No waiting list at my local AD

[Mephist]

So I dropped by my local AD yesterday looking for a new Datejust, but she did not have the one I wanted in stock at the moment. Anyway we started talking about how crazy the demand has become with the Rolex sports models. She told me she have waiting lists that equals years for most of the sports models she manages to get. It is a tiny AD so she gets a very limited supply of sports models. Anyway then she tells me she took the whole list and through it out the window!
And the reason because she get calls from all over the country that call every AD and put themselves on the list and then just flips the watches in the grey market and she does not like it. So now she said she only have a tiny list of good local customers she knows that will get the first arrivals, after that you have to visit her store and check regularly what she got in stock. If she got what you want you get it, that way she knows the watches goes to customers in her district. So she told me to come back in September and just visit regularly once a month or call down but she would not hold a watch for you, first in gets it.

First I was a little shocked but after that I think it may actually make sense. If you visit an AD once every month or so, sooner or later you will end up buying something, so she will probably increase the sales of other Rolex's and other brands like Tudor and Omega. I also bet she will still keep a short secret list for her best local customers too so that she maintain her best customers, while still giving average Joe's the chance to win the lottery by walking in the same moment she unpacks a newly arrived BLRO.

[rolexinfl]

Good for her.

[SLS]

Smart salesperson, she already has you coming back in!

[jimcameron]

She should dump Rolex and it's drama.

[Mephist]

Originally Posted by jimcameron

She should dump Rolex and it's drama.

hah you hit the nail on the head there That may actually happen, just the other way around. Rolex have threatened with revoking her AD status because she is too small and her neighbors are not as high end or sophisticated as Rolex would like them to be. If that happens my new local AD would be 3-4 hours away with car. So she have the local monopoly on Rolex and Tudor as the only ad for those brands in a 3-4 hour radius with car, so I think she would want to keep her AD status.

[marc12]

the AD at Foxwoods in CT told me the same thing, it's first come first serve. They had a BLRO that sat in the case for one day and someone walking by saw and it bought it.

I really should gamble more....

[Amochosto]

I've been told the same thing, I've been called twice by my salesperson and told that they had received a 114060 and either showed up as it was being sold to another person, or been phoned to be told it had been sold. Hoping third time is the charm.

[ArtNouveau]

I maintain a "come in and visit" relationship with a similar smaller market AD. He has told me candidly that he doesn't get a lot of "hot models" but when he does he offers them to whomever he feels like, does not keep lists. The implication is similar to the OP's, as in come in and see me regularly and maybe, just maybe you'll get a call from me someday for something special. Honestly I like that approach much better than the nebulous lists we hear about that in reality mean very little.

[Greenp]

But how can she be sure the Random Joe who stops by also isn't a flipper?

Originally Posted by Mephist

So I dropped by my local AD yesterday looking for a new Datejust, but she did not have the one I wanted in stock at the moment. Anyway we started talking about how crazy the demand has become with the Rolex sports models. She told me she have waiting lists that equals years for most of the sports models she manages to get. It is a tiny AD so she gets a very limited supply of sports models. Anyway then she tells me she took the whole list and through it out the window!
And the reason because she get calls from all over the country that call every AD and put themselves on the list and then just flips the watches in the grey market and she does not like it. So now she said she only have a tiny list of good local customers she knows that will get the first arrivals, after that you have to visit her store and check regularly what she got in stock. If she got what you want you get it, that way she knows the watches goes to customers in her district. So she told me to come back in September and just visit regularly once a month or call down but she would not hold a watch for you, first in gets it.

First I was a little shocked but after that I think it may actually make sense. If you visit an AD once every month or so, sooner or later you will end up buying something, so she will probably increase the sales of other Rolex's and other brands like Tudor and Omega. I also bet she will still keep a short secret list for her best local customers too so that she maintain her best customers, while still giving average Joe's the chance to win the lottery by walking in the same moment she unpacks a newly arrived BLRO.

[Mephist]

Originally Posted by Greenp

But how can she be sure the Random Joe who stops by also isn't a flipper?

She cannot know that, but if on average 5% of the Rolex buyers are flippers then most likely 5% of the locals will be flippers too so five out of every hundred watch she sells will be flipped. However if all flippers of the country calls her to be added to the waiting list something they probably did. Then maybe 80% of those on that list are flippers so by doing what she does she reduces the amount of watches sold to flippers from 80% to 5% and increases the amount sold to locals and none flippers.

[droptopman]

Good for her. Makes sense.

[oldman2005]

I'd do the same thing, if I worked for a small AD with annual allocation of 1 BLRO, why should I maintain a list with 60 names on it? And more names being added daily, you can have a list of few hundred names easily. Makes no sense to maintain a list like that.

Just a fact of life that vast majority of us mortal here will not have a chance at BLRO at MSRP if Rolex scarcity is maintained indefinitely. Life goes on perfectly without a BLRO, plenty of other good watches out there.

[fskywalker]

Originally Posted by droptopman

Good for her. Makes sense.

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