Low stock levels across Europe,,,

[MontySX]

Hi folks,

I have been trying to source my first Rolex, preferably a 114060 Sub but also considering 116610 or ceramic GMT. Reputable sellers across Europe are having a run on all their stock at the moment due to the currency issues that have been talked about at length elsewhere.

As a named example (rather than he said she said), Show Commerce in Turin are totally out of stock and will not take further orders until the price rise is confirmed by Rolex. Riccardo reckons 10 to 15%, but that could just be speculation. All I know for sure is that I missed the last 114060 as my credit card was pulled for security checks and it had gone by the time I got it straight.

Just sharing my pain, so thanks for listening. My timing is always poor!

Matt

[autohorology]

I was just told by a very good source that it's going to be 10% on ss, 15% on tt and 19% on all gold models.

However, there are also global economic concerns so it's yet to be seen whether it'll translate to increased demand or resale value.

[Tools]

It is not unusual at all for a business to cease ordering a product when they are pretty sure that the price is going to rise.

They do not want to be in a position to quote a customer one price when the price is more when it is received. They will either have an argument on their hands or a number of cancelled orders they are holding..

[Danex]

This Swiss currency zinger last week is a very unusual event. It seems no secret (this time) that Rolex will adjust prices, if just to correct for currency exchange rates. We are all waiting with curiosity to see how this plays out.

I wonder if the buying frenzy is partially composed of speculators that may tire of their purchase and then we will see a glut of second-hand Rolexes in the year following.

[FTX I]

Maybe its a gray mkt thing but the only watch I could not see around europe was the BLNR. All other models absolutely available. If the Sub is what you want, don't rule out some ADs, search a bit more and get asap.

[MontySX]

Originally Posted by FTX I

Maybe its a gray mkt thing but the only watch I could not see around europe was the BLNR. All other models absolutely available. If the Sub is what you want, don't rule out some ADs, search a bit more and get asap.

I think you have a good point. I am looking at the grey market. It will still be cheaper to go that way even after a price rise than any AD I am aware of.

Tricky!

Matt

[FTX I]

Originally Posted by MontySX

I think you have a good point. I am looking at the grey market. It will still be cheaper to go that way even after a price rise than any AD I am aware of.

Tricky!

Matt

[NKflyer]

I was in Germany and Switzerland around New Years. Granted, this was before the CHF-Euro peg was lifted, but BLNR's were everywhere. Every AD I visited had at least one and many had two, one in the window and one in the case. The BLNR is a nice watch, but I think the hype surrounding its rarity is greatly exaggerated.

[FTX I]

Originally Posted by NKflyer

I was in Germany and Switzerland around New Years. Granted, this was before the CHF-Euro peg was lifted, but BLNR's were everywhere. Every AD I visited had at least one and many had two, one in the window and one in the case. The BLNR is a nice watch, but I think the hype surrounding its rarity is greatly exaggerated.

Interesting. Not that I would buy one, but I wanted my wife's opinion, and I could not find an AD with one in almost a month in amsterdam, edinburgh, london and lisbon including airports like schiphol. Nice to know that germany and switzerland are good places to find one.

[autohorology]

I'm not there, but I think some of what you're hearing is grey inventory. I'm hearing that particular AD's like in Paris can't give the stuff away, and things are moving very slowly. A Rolex isn't exactly rare, and it's also not a "necessary" expense when the going gets tough, regardless of Rolex raising the price.

[MontySX]

Originally Posted by autohorology

I'm not there, but I think some of what you're hearing is grey inventory. I'm hearing that particular AD's like in Paris can't give the stuff away, and things are moving very slowly. A Rolex isn't exactly rare, and it's also not a "necessary" expense when the going gets tough, regardless of Rolex raising the price.

If you could point me to an AD in Paris desperate to offload a no date Sub with a good discount I will drive there next week.

Thanks,

Matt :D

[Tyke]

When I bought my Hulk, around ten months ago, I had to go on a waiting list (and couldn't get a discount!) However, now the AD I bought it from, and the Rolex boutique opposite, both have the 116610LV in stock.
So, I'm not certain about stock levels in the UK, but they seem fine to me.

[Toxic-Cables]

There's a shop in the UK and from what i have seen, they have had the same watches showing in stock for over a week, they are also the cheapest i could find online.

Good thing for me, when i got mine, the very next day they put the price on that very watch up by £1k :)

[MontySX]

Originally Posted by Toxic-Cables

There's a shop in the UK and from what i have seen, they have had the same watches showing in stock for over a week, they are also the cheapest i could find online.

Good thing for me, when i got mine, the very next day they put the price on that very watch up by £1k :)

Would you like to share the name / location of this shop please?

Matt :D

[ARTISAN]

watch centre [ bond street , had a bnib no date in stock,,,,,,,,,,,under retail.
iconic watches are also cheap.

[Toxic-Cables]

Originally Posted by MontySX

Would you like to share the name / location of this shop please?

Matt :D

Iconic Watches, i find them great to deal with also. Got my BNIB Daytona from them that they had in stock, next day it went up with no stock. Funny thing was, they rest of the YG Daytona were all 1k higher, when i asked they said it was because they bought a load of mine for the holidays and got a better price and was able to pass that along.

Was originally going to get a 10 year old one for nearly the same price :) that was from the Watch Centre.

[MontySX]

They both look good thanks. Understandably not the same low price as Europe but good for UK prices.

