Are Rolex Watches Cheaper at an Airport?
Rolex is notorious for artificially creating scarcity by not allowing you to buy most of their watches seen in store and instead put you on a waitlist.
The Rolexes you can buy on spot are typically lower (undesirable) models.
If you’re buying a Rolex watch you’re already making a blunder, trying to optimize it at an airport is like finding the least painful way to beat yourself in the head with a hammer. The best move is to not do it in the first place.
Betteridge's law of headlines applies [0].
"Duty free" is a huge trap. I haven't looked at watches (I will never understand the desire for a Rolex or other 4-figure watch), but I once checked out a duty free liquor store. I spot-checked a few bottles I could get at home and found that the "duty free" store was easily 25-50% more than what I'd pay at home.
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...
I'll stick with my $500 VFS clone. Nobody in my social circle can tell the difference anyway.
I think it’s the only place where you can actually buy Rolex watches.
When it comes to such brands, isn't the big cost a feature? Wouldn't discounts ruin the point / the brand? Wouldn't these things carry worse status for all the customers of the brand if you can have an item with a discount? Why would the brand allow this to happen?
Am I perceiving things horribly wrongly?
Somehow linked: I found Lego sets more expensive in Denmark's airport than in the US retailers.
> Even expert negotiators struggle with airport Rolex purchases. You might get 30-35% off other luxury watch brands at airports, but with Rolex, expect 20% or less – “probably less” as industry experts say. Many frequent flyers say they’ve never seen any Rolex discounts at airports.
I wouldn’t have realized you could negotiate price on anything sold in the airport. I didn’t know you could negotiate on new, high end watches in general, though, to be honest.
And yeah, I’ve never understood the people who buy duty free booze, etc. The prices never looked particularly good, and it’s going to be another thing to wrangle and schlep home when you land. I always assumed it was targeted at people from other countries with higher prices.