Quote:
Originally Posted by jrs146
Oh so very true. The next 12 months will be interesting. I’m curious how the watch market will change/adapt. Are we close to the days where an AD Calls and offers someone a watch only to be told they can buy it cheaper on the gray market? I think we are close. I’m happy to continue to support my AD’s as they’ve always taken care of me. But for us true watch enthusiasts I think we’d all agree that it’s frustrating to not be able to buy certain pieces because of the false demand due to arbitrage. All it takes are gray prices breaking under MSRP and all that arbitrage goes away… and so does the false demand. But who knows….
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It is kind of a bummer however that MSRP for these pieces has gone through the roof in the last 1.5 years. I do OK, but I am by no means a whale or extremely wealthy. A Royal Oak is something I have saved for for years to mark a career milestone. With the price increases I have had to continue to top off my Royal Oak fund a couple thousand every year (which is significant to me). With the price increases an "entry level" RO is now almost $30k after taxes. I want to support my boutique and build the relationship but if the RO I want ends up going under retail it will be really tough not to take advantage. The new 43 MM ROO I like is now selling significantly under retail and it would be really hard to stomach forking over an extra 8-10k at the boutique just to build the relationship.