Stylophile
266
Similar experience !
With a prominent NYC AD; after being their customer for about 10 years and buying 4 “ordinary “ watches for about $100k, I was told that I do not make a cut to “qualify” for pieces like Nautilus, aquanaut, Daytona or even a GMT.
What’s surprising to me is that grey market dealers are flooded with these so called coveted pieces, only if one were willing to pay a premium. I absolutely to refuse to spend an extra dime on any of these!! Let the bubble burst.
Go figure 😡😡
I was offered an Aquanaut 40mm on rubber strap today...
My Patek AD texted me to offer me an Aquanaut 40mm on rubber strap they just received yesterday and told me to call if I’m interested. I immediately called them back and was told that they will only sell it to me if I buy a 5205G they have in stock at ful...
I had a negative experience at their Manchester branch too
They were aware from the beginning I had a relationship with another retailer. I purchased a 5235G and a 5712A from them. Last year their "Patek ambassador" invited me to view the Basel pieces and the first thing she said was she wouldn't "give" me any wa...
Thank you.
Now I know who to avoid. Terrible, that is. It seems they do not care to engender customer loyalty.
Ahh. It's business. Still... They should've disclosed that in the text. But at least they did in the phone call.
I can see from the dealer's side; they wanted to offer you the piece, but they didn't want to put it in writing that they needed more from you; so they wanted to explain this in the phone call. Nevertheless! I would've been much happier if they just sold ...
No matter
it just is not acceptable. Either you want to sell the watch or you don't. I do hope this gets sorted for you.
Happened to me
With an ad. Was offered “dream” watch but only if I spent £30,000 on anything else in the shop. Having tired on the watch an d then being told I can’t have it. Awful. Felt so angry and didn’t buy.
Well, having it texted should open the path for an Aquanaut,
I guess they will be very nervous by the idea that this indecent proposal would wind up in the agenda of mr. Stern..
his email address is easy to devine
fortunately, there are also better ADs in this world. Saw my 5167 two years ago in an AD window(!), went in, reserved the watch, fetched it a few days later. Pure coincidence on finding one of my dream watches. The AD never saw me before but still was nic...
Well it is unacceptable
Same with Rolex. At this point you are better off going grey market. It will be cheaper in the end. Sad but true: the grey market is the way to go for most hot watches.
I don't mind having to wait for a few years
What I hate it 'no wishlist' - makes you come back like a beggar, as you get more knowledgeable you realise for ADs like this they will never sell it to you as your first watch with them, same with Hermes bags - need to have good relationship with an SA, ...
Asia also the same (I have heard many times)
Just forget it, maybe much cheaper buying grey market.
Completely unacceptable on multiple levels, sorry to hear that. You should definitely get proof and then report to both HSWA and WoS corporate...
Either they quickly re-bundle your 5167 with an apology rather than a 5205, and guarantee Patek that similar incidents won’t repeat themselves, or any AD acting in this fashion should become a former AD at the speed of light😉 I’m sure you’ll work somethin...
Its interesting that this kind of deal seems to be safer
Then just selling the watch as a grey piece without involving a customer.
I’ve had many similar “offers” from them BUT I hadn’t just purchased a 5905P!
With your recent purchase this “offer” leaves a little more of a bad taste in my mouth. BUT, this is the game. WOS are the not the only AD doing this, I’ve had the same conversation at various other AD in NYC and elsewhere. Patek, or Rolex for that matter...
I can understand AD's wanting to take care of their "regular customers", but my money is the same color as theirs.
This makes me want to give up on AD's altogether and find other sources for watches, there's plenty of them out there and believe it or not there's even discounted prices available. I've never been much of a pre-owned watch buyer, except for vintage obvio...
I would....
report them to Patek Philippe. I understand that a boutique or ad reserve the most wanted pieces for the loyal customers, but to offer it under conditions is unacceptable. So I would report them and never go back to them Cheers
Seems a bit of a misleading posting.
You clearly say you bought your 5905p from the AD in this post, and then further down you say it was a different AD?
I think this behaviour from ADs is actually quite common.
