It is a worldwide phenomenon, and from what I know, Rolex has no interest to stop this phenomenon because this is exactly what they want to achieve. Note that the following is shared by a sales rep who used to work in a Rolex AD in America.
As a Rolex AD, you are required to buy a certain numbers of each model for every fixed period of time (Rolex sales rep visits periodically, he even said everyone in the shop will take extra care of their outlook the day he/she visits), else AD will risk to have Rolex take away their distributorship (an AD who used to carry Rolex can't survive without it, basically most of their customer base is built around Rolex), and usually they will push you a lot of non-popular model along with a few popular SS sports model. And now AD being a company needs to cash in excess stock to survive, so they use the same method to push their excess watch to grey market dealers (eg. 20 datejust with 1 Hulk purchase as a package).
Rolex basically creates an artificial shortage of supply and this maximize their profit while making their watch more prestige. So yeah the truth is this is their core marketing stretegy, and they do have the brand strength play this game and to capitalize on this so good for them (and probably those of us who wears a Rolex SS Sport Watch as this is one of the reason you are buying their watch anyways). So here you go, Rolex is the reason that this is a phenomenon in the first place.
This actually reminds me of Hermes, they are in a different league comparing to Rolex. You will never find a birkin in any Hermes you visit, instead you need to "flirt" with their sales rep and buy at least the same value of stuff (vs the bag you want) the first few times you visit in order to the opportunity to pick up a call on one fine day from your sales rep asking you to come in and view a limited selection of birkins (they probably only let you choose 2-3 colors of bag, take it or leave it), and at this point you will still need to spend more money on accessories such a scarf for your new birkin to make your sales rep happy in order to get lucky next time. Why I say flirt is because you can't tell them directly what you want, you need to hint to the sales rep, and they will hint you back, which is like in a relationship, keep you guessing at all times. Well knowing this I'm happy that I'm a simple man with simple need to own a Sub. This goes to show how good a saver our ex-prime minister's wife was to afford all of this hahaha