And that's why Rolex has Tudor at the sides. Want the legendary Rolex quality but at a lower price? Sure, take off the Crown (and have the Shield or Rose), use another in-house caliber, make do with 316 instead of 904 steel, etc. At the end of the day, there are lots of other brands in the market that would serve various price points in the market. Heck, Rolex is not even the most expensive watch brand in the industry. But it does have massive marketing know-how and history in its strides.
Historical data has the Rolex pricing on an uptrend over time, and it would be unwise of Rolex to reduce the prices of its bread and butter pieces e.g. Daytona, SDC, Sub, Eii, etc (so-called over-priced pieces) just to cater to the everdayman. Simple economics. Instead, it would capitalise on the everyday man's urge towards owning a Rolex piece by creating a more affordable model e.g. Air-King and Explorer. This way, it captures the relatively lower-end market; and when the said person moves up the rank, the likelihood of him wanting a more premium Rolex piece due to brand loyalty, would be present.
If you were worried about a stock market crash, servicing loan instalments, school fees, etc, you wouldn't be in the market for a Rolex at the interim period. Similarly, if the owner was facing a predicament such that he has to liquidate his Rolex for cash, do you think that he would try to get as much cash as possible for the piece (and Rolex pieces tend to move rather fast, just look at some of those in the WTS section), or simply throw it with a fire-sale?
I would say, look at Rolex for purely what it is- a nice watch that is time-tested. The fact that it holds its value over time, is an added bonus. To hope that Rolex would lower its prices across the board because the market is down, would be like Robin Hobb's Tawny Man Book One. Just my 2 sen. I could stand corrected.
