AP Boutique suggesting path to grail piece

[llngoc]

I have been with my current AP Boutique SA for a couple of years and have acquired a nice piece with him as a first piece. He's always been very professional in showing us interesting pieces whenever we visited. And he also took down our wishlist diligently even though we have only rather rare pieces on the list. (Double balance and RD3 for myself, ceramics and frosted gold pieces for my wife)

A couple of months ago, he texted me and told me that one of the pieces on my wife's wish list came in. I was all excited but then found out that it was a ladies ROO which was never on her list. I was confused and politely declined it and re-confirmed our wishlist again.

And a couple of weeks ago, we visited the boutique. Our SA referred us to be helped by his manager. He showed us a few pieces saying that he wanted to see what our taste is so he can help us better. Including a gorgeous 37mm RD#3 which I would have taken in a heartbeat if not for the diamonds. After showing us 6-8 pieces of very loud ROOs and Code 1.59 without anything which we really want, he then told us that in order for us to get something on our wishlist, we need to show our appreciation of the brand (we already owned 3 pieces of ROs). I asked if I acquire a ROO Beast, will it be okay as an appreciation piece, but he said no. In the end, I got a ROO diver and the manager assured us to trust them as they will help to fight for our wishlist pieces.

I do not have any complain in this case as I do like the ROO diver. I am just curious on how come there is a change in approach from our SA and the boutique. I felt like that our SA was too "embarrassed" to bring up this "bundling" practice and have his manager to be the "bad cop" after 2 years.

BTW, I used to have a 2019 ROO Chronograph which I found not very comfortable to wear and this 2024 ROO diver is definitely a great improvement. It got me thinking of adding the beast to my wishlist now.