“It’s the million dollar elephant in the room,” says Eric Ku, the world-renowned watch expert and dealer. “Why can nobody get anything now?” He’s referring to the extraordinary difficulty facing the average punter hoping to buy a new steel Rolex without paying way over the recommended retail price on the grey market. In the watch community, this has become a common lament. For the average buyer, sourcing a steel Rolex at the recommended retail price can increasingly feel like mission impossible. Whereas five years ago, the “Batman” blue and black bezel GMT-Master II was the hard-to-get model, and then the Daytona became the next must-have, the drought has now spread to all steel models, Professional range or not. The extent of the Rolex scarcity was summed up a month or so ago when the respected auction house Phillips sold a selection of models from the Rolex Oyster Perpetual collection that only came out in August last year. This tells you everything you need to know about the insane demand for new Rolex stock. Auction houses, after all, specialise in trading the most rare and valuable goods that cannot be bought through standard retail channels. In listing this Oyster Perpetual family,…
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