I wonder who's nose will be put out of joint with this article ......

So first they allowed the grey market to fester while it suits their profits n now that prices have tanked, they pulled themselves out of the responsibility... Smart indeed.

Rolex feels like the most cynical of brands IMO. I know they are all there to make money, just not sure I like how they operate.

And no doubt someone will take exception to this 🤣🤣

Rolex is a mass produced consumer product not fine art or jewellery. My car depreciated more.

In terms of what the title says, yes I 100% agree watches should not be bought for investment.

They should be worn and enjoyed.

Hope they keep tanking, I'm a buyer not a seller 😁👍🏻👍🏻

Flippers losing money is always good news. 👏

I'm glad more people will be able to buy the watch they want at RRP or close to without having to play the toxic AD games.

Everyone with a brain already knew this, but I'm surprised they admitted it. The proper PR spin is to say "We don't make exchangeable commodities or the like. We seek for owner appreciation to be beyond fiscal value." Maybe throw in a dis about people that know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

But I'm glad they got the admission in print to stifle the moonboys next time there is an upswing.

I think I feel like the players ( buyers ) made the game the product maker just made the product even if in limited amounts but that again doesn't mean they are limiting production for the game to be played it could just mean the company doesn't want to expand into a Casio let's say no disrespect to Casio it's just there production runs into the millions and Rolex I suppose in the hundreds . But at the end of the day greed drives it and that's just in some people's nature and don't forget the Jones syndrome.

Who gives a flying fuck what the CEO of Rolex says?

At least he's honest and yeah you figure they're rated for diving etc, I can understand buying one as a status symbol but at the same time a watch that expensive should be able to survive daily wear easily and handle anything

I believe the Rolex CEO is just being honest. He considers the watch a luxury good, and not an investment. (It actually says a lot about the demand for a product if the CEO is able to make such a statement.)

He’s manipulating the market. Dufour is a next level genius.

Funny enough, Rolex produces around 1 million watches a year. I’m sure Casio and Seiko produce more but Rolex (short of a few models like the Daytona) are certainly not a limited manufacturer. Before the explosion in watch enthusiasm (think pre-Hodinkee, YouTube stars), new Rolexes would be sitting in a display, available to try on at any AD, and you could negotiate some level of discount on most models. Once you walk out of the store, they would lose a little value vs a brand new one and then flat-line pretty quickly and sit there for years. Rolexes certainly weren’t an investment back then but they had good value retention if you decided to sell. Rolex has been on a slow and steady upmarket rise but their overall business model has been pretty much the same until recently (think Rolex pre-owned certified program and Bucherer purchase) so the statement from Rolex themselves that they don’t view their watches as investments is not surprising. If anything, investors (professional or otherwise) trying to cash-in on hype pieces (which seemed to encompass the entire brand) have created the ridiculous rise in prices on the secondary market. In simple terms, supply was never truly an issue…when i was looking for a 124270 Explorer a few years ago, no AD in three different states had one in stock BUT the grey/secondary market had plenty of them at a stupid mark-up.

Rolex actually makes close to 800,000 to 1.24 million watches a year. If that doesn't make it mass produced watches, I don't know what is...

N although you may be right about the buyers playing the games, there has to be a game in the first place, no?

People may or may not care about what the CEO of Rolex says but I think they Should Hear what the Customers have to say n the main take away here is this...

They Created the games that the rest played, played up the prices so that they n their inner circles benefited n even still playing the same tunes towards the end when the prices declined, still trying to get more people to buy more... N now that prices tanked, they simply washed their hands while still benefiting from it. If this doesn't show what kinda sellers they are then I don't know what does.

Sure, any bz exists to make sales n profits but if a bz refuses to take care of its customers...

Then another bz will.

N let's make it clear, how much can a Stainless Steel Watch, Really Cost?

Until the 1980s price increases a Rolex Sub and most non precious metal models were priced somewhat like a modern day Oris (pre caliber 400)

~$2000 or so

Not cheap but not insane

Remember, until 1970 a Rolex Sub couldn't hack and wasn't Chronometer certified.

“Tanked” is relative. For instance, no, you can’t sell a Hulk for $45k these days but still can sell it for $20+ k, still is well over list. Yeah, prices might have “tanked” but doubling your money, as opposed to quad or quintupling your money, is still pretty good.

Unless, of course, you bought at the height of the second hand market in which case…. 🤪

The watch investment hype was only ever a bubble where every schmuck had the chance to cash in on watch profit. The real investors knew when to stop riding the wave and get off.

I am amazed that people look to anything as a “guaranteed” investment. What goes up must come down. To think any investment, let alone in a consumer good like a watch, can only appreciate in value, and then get upset when it doesn’t, is foolish. Markets rise, markets fall. That is their nature.

Good thing I didn't buy mine as investments. I enjoy them like I do all my other watches.

The watches are still very high quality and durable. Some of the owners might not treat them that way but that's a different conversation.

I'm getting the feeling I shouldn't have paid $17.8 million for that used Daytona.....

No, a relative had a position where they were known as the silver-tongued bullsh!tter though.

Resale value is still important to the maker even if they weren't in the used, er CPO, trade. It is great for brand reputation and justifies high new prices. But this idea of a used product marketing for higher than new MSRP was always stupid.

Watches could be investments if one wants to. But like any investment, it can go up or down.

Personally I don’t see watches as investments.

I have no pity for anyone who got caught in the downturn and complain.

You don’t say. 😱

Exactly what I'm talking about a watch that expensive should be able to handle anything that gets thrown at it and with proper TLC last generations

Very peculiar statement after the lack of attainable timepieces released by Rolex this year.

A little surprised they would say this on the record.

Thanks for the numbers

Yeah makes perfect sense I was in the military and almost everyone I knew and myself had a casio they took a royal beating and kept going