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Why are Rolex Submariner prices rising so fast lately??

eshow3907

I'm Pretty Popular
19/2/13
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I saw an interesting thread cross my news feed in December when BitCoin was at 17k. Something about 10,000 bitcoins sold at 17k each to buy resale Rolex watches.

Can’t find the thread now, but remember thinking at the time that was a damn good use for a bitcoin.


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RobLive7

Known Member
28/10/15
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Sydney, Australia
Yeah it's crazy when you think about how many are made per year - I'm sure there must be an element of induced artificial scarcity- not only to maintain and increase prices, but also to maintain the desirability of the brand. Rolex's marketing team know what they are doing.


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mrklocka

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3/9/17
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Rolex are the master of watches when it comes to marketing


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xray7

Renowned Member
1/4/18
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Old Dart
I happen to know someone who used to work in a senior marketing role for Rolex. He will tell me things are very secretive internally, that it reminded him of people who thought they were in a novel, and beyond that, nothing.

It feels very much like the way De Beers plays games with pricing and allocates packages of product.
 

FCN

You're Saying I Can Sell?
11/3/18
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I wonder what suppy and prices will be like for Rolex Sports Models in 5-10 years....
 

RolexDreamer

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I know at an AD I visited there was a 1 year + waiting list, this could be a factor in the prices rising
 

sierra-tango

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15/3/18
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Selling each year maybe 800,000 - 1,000,000 high price watches is challenging.
Rolex is doing successful marketing, obviously, treating their AD network as slaves without insight info.
So, if AD want SS sport, they need to buy whole packages without any exception, what pushes sales of the whole range of product line.
Really love Rolex watches - but on the other hand it seems to be tough business for people who work with Rolex.
 

RepPossessed

The UK dealer
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I know at an AD I visited there was a 1 year + waiting list, this could be a factor in the prices rising

They limit the production of steel watches, so the sales people can push platinum and gold. Its just a plot.

A damn $200 seiko has as a similar production quality level.

Gen watches are a scam.

Have i bought gen watches, yes.. go figure

There are many high fashion brand which charge large amounts for something that doesnt do anything better than something else at a fraction of its price. some brands are happy to sell a low amount of items at huge profit, whereas brands like seiko are happy to make a much smaller margin and sell things by the millions.
 

RolexDreamer

This member is doing hard time, they pissed off the goat.
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They limit the production of steel watches, so the sales people can push platinum and gold. Its just a plot.

A damn $200 seiko has as a similar production quality level.

Gen watches are a scam.

Have i bought gen watches, yes.. go figure

There are many high fashion brand which charge large amounts for something that doesnt do anything better than something else at a fraction of its price. some brands are happy to sell a low amount of items at huge profit, whereas brands like seiko are happy to make a much smaller margin and sell things by the millions.

Ah that makes sense. I completely agree with you, I used to think that gen watches were supirior, I had a few and I looked down on reps, but after finding this community and doing a bit of reading my mind has been blown, you get much better value out of a franken watch then a gen, so in the next week or so my plan is to start out with a nice franken DJ36 to test the waters!
 

sierra-tango

Known Member
15/3/18
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How do we know Rolex limited production, or, demand is higher than production output? They even don't publish their sales figures / financial figures.
Rolex can comfortably holding back SS sports watches in safes anywhere in the world and let the marketing do the job: telling ADs and buyers there is a sh#tter waiting list. It's all about consumers make thinking: WOW, waiting list, WOW, shortage of production, WOW demand is damn high - I need to tell that a friend, WOW I badly need one of those watches :drool:thinking about resale value and so on.

F#ck me dead, it seems to me "waiting list & demand higher than production" is a myth to generate further demand and holding prices on a high level by mouth propaganda of consumers what finally leads to high reputation of the brand Rolex. Easing all the stuff AD's tell us: they have no clue and we don't get those fancy SS sports Rolex anytime soon if we aren't an admired repurchaser.
:clap_1::matty:
 
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RepPossessed

The UK dealer
Trusted Dealer
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Whats so shitty about it is Rolex are so damn basic in terms of watch making.

Yes they make a tiny thing made of basic steel and basic manufacturing, with little R&D which goes on your wrist with decades old technology and for the same price you could buy a new car, admittedly a very crap car. but when you compare production and amount of parts.. you reckon a silly little watch takes as much production as a car with thousands of parts.

Frankly there is more manufacturing, technology, parts and costs in most of your household appliances like washing machine or TV.

But would i still buy a Rolex.. umm yeah
 

tonywatches

Active Member
19/8/12
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AD's of course have to buy the whole collection including platinum - gold and many ladies rolexes and has to prepay for all of them.
 

sunrayminor

Renowned Member
22/4/13
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If an AD tried any of these tricks with me, I would tell them where to stick their watch. No Rolex is that rare to put up with this carry on.

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Thatman

Active Member
2/11/14
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It's down to a few of things. Rolex aren't rushing out their stainless steel models, this leads to longer/bigger waiting lists, thus pushing up prices. But the biggest reason is Rolex insist on their stockists buying massive numbers, many of them can't afford to have that amount of stock but really don't want to lose their Rolex stockist status .They buy in the massive minimum order, sell on a lot of their stock directly to watch traders/dealers at a smaller profit, the dealer then adds his cut, which add there's a shortage is usually above RRP. Plus they are bloody popular .At a time when the Swiss watch industry is struggling, everyone wants a Rolex.
 
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ckvintage

Active Member
7/10/09
222
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IMHO.
The newer models are not attractive as old models. I am still attractive to vintage models like 6538, 16610, 16613 etc. The ceramic model like 116610 the lugs are too fat and thick and looks ugly to my eyes.
2ndly, the franken parts are getting more expensive to source these days. By the time you do up your watch, the final price is not too far from gen in used market.
Lastly, with a used gen you can easily part them but not so much for franken watch above 2k.