Financial Times: Eric Wind Quoted On The Rolex Grey Market

Jeff Maysh of Financial Times recently wrote about his experience trying to purchase a pre-owned Rolex within his latest article ‘I Tried To Buy A Rolex and Fell Into A Grey Market for Luxe Watches’. Within the article, Maysh quotes Eric Wind about the landscape of buying a luxury watch:

“I don’t think it’s a supply chain issue,” says Eric Wind, a vintage watch dealer and widely respected Rolex authority. He says the current demand for the Swiss company’s watches is unprecedented. “There are watches that are selling for 10 times retail on the secondary market . . . That’s part of why it’s so hard for you to get that watch for your wife,” he tells me. “Because if the dealer can get a few thousand dollars in cash on the side, versus you walking in willing to pay retail . . . some will be motivated to take the cash.” This temptation has increased as the market value of Rolex watches ballooned.

But that requires getting caught. “There’s a lot of grey market activity . . . in New York,” says Wind, the Rolex expert. “I’ve seen dealers with, literally, buckets full of brand-new [Rolexes] . . . all in plastic Ziploc bags. I think a lot of Rolexes on the secondary market are in fact totally fake,” Wind tells me.

You can read the full article below:

https://www.ft.com/content/a7cbc3b7-f3b3-445c-bf64-51cedd5e9a29