Incoming: Skeleton in my Closet

[lusfort]

Hi Guys, thought I’ll give something back to the community and inject some positivity and hope in the never ending watch quest that we are in at the moment.

My Journey with AP started almost 4 years ago in late 2017, back then I was casually strolling through one of the malls in HK and plucked enough courage to walked into the AP boutique where I put my name down for a 15202 Jumbo. Back then it wasn’t a crazy market as it is now where premiums for the jumbo was only 5-8k usd… fast forward 3 months later. I received the call from the boutique and picked up one as my first AP, I could only attribute to dumb luck and being at the right place at the right time as the few client ahead of me in the queue could not pick it up in time or passed.

I then took a detour in the collection as I expanded the collection with watches from other brands, there also wasn’t much in terms of offering that attracted me during the period.

Earlier this year I restarted my journey with the Brand as 1) Rolexes are impossible to obtain from the ADs and no ADs in HK seems to be remotely interested in developing relationships 2) the relative value of APs at MSRP versus Rolex and PP at premium makes it a good value proposition 3) I knew my prior purchase history would help in my standing at the store

The Rekindled Journey wasn’t easy at the beginning, even being offered a non allocation piece was a struggle. However, once rapport was made with the sales associate, it became obvious that they valued me as a customer and started to working with me as a partner in the mutual Journey.

Few watches down the road with AP this year, I finally got the text from my Sales Associate that he will have an early Christmas Gift for me..

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking






Words cannot express the gratitude and appreciation to sales associate and sales manager of the Boutique. Pretty sure this isn’t the end of the Journey

Few advice I’d give for others in the journey

1) Don’t give up and do check in frequently at the store even if it’s to say hi or have a casual chat with the staff
2) Having a good profile with the brand is paramount as allocation pieces have to be approved by HQ with a customer profile
3) Don’t be picky with what they initially offer as that’s your probably the first and only “in” you’ll get


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[1William]

Great story and an even better watch. Enjoy.

[squall1]

Congrats OP! Beautiful piece, incredible actually. Would love to hear about the other watches you picked up along the way.

[brandrea]

Congratulations OP, enjoy it

[only1swami]

amazing!! Congratulations and wear it in the best of health

any advice if one needs to hit a particular # like > $0.5M of spend to even qualify for a grail like this skelly? (Obvs along with $ that rapport and trust how you’ll rep the brand needs to be there)

When is it reasonable to tell your SA that hey I would like to be considered for an open worked…as I know cycle time is long?

Do you think if you started fresh without the jumbo this year it would have been more unlikely?

Thanks!


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[lusfort]

Originally Posted by squall1

Congrats OP! Beautiful piece, incredible actually. Would love to hear about the other watches you picked up along the way.

I think the key would be to show an appreciation of the range of watches that they have, offshore/code/female would be great in building the profile I’d say.


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[lusfort]

Originally Posted by only1swami

amazing!! Congratulations and wear it in the best of health

any advice if one needs to hit a particular # like > $0.5M of spend to even qualify for a grail like this skelly? (Obvs along with $ that rapport and trust how you’ll rep the brand needs to be there)

When is it reasonable to tell your SA that hey I would like to be considered for an open worked…as I know cycle time is long?

Do you think if you started fresh without the jumbo this year it would have been more unlikely?

Thanks!


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I don’t think there is a spending target, but I do believe there is a soft target in terms of the range of watches that you purchase from the store before they would put you up for an allocation piece.

I think being open about your target watch is fair game, then it’s about ass you said, building rapport with your SA and working towards the goal together.

Without the Jumbo from 3 years ago, I do think it would have been a slightly more difficult argument for them to make


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[911AP]

It's interesting why the asian markets are getting all these desirable pieces. Even the New York boutique right now for the last few months hasn't gotten anything in America.

[macrowatch]

Great photos especially with the loupe!

Was there more than one code required in this puzzle? Half joking, half serious. Ha.

[lusfort]

Originally Posted by 911AP

It's interesting why the asian markets are getting all these desirable pieces. Even the New York boutique right now for the last few months hasn't gotten anything in America.

I’m sure each Boutique gets their fair share of “desirable” pieces. Just a matter of whom these go to.

At the end of the day it is still a business.

Same reason why HK is getting a second AP house just across the harbour, in a small island of 30 square miles


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[911AP]

Originally Posted by lusfort

I’m sure each Boutique gets their fair share of “desirable” pieces. Just a matter of whom these go to.

At the end of the day it is still a business.

Same reason why HK is getting a second AP house just across the harbour, in a small island of 30 square miles


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I'm not sure about that.....My SA literally has told me they haven't gotten anything in months as far as the special pieces. Whether it would go to me or someone else is an entirely different story. They first need to get the watches.

But I keep seeing people from the asian markets posting left and right hot pieces.

[watchucallit]

congratulations.. Great pick up

[Kittayos]

I can assure you the NYC boutique alone receives more than 70-80 pieces per month. It's something the SA wouldn't want to tell you and whenever you ask them, they tend to say we don't receive any allocation for weeks or months. Just gibberish. I've gotten the info.

Find a good SA and you'll be all set.

[911AP]

Originally Posted by Kittayos

I can assure you the NYC boutique alone receives more than 70-80 pieces per month. It's something the SA wouldn't want to tell you and whenever you ask them, they tend to say we don't receive any allocation for weeks or months. Just gibberish. I've gotten the info.

Find a good SA and you'll be all set.

What's your source for this?

[VogelPhoenix]

Getting a little bit jealous here - lots of fantastic incomings lately...Congrats!

[Kittayos]

Originally Posted by 911AP

What's your source for this?

From a quarterly report where it shows the sales volume and number from each region. Just a quick glance. A boutique manager can even provide you regarding this info.

[grahammackay86]

Congratulations, that’s my grail watch right there! Enjoy.

[curare78]

Congratulations!!!!! It’s a gorgeous piece!!!!

[GS93108]

Nice story and pics OP, congrats.


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[m3jasper]

Originally Posted by Kittayos

I can assure you the NYC boutique alone receives more than 70-80 pieces per month. It's something the SA wouldn't want to tell you and whenever you ask them, they tend to say we don't receive any allocation for weeks or months. Just gibberish. I've gotten the info.

Find a good SA and you'll be all set.

Where does NYC rank globally?

[lusfort]

Thank you all! Indeed the post was to inject positivity and hope ahead of the holiday season


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[erredi7734]

Congrats ! One of my favorite and most likely a piece I will try to add to my collection

[m3tek44]

stunning!! congrats!

[JF100]

I have friends who have more buying history and longer tenors purchasing from AP than you and still cannot get this watch! Well done to you!

[smallcollector]

Congrats . .very jealous!

[mykii]

Originally Posted by Kittayos

I can assure you the NYC boutique alone receives more than 70-80 pieces per month. It's something the SA wouldn't want to tell you and whenever you ask them, they tend to say we don't receive any allocation for weeks or months. Just gibberish. I've gotten the info.

Find a good SA and you'll be all set.

There's more than one boutique in NYC... so you can half that number, and then divide it by 4-5 to probably get to the number of "desirable" ROs that people actually want.

[macrowatch]

Think Kittayos means the corporate one.

[eonflux]

Congrats!!!!!

Beautiful watch

[10XRolex]

Fantastic.

[BNA/LION]

Congratulations!