemont was buying back stock from dealers and destroying/dismantling pieces with big oversupply. Who knows what's going to happen. As much as I used to think people have long memories, really doesn't seem that way.

Richemont was buying AP stock? Didn’t know this

[johnsonsxusfrt]

Originally Posted by Vince_76

So we think moving all pieces to “price on request” foreshadows a price increase? Guess we’ll find out fairly shortly. All I’ll say is that the price must be changing one way or another - why else would they do this?

Richemont was buying AP stock? Didn’t know this

Agree, we should see the website updated this week with the prices. It's possible there could even be price cuts on some pieces


I think he's referring to Richemont buying back stock in their own brands, not AP. As an example of how bad things were after the GFC.

[VogelPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Vince_76

So we think moving all pieces to “price on request” foreshadows a price increase? Guess we’ll find out fairly shortly. All I’ll say is that the price must be changing one way or another - why else would they do this?

Well, they could move to not showing prices on their website, like Rolex used to do and Lange started some time ago (and which I find very annoying). But I agree that an impending price increase is the more likely hypothesis.

[~JJ]

Originally Posted by Vince_76

So we think moving all pieces to “price on request” foreshadows a price increase? Guess we’ll find out fairly shortly. All I’ll say is that the price must be changing one way or another - why else would they do this?


Richemont was buying AP stock? Didn’t know this

Not the poster, but Richemont was buying back their own stock to prevent the old Breitling effect and in parallel AP had a significant price decrease on precious metal pieces. Same time period Swatch started to pull ETA ebauche’s from third parties. I think he was saying there were tuff times in the industry not that long ago and AP didn’t learn from their past mistakes.

[dchang81]

Originally Posted by ~JJ

Not the poster, but Richemont was buying back their own stock to prevent the old Breitling effect and in parallel AP had a significant price decrease on precious metal pieces. Same time period Swatch started to pull ETA ebauche’s from third parties. I think he was saying there were tuff times in the industry not that long ago and AP didn’t learn from their past mistakes.

Yea I meant richemont was buying back iwc, jlc stock etc and dismantling them. They had a large price decrease as well. My wife bought me a jubilee platinum jlc as a surprise and the price dropped a month later giving me chest pain... I kinda feel like they didn't learn from their mistakes since it ended up not being an issue with the mania setting in and people somehow forgetting. Ive been on here long enough, made me chuckle reading some old private messages about all kinds of other shenanigans too but people have a short memory, and conveniently forgot.

Hell I felt like I overpaid on my 5167a that was 20.3k discounted 20% and then patek dropped prices a few weeks later for 18.9. I felt ripped off....here i am trying to buy a timex seconde seconde for over MSRP for a gift....

[NTCP8]

Originally Posted by VogelPhoenix

Well, they could move to not showing prices on their website, like Rolex used to do and Lange started some time ago (and which I find very annoying). But I agree that an impending price increase is the more likely hypothesis.

If I'm not mistaken, retailers have to show prices on their websites, at least EU. Maybe the European Union have changed their policy, but I don't think so. Forgot exactly when they implemented it. There was a time (think before 2014) were (luxury) retailers never showed the prices, but now they have to.

[Tcjreid]

I’m picking up a new piece today rather than Friday, as previously planned, to negate the risk of a hike on 1st December.

[Vivalas]

When I logged in to my account yesterday, it had changed, they emailed me a passcode and said they were updating the security etc. Maybe it’s as simple as the website being updated?

[d33nastyle]

Originally Posted by NTCP8

If I'm not mistaken, retailers have to show prices on their websites, at least EU. Maybe the European Union have changed their policy, but I don't think so. Forgot exactly when they implemented it. There was a time (think before 2014) were (luxury) retailers never showed the prices, but now they have to.

Not really, in belgium it's also " price on request "

[NTCP8]

Originally Posted by d33nastyle

Not really, in belgium it's also " price on request "

Yes, right now... AP is probably updating the website...

[Batmannr1]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

When I logged in to my account yesterday, it had changed, they emailed me a passcode and said they were updating the security etc. Maybe it’s as simple as the website being updated?

Same for me, needed to verify my account. AP is adding multi factor authentication to their website. Probably just some ongoing IT maintenance, not a price hike.

[VogelPhoenix]

Originally Posted by NTCP8

If I'm not mistaken, retailers have to show prices on their websites, at least EU. Maybe the European Union have changed their policy, but I don't think so. Forgot exactly when they implemented it. There was a time (think before 2014) were (luxury) retailers never showed the prices, but now they have to.

Well, for 100kCHF+ pieces the AP website always showed "Price on Request", EU or elsewhere, so the rules must be somewhat more complex.

[185671085]

seems like all pieces are under “price on requst”

[watchman124]

If they raise prices at this stage of the market cycle, they are absolutely insane and out of touch.