Buying from a grey was actually a very pleasant experience

[fcracer]

Before I share my experience, I should say that I hate paying or benefiting from things that sell for more than MSRP. In 2007, I factory ordered a 997 GT3. When I ordered the car, the market was down and the dealer was having a hard time moving cars. They even had one in stock, but it didn't have the options I wanted.

I factory ordered the car in March exactly how I wanted it. It took a while to get built, and when the car arrived in August, things had changed dramatically and people were willing to pay a premium for those cars. The dealer offered me $20K more than what I paid to immediately sell the car to another client, but I refused.

In 2012, I bought a Sub C at an 18% discount in Toronto. In 2013, I bought a DateJust for my partner with an 18% discount. In 2016, I picked up another DateJust (for my father), this time with a 20% discount because it was a 36MM model that wasn't selling. At the same time, I put my name on the list for a Daytona Ceramic.

Fast forward to 2020 and I was still nowhere on the Daytona list. Worse, my sales associate was laid off due to COVID-19 and the AD said that they are no longer keeping lists for the Daytona since it just irritates clients when they can't get them. Furthermore, my partner wanted to get a GMT BatGirl and also wasn't getting anywhere with ADs.

Given the discounts we had received in the past from our Rolex AD purchases, we thought it fair to give greys a try and see how it goes. We're in Hong Kong so we went to two grey dealers and picked up a "new with stickers and new warranty card" Black Ceramic Daytona and GMT BatGirl.

The purchasing experience from these two grey dealers I have to say was better than my AD experience! The knowledge and passion of the owners and their staff was exceptional. The shop I bought the Daytona from was especially considerate and spent a lot of time sizing the bracelet to fit my wrist perfectly.

While I would still prefer to be able to walk into an AD and buy the product at MSRP, I will admit that I've already forgotten about the premium I paid for this watch. There is a reason I wanted the Daytona at this moment in time (personal reasons) and the markup was worth it for me to match the timing.

I know that people will accuse me of feeding the beast, and I deserve their wrath, but I buy watches to match certain life moments, and this life moment will not come back again. Now, I have my Daytona (which I will never sell) and I have the life moment memory to go with it. And my partner also now has a gorgeous BatGirl (wow, what a watch!).