Richmond Ch Sh – 12/9/2010
How to Buy a Rolex Watch
Buying a watch from the world’s number one may sound simple, but that’s not always the case.
BY ALLEN FARMELO
UPDATED: OCT 27, 2021
watchesGear Patrol
Why Rolex is so popular after nearly a century, especially now that so many other excellent watch brands are around, is a legitimate question. A Rolex is partially assembled by hand, and partially by machine, and certainly one can find more affordable watches that are ostensibly just as accurate, handsome and sturdy. So how does Rolex continue to stay on top of the Swiss mechanical watch game?
On the surface, one has to accept that Rolex has effortlessly maintained its place among today’s most recognizable status symbols, cutting across cultures and geography as a truly global brand. It’s hard to watch a tennis match, yachting regatta, auto race, or golf tournament without the Rolex crown pasted all over it, and famous actors, musicians, and regularly politicians sport Rolexes. Good luck getting through a major airport without seeing a Rolex clock, reminding you of the brand’s ubiquity.
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Certainly Rolex’s brand cachet motivates a good portion of sales, but it doesn’t account for the fact that Rolex watches — old and new alike — are a surprisingly great value, and incredibly well made. When all of Rolex’s proprietary mechanical technology, cutting-edge materials, and timeless designs are accounted for, Rolex has always made excellent watches that simply don’t cost as much as their equivalents from other brands (with Omega billed as a perennial exception).
The solid value of a Rolex is a little hard to see at first glance (they are certainly not inexpensive), but after shopping around for equivalents, most agree that Rolex is doing things right — including, in some cases, with regard to pricing. Rolex’s steel sports watches exhibit value better than many others, and that’s made them especially hard to get.
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Buying a new Rolex can be a complicated endeavor because Rolex intentionally shorts demand on more than a few models (especially steel sports models), thus creating years-long waitlists at authorized Rolex dealers. Getting on those lists is itself a challenge requiring investment of time and money. Buying a pre-owned Rolex is also a complicated endeavor because there are myriad details that can be significant in determining the value and desirability of any individual watch — plus you’ll have to evaluate the watch’s condition, inside and out.
How to Buy a New Rolex
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Pricing
Authorized dealers are not allowed to jack up the prices on any Rolex, an interesting point when you consider that a percentage of folks lucky enough to get a new steel Rolex sports watch immediately flip them for multiples of the sticker price. However, it would seem that most authorized Rolex dealers shun flippers, considering association with these profiteers bad for business, and alienating to those seeking a good relationship with an authorized Rolex dealer.
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Walk into any authorized Rolex dealer, and you’re going to see a lot of Datejusts, Day-Dates, Oyster Perpetuals, perhaps a Milgaus, maybe an Air-King, and usually a fresh batch of Cellini dress watches in a wide range of sizes and colors. You’ll always see a swath of women’s models. You might see a few sport watches in precious metals like a Skydweller, a Yachtmaster or even a Submariner; or you might not. Prices on new Rolexes are typically non-negotiable, and if you find what you like among the Rolexes on offer, then it’s a fairly straightforward purchase. Check these replica watches.
What you won’t see at an authorized Rolex dealer these days are steel sport watches — Daytonas, Submariners, Seadwellers, Skydwellers, GMT Masters, Explorer I and II in steel are nowhere to be found. From the legendary Parisian dealer Bucherer to the lovely Betteridge Jewelers in Vail, Colorado and Greenwich, Connecticut, to the Rolex boutique on Madison Ave in NYC, we (mostly) haven’t seen a steel Rolex sports on display for at least a couple of years. If you’re pushy, as we were recently in Paris, you might convince the salesperson to pull a steel Rolex sports watch out of the safe just to check it out, but even that is a rare privilege, perhaps afforded only to pushy journalists.