Hard times for Rolex owners...?

Flatlander · Hard times for Rolex owners...?

I was in my local AD this morning getting a new band and deployant clasp for my Universal Geneve. It has finally been fixed and relumed. While waiting, the owner came over to visit.

Our conversation got around to the bad news in the stock market and he said that "when the market gets bad, Rolexes get cheaper". He was referring to those owners wanting to sell their Rolexes due to financial hardships.

He used an example of a guy who came in last week wanting to sell a Day Date that he had only owned for two months. Evidently he had just lost his job and was wanting some quick money. The AD doesn't trade in used Rolexes and speculated that it probably ended up in a pawn shop.

What do you think? Will the economy force more used Rolexes into the market? The AD's family has owned their business for over 80 years so who am I to question his observations.

steve

A needless luxury if you've got mouths to feed and to keep a roof over your head. A Rolex is almost ready currency. Id be interested to hear from an AD how they will react to lower new sales, if they are not taking advantage of supposed prime previously loved pieces coming onto the market. There will always be a market for Rolex or any luxury brand [Rolexs brand recognition playing a big part though! ] it just may adjust IMO

steve

uncle aj

I have to agree, if times get tough it's the luxuries that will go first. It's not only the ownership of the luxury but the upkeep that needs considering. I'm sure a lot of big, flashy cars will also be on the market. Most financial experts seem to be of the opinion that this will be a blimp on the overall financial status and things will recover in due time. All in all, I don't think Rolex will suffer too much, after all they've been through this before and there's still plenty of highly paid people out there.

Flatlander

To the best of my knowledge, Rolex doesn't allow AD's to buy (other than trade-ins) or sell used Rolexes. At least in the U.S. I tend to agree that Rolex will weather the bad economy.

My thoughts were more to the Rolex owners. I have seen numerous references on other forums about saving for a long time or buying their watches on credit cards, making payments with the AD's and even borrowing from friends and relatives.

I was just wondering how prevalent this was and is this the type owner that is going to be squeezed in the slow economy.

uncle aj

It's these kind of loans that's got us into the mess we are in. My wife always sees people who are not as well off as us with big new cars etc. and asks, how can they afford them. My reply is always, they get them on credit. She can't relate to this as we always pay the full amount and the only credit we had was our mortgage. I don't blame people for getting luxuries on credit because if I needed to, I'd do the same. It's the people who have allowed this to happen who are to blame. My local AD was doing a three year, interest free deal on watches etc. Very tempting but a recipe for disaster.

Tools

I do think that many people do live from paycheck to paycheck..

These are the folks who do not hold onto any luxury item very long as their lifestyle is not always covered by their income.. When they want a new toy, or they have to pay the bills already racked up...the Rolex (or Benz) is converted to cover it..

We're like Adrian........... If we can't afford a luxury item out-of-pocket, it probably isn't a good purchase..

Flatlander

We have become a credit society and it's a means of instant gratification.

Raising a family of 5 on a police officer's salary, we didn't have much discretionary income in the early years. Therefore, we had to save up for the "luxury" item and usually by the time we could afford it, we found we didn't need or want it! What payments we had (car, house, etc.) were necessary because we couldn't afford the entire amount at the time.

Now that the family is raised and gone we have been debt free for several years. This has prompted our current philosophy which is "100% down and no payments for life!"

Which brings up another topic which I will deal with in another post. Using the above philosophy, I finally obtained my grail watch!!! It may not be the Rolex some would consider rare, terribly expensive or their "grail" but I have fulfilled a long held wish.