Acres of Rolex for Sale
I was in the diamond district of downtown Miami today and saw literally hundreds of stainless steel Rolex models for sale.
I snapped the picture above and would have taken more but was warned by armed security to not take pictures.
Like many collectors I have been put off by the insane after market prices of SS Rolex.
I love Rolex watches. There I said it. Does that make me a vapid fan boy? Probably and that's ok with me.
What gets me mad about Rolex is that they have not exerted enough control over their AD's.
Clearly the AD'S are selling a ton of stock above retail to gray market dealers.
My point is to re-remind everyone (and I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here) is that Rolex watches ARE NOT RARE.
Not even a little bit.
Prices are high because gray and after market dealers are collectively sitting on hundreds of thousands of watches.
How long can they sit on that inventory before slashing prices to get cash flowing again?
I dont know.
But (to quote Evan from You're Terrific) FOR ME I am not buying from the gray market until prices become more sane.
I'm (grudgingly) ok with paying a 10-20% premium if I really want the watch right now but I think it's crazy (FOR ME) to pay anything more than that.
Rant over.
Came for the watches stayed for the people
The ratio looks about right. I count about 12-14 desirable models in there. You have to buy 5 or 6 two-tone, ladies or other undesirable models like YM or YM2 to get access to one hype model. Then you have to figure out how to shift the massive inventory of undesirable models like we see above.
As someone who grew up in the 1970s-1990s Rolex were always the ‘main display’ brand in 1, 2, or more jewelry stores in almost every mall. They were ‘common as dirt’ pretty much until the years leading up to COVID and during the pandemic. They’ve never been really rare. They are really good, and they have insanely high demand. That’s why they command such high prices.
By the most conservative estimates, Rolex is producing around 800k-1.3m watches depending on the year and what estimates you look at. We will never know for sure though.
We do know that:
Longines and Tissot produces about 1.5m per year..
Swatch is at 3m…
So yeah Rolex is about as rare as a longines or Tissot and half as rare as swatch 😅👍
Weird how as soon as the market was starting correcting tonnes and tonnes of hulks, batman, pepsis flooded market with these so called investors trying to cash out
If you like the watch who cares about the rare or not thing? When this question comes up I always wonder about the worldwide demand numbers vs the total number produced of the most popular models.
Are we sure these are genuine Rolexes
If you like the watch who cares about the rare or not thing? When this question comes up I always wonder about the worldwide demand numbers vs the total number produced of the most popular models.
I agree with you. If you love the watch go for it. My comment about rarity is that some folks view these watches as legitimate investment assets and really believe these watches are rare. My point was they are not rare. They are still fabulous watches, just not rare watches.
I agree with you. If you love the watch go for it. My comment about rarity is that some folks view these watches as legitimate investment assets and really believe these watches are rare. My point was they are not rare. They are still fabulous watches, just not rare watches.
Not being critical, just a hypothetical. I noticed you mentioned being a big fan. Many won't admit it. I'm a Rolex guy myself. I really enjoy them.
Not being critical, just a hypothetical. I noticed you mentioned being a big fan. Many won't admit it. I'm a Rolex guy myself. I really enjoy them.
Yes! Me too! I am am an unabashed Rolex fan. There is something about their watches that brings me immense joy. I recently picked up a Triple 6 Deep Sea from '89 and I can just gaze at the markers creamy lume all day.
I know a deep sea is just a submariner that hit the gym but I don't care. I still really love it.
Just saw this last week. Jenni says prices are already below ADs for some
https://youtu.be/h98ecoqO3VY?si=sck1xgWQbhZd8HXv
Are we sure these are genuine Rolexes
No, we're not. However, Rolex is cranking out a large number of watches, and even a small decrease in demand could theoretically produce an overage. (People blowing their money on vacations instead on watches in a post-pandemic world, but also a Chinese investment bubble may factor in.)
But I doubt the picture shows genuine Rolex watches.