The rep industry is an ever changing industry and I did want to provide a warning to some of the newer folks. And no, this is not a better than thou post. There are plenty of folks who are far more knowledgeable than me. But it does seem to me that the industry appears to be changing again and folks should be careful when asking dealers for advice and selecting a watch solely on that basis. Until a few months most major dealers seemed to have the same access to watches and so it was as simple as pick your dealer and then pick your watch. Increasingly I think this is no longer the case.
Dealers are now promoting different factories and versions. One dealer will have better access to (or be stuck with more stock) than another. Dealers will also be promoting different versions. Great examples are the heroic debate of Noob versus H factory PAM's, the two very different versions of the upcoming Hublot Diver, etc. And my simple point is that life is not as simple as it was. Do your own research, read reviews, check with friends, etc. and make your own decision which particular factory or version of a watch you want. Simply asking a dealer increasingly runs the risk that you get a self-serving answer. I have been as guilty as the next guy but now I am going that extra mile to decide exactly what I want, reaching out to the dealers I trust to see who has it and then making the decision as to where to buy it.
This is not meant to be insulting to our dealers who are trusted and serve members well. It is meant to simply warn people that as the dealers compete trying to lock down exclusives, rejecting factories that provide lower profitability or even finding other factories as an alternative the burden falls on us to make up our own minds rather than simply asking the dealer.
No nasty comments from vets please.