I have been very fortunate to find a dealer who:
1. started showing me watches that cost 250x years ago, when I was buying watches that cost 10x, and when he already knew I would never be a 250x guy, just to help me learn what the real limits of our shared passion look like;
2. quit taking me out to lunch and started inviting me to the employees' coffee room for breakfast;
3. who, more than once, has advised me NOT to buy a particular watch in his inventory;
4. who, when I bought my son his first good watch, handed me his keys and said "you take him around", so we could have a personal experience (one of the excellent salespeople looked up and, seeing what was going on, quipped: "I hadn't realized that we had gone self-serve").
These are four brief stories; I have dozens more. He, more than anyone else, has helped me to realize that there is fellowship in this thing of ours as well as beauty, and, for that, I am very, very grateful.
So, pplater, in my experience, dealers are not all the same.
Best,
Big Dave