automatico Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) In the 1970s maybe... STAINLESS ROLEX SUBMARINER DATEUSA retail prices:1973 $3851975 $4701977 $5851978 $8751980 $9501982 $11751984 $13251986 $15751988 $19751989 $25001992 $28501996 $33502004 $42502005 $45252006 $51752008 $58502009 $60002010 $72502010 $73752012 $85008.3% AVG INCREASE PER YEARSubmariner Price as % of average income...1973 $7,580......$385 5.08%1975 $8,631......$470 5.45%1977 $9,779......$585 5.98%1978 $10,556....$875 8.29%1980 $12,513...$950 7.59%1982 $14,531...$1,175 8.09%1984 $16,135...$1,325 8.21%1986 $17,322...$1575 9.09%1988 $19,334...$1,975 10.22%1989 $20,100...$2,500 12.44%1992 $22,935...$2,850 12.43%1996 $25,914...$3,350 12.93%2003 $34,065...$4,250 12.48%2005 $36,953...$4,525 12.25%2006 $38,651...$5,175 13.39%2008 $41,335...$5,850 14.15%2009 $40,712...$6,000 14.74%Price projections based on 8.3% annual increase...2015 $109872020 $163692025 $243882030 $36335I found all this somewhere on the 'net a while back. Edited August 8, 2015 by automatico 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
508-Fanatic Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 Great data compilation! Love the % of income, that really helps it hit home. There's a lot of people out there that will tell you that Rolex is just "responding appropriately to market demand and inflation" but I think there's something deeper there...something that is completely out of whack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gplracer Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 Completely out of whack is right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavi Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 Greed, and deffinitly responding to market pull. If they can sell enough watches to be happy at 10000 vs 6000 then why not? That seems like their current policy.... the other way of looking it is they feel their product should be more exclusive and be worth more, so they figure they can produce less quantity and still make the same amount of money. the end result is their product becomes more exclusive. As long as their name supports the higher value and they do hit their target sales they will probably keep doing the same until they reach the point where they are worried that at that price break they will not have final sales. Not saying this is correct, but.... Think porshe, the cheyene is basically a upgraded taureg in different clothing, but almost double the $. Is there that much more value? Not really, you are paying for the name. Same with the Rolex. Honestly, forget the name, if you take a $500 rep sub with a swiss eta and put it side by side with a rolex sub. Forget the name!!! Is the rolex really 10 times better? Be honest....No, you are buying a name and the prestige that come with it!!! This was not true in 1970 when the rolex was the ultimate diver. Just not anymore.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 I tend to agree with you cavi, back in the late 60's and early 70's there were very few choices when it came to real "Dive " watches. I mean the ones that guys who were diving in the water, not desk diving!! The BP FF, Doxa's 300T series, Spirotecnique, Omega and Rolex were sort of out front, although the Rolex even back then was more expensive. As time went on, Rolex began to spend a lot more on advertising, sponsoring lots of sports that attracted more upscale clientele, Auto racing, Polo, Golf, etc. It cost a bundle to sponsor sporting events, buy TV time and full page ads in expensive upscale magazines.. I believe that as their advertising budget grew, and they were really shifting toward more upscale buyers, they began to push the prices up and up. Obviously there was not much push back as Rolex sold every watch they produced. There were some slow sellers, one of which was the Daytona Cosmograph. It was a throwback watch, manual wind with no date in and era of automatic date watches, but over time, all sold, and Rolex kept pushing the prices upward.Are they worth the price, obviously to thousands and thousands of folks who walk into AD's and walk out with a brand new Rolex on their wrist, they are. To me, they aren't. If I were in the market for a genuine, I wouldn't even spend one minute in and AD, looking at list price watches. I would find a good gently used one at a pretty big discount from new. If you can get one for 30-40% of the new price, you are in safe territory, because should you not "love it", you can sell it on and not take a beating. In fact if you buy right and keep one for a few years, you might sell it for more than you paid for it. Here are two examples that I own. 1. 16750 GMT 1986 purchased in 2006 Price 2400.00 USD today 5000.00-7000.00 USD 2. 