I normally avoid comments about Dealers....

[NoVaSubowner]

But this feels like a requiem more than a comment.

I went into Kings in Old Town to get my wife's watch bracelet adjusted. The son of the owner informed me that they were losing Rolex effective the end of the year.

Apparently Rolex USA informed them that they were moving away from small shops like Kings, towards the high traffic store/AD owned boutique model, which for the life of me I can't understand why they would have more confidence in a shop with competing brands as opposed to a shop that highlighted Rolex.

This is also after they remodeled the shop a few years ago to accommodate Rolex's new displays, not cheap by sense of the word at all.

The owners were really good, civic minded people who supported a lot of local organizations and charities. It was an old school place to buy a watch, like many of the Rolex dealers used to be.

It's left a sour taste with me... the entire trend towards the Tourneaus of the world as opposed to the small mom and pop stores. Stores that put Rolex on the map in this country.