Initially shocking, the Exhibition Only signs peppering window and in-store displays of perfect Rolex replica watches in recent years have become a permanent fixture that, in my opinion, has become an effective part of The Crown’s marketing.
It conveys a simple message: 1:1 UK Rolex fake watches are rare and hard to get hold of, despite the company making well over one million units per year and every model is available at increasingly reasonable prices on the secondary market.
The EO impact went further than that. Customers with the temerity to rock up to a Rolex store and expect to walk out with the Swiss made Rolex copy watches of their dreams, were soon set straight.
You need a purchasing history with the authorized dealer to even begin the journey towards best replica Rolex Submariner, DayDate, GMT watches or — and you will laugh at this — a Daytona.
The impossibility of buying high quality Rolex super clone watches without a relationship with a local AD led to boom times for other brands.
Customers may not have thought they were in the market for an Omega, Panerai, Tudor, TAG Heuer or Breitling, but they were quickly converted to the idea because these purchases were stepping stones to Rolex replica watches wholesale.
Those 2-inch, passive-aggressive, green and gold Exhibition Only notices might as well be 100 foot high billboards at the Superbowl, they are that effective.
But could their days be numbered as waiting lists shorten?
Probably not, at least not yet, but I hope so soon because an industry that strongarms customers into buying goods they do not really want is on a path to ruin.
I came across an early signal that EO could be on its way out when I visited a relatively new Watches of Switzerland showroom at the American Dream megamall, just south of New York City in New Jersey.
Here, for the first time since 2020, I was able to walk in, part with tens of thousands of dollars, and walk out with a brand new Swiss made Rolex fake watches.
Yes, you read that correctly, Watches of Switzerland has China Rolex super clone watches for sale to any punter capable of meeting the sticker price.
Before you get too excited, these were not the unattainable unicorn watches in the Rolex catalogue, they were precious metal, gem-set DayDates and DateJusts.
These 2024 top replica Rolex watches are no longer of any value to flippers because they are now trading at below retail prices in most cases, and they are desirable to a far smaller cohort than Rolex’s steel tool watches, particularly the smaller ladies’ sizes.
But it was the first visible sign that the Rolex drought is easing, and another indicator that we are returning to normality after the post-pandemic boom years.