This might come off as “Karen-Esque” (that’s a term now right?) but this is more of a rant for the watch world, so you can stop reading here if you’re not interested.
There are certain things Giorgio (the hubby) and I are known for:
– I sell Luxury Real estate
– We have a passion for cars
– We own an Electrical company
– GiGi our now 1-yo old and her dog brothers
– We love to travel
– Most obvious hobby and one I’m discussing here, our horological love aka collecting watches.
The main brand that reigns supreme in said collection would be ROLEX. Now we’ve established relationships with AD’s (authorized dealers) all over the world from Puerto Rico to Colombia and we recently tried establishing a relationship with an AD (from the Rolex website) in the Dominican Republic with Chrono this past January while on vacation. Now if you know ANYTHING about the stainless steel watch market, you would know that inventory is “limited” (use that term loosely) to which prices for SS pieces on the grey market have soared, some pieces selling for DOUBLE the MSRP. Many AD’s will tell you that you need to purchase other items and build your “buying power” in order to get your hands on said coveted models. Okay, no problem, as any other ‘horologist’ would, we have been known to buy something we didn’t necessarily want in order to get our hands on the “prize”.
Today, this (see photos) happened with the AD we tried establishing a relationship with in DR. For those who don’t read Spanish, the AD told us that she has a Pepsi Rolex for us for the very low price of $17,000 USD. Yes, you read that right, a $9700 piece for the grey market price of $17,000! Once we called them out on what they were doing and made sure to remind them they could loose their AD status with Rolex, they blew up my phone with 3 calls in 3 minutes and WhatsApp message. Keep in mind I was on the phone with clients closing a deal (negotiating deal terms) to, you know, be able to afford the $17,000 Rolex 🤦🏽♀️.
See screenshots and if you watch the video you will see that the salesperson starts “typing” but then stops prior to the calls. Once we called them they were clearly freaking out and had the nerve to tell us that this wasn’t even a new piece!!! They originally sold the watch to a client of theirs and they don’t even have the item in the boutique. They were stupidly trying to help him offload the piece for the price he wanted bc he saw what they were selling for on Chrono24. What? Why in the world would you even sully your reputation to do something so silly? And do you really think I’m that dumb to believe this backwards story?!
Why am I writing this? No, I’m not upset I didn’t get the piece as I already acquired it from an honest AD, but to warn anyone interested in purchasing watches what to look for. AD’s are NOT allowed to sell pieces over MSRP and could loose their AD status. Who knows how many novice buyers have been taken advantage of by this vendor or truthfully any dishonest dealer. People work hard for their money and to be visiting a vendor found from the Rolex site only to be taken advantage of when acquiring something special isn’t fair in any way/shape/form.
Dealer to Avoid (pictured)
Chrono Jewelry
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