What time is it? Watches and horology

It depends. I interpret it as having two scenarios for rare new watches.

The first category is for the super rare watches that never actually make it to a dealer or boutique. Only a few are made, and are normally sold on an invitation only basis to very high profile watch collectors directly by the manufacturer. A bit like how Ferrari sometimes make a run of half a dozen cars that will never go on general sale and only be offered to their favourite collectors.

The other category covers the watches that are rare for different reasons, like the Rolex scarcity tricks. In this case, most dealerships get one or two each year and get to offer them to their best customers but also get the benefit of sales leads resulting from the hundreds of people who will call and go into their shops to try their luck.