Jeff Maysh needed to purchase a Rolex Oyster Perpetual for his spouse. He went right into a Rolex retailer in Los Angeles and “discovered solely empty cupboards and an apologetic salesperson.” As he quickly found it is nearly not possible to purchase a Rolex at a Rolex retailer as a result of scalpers snap them up and resell them at ten occasions the retail value on the grey market. And anybody who buys a watch on the grey market dangers getting a practical counterfeit watch.

Rolex, the corporate, has a rule forbidding scalping, however plenty of Rolex retailer workers are in cahoots with scalpers, receiving kickbacks for breaking the principles. Or the sellers reserve watched for individuals who purchase plenty of jewellery.

From Maysh’s article in Monetary Occasions:

On web watch boards, I learn rather a lot about sellers utilizing Rolex watches to supply clients quid professional quo offers. Spend a couple of hundred thousand {dollars} on jewelry and, solely then, would you be provided a coveted Rolex. “It isn’t technically unlawful,” says Ariel Adams, a lawyer who publishes the watch overview web site ablogtowatch.com. Nevertheless it’s infuriating watch-buyers around the globe. Brian DeSantos, a 41-year-old inventive director in Los Angeles, recounted on Reddit an identical expertise at his native Rolex retailer. The supplier “simply straight up informed me: ‘Metal sport watches are reward watches . . . there is not any approach you will ever have the ability to purchase one simply by looking for one.'” DeSantos was left fuming. “I am supposed to have the ability to entry this. I am wealthy,” he tells me on the phone. “I am prepared to provide you an insane sum of money for this foolish factor you supply. Why will not you let me?”