And AD set their line according to the secondary market price, they will never let you win in every situation.
That's why I said grey dealers will never be completely wipe out. Buy grey and used the time you saved to earned back the money you overpaid while enjoying the watch, cheaper than playing any AD game.
You look at it as an AD game to win or lose so it is likely every watch purchase is an "investment" in that game.
Others may look at it as a long term acquisition of interesting pieces. Having a good AD means you get a Customer ID and purchase history. That purchase history is important and you get special privileges with it. You will likely not only be buying steel sport ROLEX but probably other brands as well.
A lot of members here complain that their AD sucks and can't get desirable models after buying a few watches. I guess everyone has their side of the story. There may be many others who are satisfied to have a good AD and keeping quiet. The key would be to be finding the right person in the right AD to deal with.
Grey dealers will never be wiped out no matter how hard people try. In the older days, I always enjoyed my visits there when I wanted to find an older discontinued model or a good deal on a new watch. But times have changed and everything is inflated. They have every brand new model but prices are 2 to 3 times retail price of course. And regardless how much you spend before, you still pay their market price. Maybe they'll knock a little off market price if you've spent a million or two... but if you had that much to spend why not go to an AD?
It's nice to be able to look at your RM110k Daytona on the wrist and be able to show it to your friends and saying that it's a good purchase due to the time value of money but it is truly just an excuse to justify and console yourself that you overpaid for a watch and now need to work extra to make the extra RM60k you put into it.