With current exchange rate the grey dealers in Italy are (or were) asking under £4k delivered for brand new 114060. Mint, full set 6 month old for £3.7k delivered.

As I said earlier, tricky!

Matt

[Andad]

You will be struggling to find an SS Sub or GMT in Melbourne right now.

[Muzz]

Currencies go up and down all the time. Once it stabilizes then the prices will be adjusted. If every time a currency went up or down they adjusted their pricing dealers would be changing numbers once a month.

[AK797]

Originally Posted by autohorology

I was just told by a very good source that it's going to be 10% on ss, 15% on tt and 19% on all gold models.

However, there are also global economic concerns so it's yet to be seen whether it'll translate to increased demand or resale value.

Think I'll become a dealer in that case!

[tattooedfagin]

When exactly was the last price rise, been about 2 years or more I think ?

[Racerdj]

I am not surprised by this. When the increase goes into effect, all current inventory is marked up to the new price.

[capote]

I read on a Swedish forum ADs here isn't selling their Rolex inventory right now, they are holding on to it until further notice.

[andromeda160]

Originally Posted by capote

I read on a Swedish forum ADs here isn't selling their Rolex inventory right now, they are holding on to it until further notice.

this doesn't make very much sense to me, why stop selling back stock? if they pay 60% msrp they're only going to be saving 6-12% over the cost of new stock, when they could be unloading all previous inventory at near retail pending a price increase. and re up with new inventory possibly before the increase happens. for all anyone knows 10-20% increase could cut the potential customers in half, on SS models thats 500-1600 usd, on PMs it could be upwards of $50k on some blinged out models judging by the 10-19% expected increase.

[capote]

Originally Posted by andromeda160

this doesn't make very much sense to me, why stop selling back stock? if they pay 60% msrp they're only going to be saving 6-12% over the cost of new stock, when they could be unloading all previous inventory at near retail pending a price increase. and re up with new inventory possibly before the increase happens. for all anyone knows 10-20% increase could cut the potential customers in half, on SS models thats 500-1600 usd, on PMs it could be upwards of $50k on some blinged out models judging by the 10-19% expected increase.

I don't know really, I haven't seen it for myself. Just the word online.

[Vivalas]

In Italy this summer I could have bought non date sub for around £4,300 from an AD and that's without even asking for a deal, with the euro dropping that would be even cheaper now. The hulk was around £5,200 from a Greek AD.

I'm tempted to fly to Italy before prices rise and see if I can save 20% plus on UK prices from an AD.

I've just been to the Caribbean and could get the hulk or BLNR in every shop I went to. The AD in Barbados even had two deep sea blue's in stock and they are supposed to be hard to get at present.

[MontySX]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

In Italy this summer I could have bought non date sub for around £4,300 from an AD and that's without even asking for a deal, with the euro dropping that would be even cheaper now. The hulk was around £5,200 from a Greek AD.

I'm tempted to fly to Italy before prices rise and see if I can save 20% plus on UK prices from an AD.

I've just been to the Caribbean and could get the hulk or BLNR in every shop I went to. The AD in Barbados even had two deep sea blue's in stock and they are supposed to be hard to get at present.

I have called and emailed quite a few Italian ADs in recent days. All seem to either have sold out of what I want or are just saying that so they can adjust the price before selling!

Good luck though. You probably know your stuff far more than I do. I am at the start of my learning curve.

Matt

[Ruud Van Driver]

I bought my BLNR the Friday before Christmas, as I posted on here. I was on my way to the flagship WoS store on Regent Street, London, only to get a phone call to say that they had just sold it. I then found one that had just been delivered at another AD an hour later.

Anyhoo, we were in Cardiff the next day and the two ADs in St. David's Centre, WoS and Crouch, both had an LV and a BLNR on display in their windows. To be clear, each store had one each of these two pieces on display. They are about 500 yards apart. I'm not hugely surprised as there's more money and more potential buyers in London than there is in Cardiff. My point is that if you move away from tourist places and the larger cities, IMHO you stand more chance of getting lucky.

Oh, and to the OP, they had a 114060 and a BLNR on display at Fraser Hart, Maidstone, three weeks ago too. You'll pay full retail though; they don't discount SS sports models.

Good luck.

[Vivalas]

Originally Posted by MontySX

I have called and emailed quite a few Italian ADs in recent days. All seem to either have sold out of what I want or are just saying that so they can adjust the price before selling!

Good luck though. You probably know your stuff far more than I do. I am at the start of my learning curve.

Matt

Monty

I've found with most AD's that the help you get over the phone (whilst always courteous) is fairly minimal - it's going in the shop and saying that you have the funds to buy there and then that talk. I got my Daytona by doing that - my local AD didn't have one in stock and couldn't get one blah blah and I told him that if he had one I'd buy right now. I left my number and he called the next day saying one of there other stores had one and I could have it.

I believe that if I walked into an AD in Italy the same would happen as this summer they were all extremely keen to do a deal - only caveat would be if this swiss Franc thing has really impacted them.

Good luck

Stephen

[c9smw]

I have bought around 12 watches in the last 2 years from a grey dealer in Italy. I was talking to him yesterday about a sea dweller and a 116610LV. He had them in stock but wouldn't sell them, he told me he will not sell any of his brand new Rolex pieces until all this price rise hype sorts itself out.
It makes sense, if he sells a watch now it could cost him 10% more to replace. I think the next couple of weeks could get interesting !!!