I have a doubt

[Kelb tal-Fenek]

Hi everybody,

hope is ok to tell my story, maybe you can help me to take a decision.

I am 42 years old, I own several watches, no big deals, Cartier and Bell&Ross and such.
I like 3 Rolex models: Oyster Perpetual, Milgauss and Air-King.
Couple of months back I decided to buy one. I didn't really paid attention to the news before, waiting list and such. I always thought those "lists" are for the rare watches, like Daytona or so.
So I want naively to the AP in my home town in Germany only to be greeted with the news that I have to wait 2 years for any of the 3 mentioned models.
I travel a lot because of my work, also to Switzerland, so I tried my luck there, unfortunately with the same result. Some representatives were quite rude to be honest, and the discussions were always very awkward, at least for me. I mean there were APs which barely had one or two watches to look at, others laught at me pure and simple.
So I started looking in other directions and found out that any of these 3 is quite easy to get from the grey market with paying about 2-3k€ on top.
I mean I can afford that, it just annoys me and I don't want to support this market, because then it will never end. I also read that some watches on the grey market might have been tampered with, like using 3 watches to make one or such.
An other option would be to buy the certified pre-owned, that would be about 3-4k€ on top and a slightly older model. This also feels deceiving.
So bottom line grey market and certified pre-owned are both deceiving, with a slight plus for certified pre-owned because of not supporting the growth of the grey market and that I will at least have "my name" on that watch.
What would you recommend to do?

Thanks and regards,
Pharaoh Hound

[themast]

If Rolex is what you want and you don’t want to pay above retail, then the only option is to get on the wait lists and be very diligent with your periodic touch points.

Otherwise, just look elsewhere and get something potentially nicer than a Rolex at a discount on your wrist.

[KathleenL]

Wasn't the Milgauss just discontinued? If so, then the only way to get it is to go grey, buy certified preowned, or hope that an Authorized Dealer has one in the safe that isn't already spoken for.

[joli160]

You have some excellent grey resellers in your country where you can buy with full confidence I know from experience. No need to worry about botched up watches with them.

Trying to ban the free market all by yourself sounds like wanting to be a Don Quichote
The grey sellers already exists for decades and they used to sell well below retail.
I suppose that would have been fine.

Waiting for a non guaranteed delivery date 2 or 3 years in the future, face perhaps two price increases and inflation correction it remains to be seen what is more economical.

Life is short, why not enjoy tomorrow