The Rolex price hike could mean more than a slightly pricier Daytona.

The Rolex price hike, weirdly, hasn’t been consistent across the board but very targeted towards their most popular pieces. In particular the Daytona, GMT-Master II (Batman & Pepsi), and the Submariner. These have each received a sizable mark-up with the Daytona rising in price by 10.6% from $13,150 USD to $14,550 USD.

This is likely in response to the global scarcity facing Rolex that has dramatically increased demand from consumers. Some speculated that this scarcity was artificial and engineered by Rolex. However, the company made an official statement regarding this,

“The scarcity of our products is not a strategy on our part. Our current production cannot meet the existing demand in an exhaustive way, at least not without reducing the quality of our watches – something we refuse to do as the quality of our products must never be compromised. This level of excellence requires time, and as we have always done, we will continue to take the necessary time to ensure that all our watches not only comply with our standards of excellence, but also meet the expectations of our customers in terms of quality, reliability and robustness. Rolex does not compromise on what it takes to produce exceptional watches.”

This has led to a grey market that has enabled resellers to make an absolute killing off retail purchases. Naturally, this price increase is Rolex wanting a larger slice. This exclusivity has meant that second hand or resale communities are the only way in which to buy certain pieces.  Rolex’s raised prices are still below what is being offered on the resale market so anyone wishing to sell them off can still make a tidy profit.

This price hike will not have much of a short-term effect, but it will very likely have a medium to long term effect. Rolex accounts for roughly 25% of the value of all Swiss watch exports according to Morgan Stanley. You can bet that all the other brands will look to Rolex as a guide or even benchmark for their own prices. On top of this, if this price hike is a way to hedge their bets against the possibility of inflation, then it will almost certainly mean the other brands will follow suit.  

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