CORDER'S COLUMN: Richemont could become the world's biggest Rolex dealer

There was a time when Watchfinder was considered part of the grey market problem, now it is part of Richemont’s solution. In its end of year financial report for 2017, Richemont said that it had bought back unsold inventory from around the world to the value of €203 million ($237m), a shade lower than the €278 ($325m) million it spent on buy-backs the previous year. The buy-back programme aims to discourage Richemont’s retailers from offloading unsold watches on the grey market, which puts legitimate partners under pressure from cut price pieces selling on the secondary market. “The Specialist Watchmakers continued to focus on optimizing their distribution network and adapting their structures accordingly Our approach to the grey market remains uncompromising,” Richemont chairman Johann Rupert states. “Over the period, we implemented further inventory buy-backs and strengthened the approach to managing sell-in versus sell-out at our multi-brand retail partners,” he adds. There are three things that Richemont can do . Source