Over/Under? Rolex AD wait time. 2 years in…
“On the list” or whatever we call it these days for a Sub Date, ref 126610LN. I’ve tried it a few times and it’s the watch I’ve wanted for years so I’ve decided to settle in and simply wait until The Call comes. I first registered my interest with my local AD in March of 2021, so we’re just around the two year mark now. The SA says she has spoken to her manager about me recently and hopefully something will happen sooner rather than later.
Around the forums, it seems the wait times are getting shorter than they have been in the past – some people getting the call for their watch within weeks. The guy who referred me to this AD got his in two weeks… now two years after that, I’m wondering what the heck happened there? I’ve also considered both the Air-King and Exp II, but after trying them all on in the same visit, the Sub works best for me and it’s the model I’m most interested in.
Let’s put the O/U at 6 months for the call coming. What would you bet on?
I’m hoping I don’t end up like the poor guy Romilly in Interstellar. But, circling the Black Hole that is a Rolex AD with its incredible pull on watch enthusiasts, who knows. 😉
https://www.luxurybazaar.com/grey-market/rolex-waitlist/
It's basically a pitch to use a grey market dealer, but it has a lot of good info about how the waiting lists come about, and how long you could possibly wait.
The company I work for is part of the “Rolex supply chain” (And Omega, Tissot, Oris, and others), so I have some more info about what they ship and how much than the average person. I know of ADs getting 200+ watches in a single shipment. Sure, a couple diamond lady DJs, but also chock full of sports models. The ADs purchase price from Rolex SA was over $2 million in some cases. So watches are coming in by literally the truck load… the ADs are simply controlling who gets what and when. I can only hope they will remember me, even if I don’t play the game by buying jewelry or other items that I don’t really want…
Been on the waitlist about the same amount of time with no luck. I decided it was worth it for me to get a 2018 sub date a couple weeks ago, rather than continue waiting for new.
I wouldn’t have a problem waiting (didn’t take my name off and added blue dial sky dweller for the fun of it), but I got a good enough deal on a mint ‘18 and that’s the birth year of my boy, so can have another connection to it other than when the AD decided it was my turn.
Good luck!
The AD gave me a green OP (for the mrs) within 3 weeks with no prior history. Since then I’ve been waiting 18 months almost for a DJ36.
I haven’t been playing the game much i.e. visiting the ADs regularly, buying other crap I don’t want etc.
I’ve bought some nice watches away from Rolex in that time so it’s neither here nor there for me.
As for your question, based on my experience - I’ll go over 6 months though I hope for your sake it isn’t!
Ah, the age old question. I think your chances depend on the watch, the AD, and what part of the country/ world you live in (or can reasonably get to). I've been on the list for 3+ years for a hard to get watch (Pepsi) in a pretty hard area to get a watch if you are not buying a ton (Southern California) and have a nice AD who I have bought 2 other watches (non-Rolex) but who has put no pressure on me to buy more and given me no hints that I will ever get the Pepsi (meaning at only a 2 watch purchase history, I am not even close to moving the needle and that he is honest enough not to play games with me in the hopes of increasing his commission income).
It's disappointing that the AD you were referred to managed to get your friend a watch in 2 weeks when you are now 2 years on the list but that's Rolex (age old question) and at least your AD has given you some positive signals for whatever that is worth (but it might be something now with investors, flexers, and crypto interest waning).
Personally, I am hoping that things get back to the way they were for most of the period Rolex sold watches (i.e., stock in the store for purchase and more common but in demand watches like the sub available with a short wait, and the grey/ used market either retail or below except for rarer models). If and when they do, I'll get another Rolex. Otherwise, I guess not.
^^ yep fair points. The only reason I’m “back to waiting” is that the AD gave me a glimmer of hope recently. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but I had all but given up and resigned myself to going gray before she told me she had been talking to her manager about my wait time. I’m gonna give it “a while” and see how I feel in a couple months. It would be more special to buy from an AD, have my name on the card, and obviously save some money as well. But, GM dealers can provide the watch overnight so there is always that option of course.
Congratulations
Why would you subject yourself to that?
Congratulations
Lol