So WoS is not an outlier in asking for a bundle. I assume you hadn’t ordered the 5167, WoS was simply giving you the opportunity to buy it?
It is a common practice
I am aware certain UK retailers asking new customers to buy jewellery and/or other watches to build a "relationship" to get a sought after model.
Similar experience !
With a prominent NYC AD; after being their customer for about 10 years and buying 4 “ordinary “ watches for about $100k, I was told that I do not make a cut to “qualify” for pieces like Nautilus, aquanaut, Daytona or even a GMT. What’s surprising to me is...
I agree. This nonsense will end.
With bad AD behavior it will end faster rather than sooner.
I don’t agree
The AD’s know their allocation of Patek yearly. It’s quite possible that $100k spend in the NYC market over 10 years isn’t enough. Or even close. There are quite a few people spending multiples of that yearly and are still waiting.
ALL the AD’s do the same thing at some level, you passed up an opportunity!
Most everyone on this thread is upset with this story but not me, all the comments to turn the AD in will DO NO GOOD, it’s their business. And not to piss anyone off but what is wrong with a buyer doing a little work to get rid of the 5205 (lose a little)...
Take the deal or walk. Your choice
I would never complain about and name an AD on the internet. But, that is just me.
Yes, me too! The entire thought process changed the moment OP edited his story that he bought his previous Patek from different AD and not from WoS... [nt]
No message body * I told them I’d take the Aquanaut but was not interested in the 5205G as I just purchased a 5905P from them two weeks ago. They refused to sell me the Aquanaut despite me buying the 5905P for $76K just a few weeks prior as they were inte...
Totally agree. It’s the “from them” in the initial post
That falsely stated he bought his 5905P from Watches of Switzerland. That was intentionally false by the OP that changes the narrative significantly. OP should have known better and should have told the truth from the start.
I don’t think an AD can charge more than MSRP for a watch without being in violation of their contract with the manufacturer, is that correct?
That may be part of the problem. If you look at it from the ADs point of view - they are in business to make money - it must really hurt to sell a watch you know immediately has greater resell value in the secondary market than what you sold it for. Hence...
Or you can bypass the hype.
There is plenty of choice in contemporary Swiss watchmaking, often times at a great “value.” Absolutely no need to succumb to the Instagram hype on Nautilus, Aquanaut, etc. I have all the Nautili except the 5990 and I don’t feel they are special at all re...
You make some excellent comments BUT....
the real point of debate is - is the plural of Nautilus, Nautili or Nautiluses? I would wager it is the Illuminati like your good self who call it Nautili and have discerned it is indeed all hype, whilst the plebeian folk like me who call it Nautiluses ar...
I was just rambling on with my personal opinion on the hype.
Of course, there are people who genuinely like Nautiluses (😊) more than PP’s classical designs. It is unfortunate they have to jump through hoops for these pieces when these same references used to sit around for months in AD display cases before they tur...
Side note:
If entry level Calatravas are not selling as well, I think PP should consider either making less of them or update them in a way that makes them more desirable. Say bring back the enamel dials, give them 72 hr power reserves. Or improve water resistance. ...
I think this is coming with all
the retired references. Calatravas are soft, if they are, because they simply have not kept pace with the competition. The movements are too small for the cases, The movements lack a stop seconds function and have short power reserves. The dials lack the ...
1
I agree new Calatravas are over due, I thought we will see some this fall but I forgot about the Singapore exhibit so next Basel definitely
Great gesture
I hope they see my post regarding their Manchester branch. Such behaviour alienate people from the brand.
This post is misleading
At the beginning the OP clearly mentioned he bought a 5905P from WoS and later he mentioned he didn't buy it from them and wanted to edit the post. We have to bear in mind the OP was recently banned from TRF.
Is there any update on this from either Patek or WoS?
Would be interested to hear the outcome, thanks.
Update
I received a phone call from a senior executive at WOS this past week who told me he was calling in response to a call he received from Patek about the issue. He expressed his concern over this issue, told me WOS doesn’t condone what happened and this was...