Let me explained what I've been told with the allocations to Rolex AD.
Sure, every AD would want Daytonas (who wouldn't they) but that's not how the game works. As mentioned above, yes bigger ADs get allocation to more sports model because they simply sell more watches than say smaller ADs. How it works is; Rolex will allocate an AD a sports model (say a Sub), when the AD managed to sell enough "scraps", e.g your DJs, Cellini etc. When they sell enough, eventually they will get a Daytona etc.
Sure, I am sure a lot of people (including myself) finds it frustrating with not being able to buy a watch at retail. Given the above, do you think an AD will simply put a sports model on the window and sell it to someone random? Or would they sell it to a repeating customer?
I think about 4 yrs ago, the 116520 wasn't really highly demanded (it is now since it has been discontinued), my friend simply bought one from an AD from a small village here in the UK (he simply saw it on the window). I can echo the same when I was in Vegas where the ADs said she can get me one in 2 weeks if I put a deposit down.
I think Rolex has been trying their hardest to fuel this demand as they saw a few yrs ago their demand weren't very high - the most exciting release before the Batman was the Sub and they definitely had put out more releases to fuel this demand.
I do agree to other people here in the forum where rep is probably a "better" choice when you simply can't pay a "reasonable" amount for a sports model (say 20% + premium), but when it is almost 100% (116500 is sitting at around £16-17K brand new vs RRP around £9K) you got to wonder is it really worth it? I rather pay off my mortgage or go on holidays but at the same time lucky enough to enjoy this hobby at a more reasonable pace.