@Iamthewombat - with some of these watches if you’re able to buy one from an authorised dealer at the standard retail price it’s like the retailer is gifting you money for nothing. You can sell it immediately for more than you bought it for, and in the case of some watches that might mean you’ve just made tens of thousands of pounds worth of profit, just for buying a watch!
Dealers don’t (officially) particularly like people buying watches from them just to sell on to someone else at a vast profit, so this idea of “interviewing” customers is more about trying to work out if you’re selling to a person who genuinely wants to own it, or to someone who is going to hand it straight to a second hand dealer so they can pocket some cash.
I say “officially” as there are always suspicions that some dealers have arrangements to sell watches to people who will do exactly that, so they can share the profits with them. You can see why it would be tempting, they want to make money but they aren’t allowed to sell these watches for more than the official price, so they feel they are missing out. But.. if the watch brands know an authorised dealer is doing this they are likely to cut them off and no longer let them sell their watches, so it is a risky move.
The other thing is that if a dealer only gets a few watches a year, and loads of people want to buy those few watches, they have to decide who to sell them to.
Is it better to be scrupulously fair, let people put their names on a list and gradually work your way through it. Or, do you keep your best customers happy?
If you have someone who regularly spends large amounts of money in your shop and they say they want one of these hard to get watches then there is a strong temptation to push them up the list to keep them happy, rather than selling to someone else who might never buy anything else from you ever again.
It does all sound crazy, but from the point of view of a shop having more potential customers than products to sell to them, all the craziness does sort of make sense.
And for people who are going on a list, you want to be considered a good customer who isn’t out to make a quick profit, hence all that jumping through hoops malarkey.