Quote:
Originally Posted by lapince
What kills me is not really the problems of grey dealers and I don't know what, but more the fact that some collectors have all the different 5131's for example, since it's basically THE hard to get Patek of the moment, which means that they already have a lot of them, so basically they won't be worn, when some guys who want only one will never get one for retail, I think that when you have one 5131 Patek should consider that it's enough and give others to other clients.
This guy for example who has all of them: http://www.watchprosite.com/page-wf....open_bLoB_s-0/
I'm absolutely not jealous but this gets on my nerves more than some problems with grey dealers and other things, these kind of hard to get watches are a reward in a way, but once a client got his reward it should be to the next one... |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetkopite
I dont agree with you my friend, if a collector has spent many millions at Patek and chooses to have the 5131G/J and R I see nothing wrong with them being rewarded these pieces and thats coming from someone who spent $30K over retail to get a 5131R but as you say you have to pay to play..
A friend who works at the Patek Salon in Geneva told me there are collectors who spent upto $2m there and still waiting for the 5131R so I would be very surprised if you get one at retail from Geneva having bought a couple Pateks there and on the list for another 2...
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I think there are regular watch enthusiasts and then there are mega-collectors.
If I were to speculate on the mega collectors, they are the ones purchasing minute repeaters and getting private VIP invites at Basel to meet with the Sterns and they already own other enamel dial watches (e.g. 5077), marquetry dial watches and hand engraved cases. And most of these people have been collecting Patek watches for 20-30+ years.
Is it unfair for Patek Salons/AD to allocate the 5131 to these mega collectors and not to an average watch enthusiast? As Jetkopite mentioned, if you *really* want a 5131, they are easily available on the secondary market at a premium. However I wouldn't lose hope completely as there are people who get allocated a 5131 with much smaller Patek collections.