Limited Editions - Good or Bad?

Mspeedster
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Gene242 Gene242
Maybe it is us not seeing the bigger picture but right now it is hurting the whole shopping experience.

I had a custumer, who cruises a few times a year and always gets a watch to commerate it...he came with a purple shirt and nothing( all we both had were renderings)...I dont think they are valuing the experience and relationships that have been built over the years.

I dont know if it's the watches are asset culture,the rise of online shopping post pandemic or deliberate shortage to increase prices and position itself into a higher tier in terms of luxury-(at this rate standard monacos will be about $8000 by years end)

It is becoming frustrating for retailers and consumers and worst part is: it feels like this is the new norm
I agree. It's become a big turn off for me. It's not just TAG, all the brands are doing it, whether it's getting a MoonSwatch or a Rolex.

I remember the days of when I could walk into just about any Rolex AD and buy whatever I wanted. Now it's this whole game one has to play.
 
dtf
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Mspeedster Mspeedster
I remember the days of when I could walk into just about any Rolex AD and buy whatever I wanted. Now it's this whole game one has to play.

I was reminiscing about that crazy time back in 2017 when I walked into a Rolex dealer, tried on a bunch of watches and could actually buy them if I wanted. Now I don’t understand why they even have Rolex boutiques.
 
Aquagraph
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I can sort of understand though... if you are going to do a Limited Edition you need to hit it hard and sell them. The panda was the first one that I can remember being available two weeks after the fact and the truth is that in this 'everything NOW' culture we are living in currently the buzz was already fading. Yes, true there were still people around who wanted to buy one, but a Jim said earlier the current shelf life of a new LE is about 7-10 days and then we are on to the next thing. Though ironically, the Panda was supposed to be the one everyone was waiting for.

I think if we've learned anything of late it's that the best thing you can do is register your interest as early as possible because even the boutiques aren't guaranteed anything unless they have a potential customer. It seems like the way it works is you get allocated a watch and then you have about a week tops to sell it and then someone else gets it.

Perhaps we are moving past the nonsense a bit now? Surely the Monaco and classic Carrera have been squeezed dry for the time being (as regards dial colours) and it doesn't really make sense to make super limited Aquaracers and F1s. And no one really gives a flying about the Link or Autavia either.

If the Skipper genuinely isn't going to be a LE, then that's progress but nor do I see it still being in the range in 2 years time. I think we're back to the concept of 'novelties' - this year's variation on standard watches. Which is probably still limited in that production will be less than 2000 but enough to keep them available for 18-24 months.
 
YG_Rulz
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Aquagraph Aquagraph
Surely the Monaco and classic Carrera have been squeezed dry for the time being (as regards dial colours)
A yellow (mustard) colour would be great actually or even a proper Tiffany blue. But I suppose these would albe collaboration or country specific models.
 
Mspeedster
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Aquagraph Aquagraph
I can sort of understand though... if you are going to do a Limited Edition you need to hit it hard and sell them. The panda was the first one that I can remember being available two weeks after the fact and the truth is that in this 'everything NOW' culture we are living in currently the buzz was already fading. Yes, true there were still people around who wanted to buy one, but a Jim said earlier the current shelf life of a new LE is about 7-10 days and then we are on to the next thing. Though ironically, the Panda was supposed to be the one everyone was waiting for.
Oddly, the situation in the UK seems a bit different. The Panda sold out very quickly in most other regions. Probably because most of the Boutiques in the rest of the world were pre-selling their allocations about a week prior to launch. Whereas in the UK, per @imagwai's experience, the Boutiques claimed to have no knowledge of the Panda prior to its release.

Same thing happened apparently with last year's Blue Porsche RS 2.7 model. Completely sold out in the US prior to release, never showed as available to Add to Cart on the website. Whereas I recall @dtf still seeing them available on the UK website for weeks after.

Seems like the UK is the place to go if you can't find them elsewhere, as @Yago did to get his 60th Anniversary Carrera.
 
S
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Yes but some LE and SE models are market specific others are not so that changes the allocation mix. Purple Monaco was global, Vegas/Macau were regional markets those are just LE examples but can also apply to SE. To apply some math Vegas LEwas 77pcs through two boutiques, Puple Monaco was 500pcs/? I would probably guess 50-75 global boutiques so in theory the purple Monaco was harder for stores to obtain even though there were 6x more made.
 
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