Are Rolex watches readily available these days or do you have to wait for them? Or is it dependant on model?
Jon
The situation has slightly improved compared to (say) 2-3 yrs back but still it is dependent on the model and overall pretty difficult overall.
This one I got from a 'grey' dealer in Central Europe (Czech Republic).
Just to give you an idea of the waiting times, I put my name on 1st April 2023 for the same model (just different metal - yellow gold instead of white gold that this one is) at my Rolex AD down in the U.A.E., and still have not received the call from Dubai to pick up the watch.
All that despite the fact that I have purchase history of approx. GBP 64k down in the U.A.E. with the subject A.D.
But that purchase history level down there is insignificant, really.
There are much stronger players who splurge much more heavily on a consistent basis.
In this case, the dealer from the Czech Republic has his own channels and they get any watch you like through the back door of the local Rolex AD.
I traded three pieces (total value offered to me GBP 30,230.00)
Watch cost GBP 36,600.00 from the Czech dealer (retail in my country GBP 37,745.00)
So I went ahead with an additional top up from my side of roughly GBP 6,370.00 plus the three watches of course which I sent to them.
They promised 14 days delivery for this specific model, and actually had the watch in their hands in half of that time.
In a matter of 2 1/2 weeks the whole case was over - I enquired, received a quote, sent them my watches, wired the top up, they ordered the DD40 and shipped it over.
I received my watch today, brand new piece [2024] with full 5yrs Rolex warranty.
For stainless steel sports models (e.g. Rolex GMT Master II) the situation is still appalling, though.
Very popular references such as the GMT sell for more than double the retail price.
To get a Rolex GMT from an AD at retail in most cases you need to have more or less six-digit figure purchase history, and not just one year but for a number of consecutive years.
www.bremont.com
