But Clean Daytona isn't $1000, its far far lower from non TD dealers.
I know! I was just giving an example of how much we as a community are willing to pay today for a rep. Most of us buy from TDs so the price of non TDs is irrelevant to this discussion.
People are making these super-reps to make money.
Really? Are you sure??? I always thought that they made them out of the kindness of their heart and only to make us happy. Shit, I am so disillusioned now... You mean that the stuff they are saying about free market and supply/demand is true?? Please don't also tell me that Santa does not exist! I heard it a few days ago and I just couldn't believe it!
And its not always ethical. It is most likely hitting the gen market at retail prices for unwary customers. 2 months ago I would likely pay grey market pricing for a 5740 (if I had the cash).
But now I totally would not buy a 5740 from a grey dealer considering there is already a white gold rep in existence. But most people are unaware of this and grey dealers would sell these reps as real for insane profit margins. It is really getting scary out there.
Newsflash mate, this has happened before super-reps of this kind and will happen again long after. My personal opinion is that if you are dumb enough to buy a 6 figures (or any figure high end watch for that matter) without doing your proper due diligence on it, then you deserve to be fleeced up to your last dollar.
But I am always stick to the view that reps and piracy would not exist if the product was priced correctly. But I am a minority.
For some brands like Rolex, AP and PP, it's not a matter of price but rather a matter of availability. The latter is just the consequence of the first. There would certainly be less reps and piracy on these brands if the product was more available at ADs. It is because the product is so difficult to get at retail that prices are driven up to crazy levels on the secondary market. But you know what is the root of all that?? Demand! There is much more demand than supply.
We are quick to jump at Rolex for the prices of their watches but when you think about it, I find their business practices to be pretty fair and honorable all things considered. Rolex could easily jack up their prices on a lot of their models and would not be able to meet the demand. When you consider that, you realize that they have been quite conservative in their pricing policy and their handling of the situation. Rather than jacking up the prices until market equilibrium is reached, they have invested in new production facilities to increase supply (well they have raised their prices also but not nearly as much as they could have).
Also, they have really cracked down on ADs that have too many of their pieces ending up on the secondary market. I know the owner of one the ADs here and he told me that they are extremely careful on some of the models like the Daytona or the Submariner because their biggest fear is that the person they are selling to will flip it and Rolex will find out. That would create a proverbial shit storm for them.
But hey all that is created by the capitalist system. You may hate it but it's the best we have found so far. Like Sir Winston Churchill said about democracy, it's the worst system except for all others.
On a funny note, I find it hilarious that the economy that benefits the most from piracy and counterfeiting (that are mostly driven by inflated market prices) labels itself as communist. Kind of the modern version of communism aiming at distributing wealth appearances more equally in our societies that are now dominated by social media.
. That’s the business model for these. They exist for this purpose only. Let’s not kid ourselves.
