I wandered into their store expecting to see row after row of DateJust and a few DayDate watches, I was pleasantly surprised, they had quite a selection of timepieces. As I sat in front of the display case trying on an Explorer I, an Air King and then a Cosmograph Daytona; a blue/gold Yachtmaster II caught my eye. Within a minute, I had this wonderful expression of nautical precision engineering firmly clamped to my wrist.
I glanced at the price tag and I realised I had a $202,000 HKD ($33,000 AUD) watch in my possession - the watch was impressive. I have been instructed that throughout the 1970s, Hong Kong retailers discounted luxury goods as Hong Kong was a major shopping hub of Asia and was the place of a bargain, but this is now unfortunately no longer the case.
I then thought about the supply and demand curves taught to me in economics classes and how retailers are able to demand full retail prices with such a high level of competition in a tight area. Retailers must be making sales to warrant the maintaining of prices otherwise a wave of discounting would then lead to a destructive price war.
A state of equilibrium must have been achieved with a critical mass of sales for both Hong Kong and one also guesses mainland China. I am aware Hong Kong has slowed down in economic terms and luxury item sales are under pressure.
Hong Kong was a great place to be, there was plenty to do and I thought the place was vibrant. I was somewhat surprised at the luxury goods for sale, there was no differentiation, a Rolex is a Rolex anywhere in the world along with, Versace, Ralph Lauren, Armani or Louis Vuitton. There is wealth in Hong Kong and they are happy to flaunt it but the bargains evaporated a long time ago.
I then thought about the supply and demand curves taught to me in economics classes and how retailers are able to demand full retail prices with such a high level of competition in a tight area. Retailers must be making sales to warrant the maintaining of prices otherwise a wave of discounting would then lead to a destructive price war.
A state of equilibrium must have been achieved with a critical mass of sales for both Hong Kong and one also guesses mainland China. I am aware Hong Kong has slowed down in economic terms and luxury item sales are under pressure.
Hong Kong was a great place to be, there was plenty to do and I thought the place was vibrant. I was somewhat surprised at the luxury goods for sale, there was no differentiation, a Rolex is a Rolex anywhere in the world along with, Versace, Ralph Lauren, Armani or Louis Vuitton. There is wealth in Hong Kong and they are happy to flaunt it but the bargains evaporated a long time ago.
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