16610 2000 "P" serial Sub purchased 2011 3250.00 USD today 5000.00-6000.00 USDSo if I were to sell these I could more than double my money on the GMT and almost double my money on the Sub. So to me it's a no brainer. Buy a good used one every time. The nice thing about Rolex, they build thousands of each model, so there is no exclusivity about the watches. There are hundreds of each common model for sale at any given time, and while Rolex can control the new market with and iron fist, they cannot control the resale market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywatch Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 Great topic and comments.The way I see it Rolex 40-50 plus years was a very nice watch / tool watch that was priced right for the time. Fast forward to the current Rolex and it appears they are becoming a luxury brand in the upper echelon of watchmakers not at the top but they sure seem to be trying with their current pricing structure. JMHO Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marrickvilleboy Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 I tend to agree with you cavi, back in the late 60's and early 70's there were very few choices when it came to real "Dive " watches. I mean the ones that guys who were diving in the water, not desk diving!! The BP FF, Doxa's 300T series, Spirotecnique, Omega and Rolex were sort of out front, although the Rolex even back then was more expensive. As time went on, Rolex began to spend a lot more on advertising, sponsoring lots of sports that attracted more upscale clientele, Auto racing, Polo, Golf, etc. It cost a bundle to sponsor sporting events, buy TV time and full page ads in expensive upscale magazines.. I believe that as their advertising budget grew, and they were really shifting toward more upscale buyers, they began to push the prices up and up. Obviously there was not much push back as Rolex sold every watch they produced. There were some slow sellers, one of which was the Daytona Cosmograph. It was a throwback watch, manual wind with no date in and era of automatic date watches, but over time, all sold, and Rolex kept pushing the prices upward.Are they worth the price, obviously to thousands and thousands of folks who walk into AD's and walk out with a brand new Rolex on their wrist, they are. To me, they aren't. If I were in the market for a genuine, I wouldn't even spend one minute in and AD, looking at list price watches. I would find a good gently used one at a pretty big discount from new. If you can get one for 30-40% of the new price, you are in safe territory, because should you not "love it", you can sell it on and not take a beating. In fact if you buy right and keep one for a few years, you might sell it for more than you paid for it. Here are two examples that I own. 1. 16750 GMT 1986 purchased in 2006 Price 2400.00 USD today 5000.00-7000.00 USD 2. 16610 2000 "P" serial Sub purchased 2011 3250.00 USD today 5000.00-6000.00 USDSo if I were to sell these I could more than double my money on the GMT and almost double my money on the Sub. So to me it's a no brainer. Buy a good used one every time. The nice thing about Rolex, they build thousands of each model, so there is no exclusivity about the watches. There are hundreds of each common model for sale at any given time, and while Rolex can control the new market with and iron fist, they cannot control the resale market. Funny enough I have same models as yours.Also paid similar prices to you too...what else is on your list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 Probably nothing. I have too many watches and only one left wrist!!! Misielkped is building me a nice franken 116710 with gen dial,bezel,insert Crystal and crown, hands and DW, converted yuki 3135. Probably will be my last big project. I'm in my 7th decade so it's time to stop spending money and get my retirement in order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marrickvilleboy Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 haha not a unfair decision! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 with inflation that 1973 sub is still only $2060 my local AD wanted close to $8K for a complete NOS 14060 (non ceramic)sub he had lying around last year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mendota Explorer Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 with inflation that 1973 sub is still only $2060 my local AD wanted close to $8K for a complete NOS 14060 (non ceramic)sub he had lying around last yearAbsolutely ridiculous. Pure stupidity right there. I hope it sits and gums up in his case to the point where it needs a major overhaul. He will never sell it. Nobody, including morons, would ever pay that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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