Gray market stuff (watches specifically)

[renodoc]

My wife bought me a Tag Heuer link a couple years back. She shopped online and I suppose got a decent price, but the watch didn't come with a factory warranty.

Seems that "authorized dealers" are not allowed to discount these watches below the suggested retail. So now, I've found a pretty cool ladies watch for the wife and its about $4k retail. I've seen it offered as "new in box" from the gray market for about $1K less.

How does this work exactly? Where do these watches come from? What happens to the factory warranty card? Is it worth the extra to go from an authorized dealer? Anyone been burned down this path?

Google, etc has been remarkably silent on this, so if you can point me to a decent reference I'd appreciate it. Also, it seems this sort of market would apply to a number of other "luxury items"

[jeffnc]

There are different ways it "works", I'm sure. My brother used to have a thing going with Fossil watches. At one time he worked there, and they sold certain batches of models at extreme discounts, and it was fine if the employees bought them (sometimes at further discount.) He had a profitable little mini business on eBay for awhile.

[Manque]

[ QUOTE ]
My wife bought me a Tag Heuer link a couple years back. She shopped online and I suppose got a decent price, but the watch didn't come with a factory warranty.

Seems that "authorized dealers" are not allowed to discount these watches below the suggested retail. So now, I've found a pretty cool ladies watch for the wife and its about $4k retail. I've seen it offered as "new in box" from the gray market for about $1K less.

How does this work exactly? Where do these watches come from? What happens to the factory warranty card? Is it worth the extra to go from an authorized dealer? Anyone been burned down this path?

Google, etc has been remarkably silent on this, so if you can point me to a decent reference I'd appreciate it. Also, it seems this sort of market would apply to a number of other "luxury items"

[/ QUOTE ]

This Article talks about the gray market with respect to watches.

FWIW Tomorrow I'm going to an authorized dealer to buy my watch.

[chisness]

Nice article Manque. I don't see a problem with buying gray and would recommend alanfurman.com, which seems trustworthy and has the best prices I've found.

[kerowo]

In the photography world gray market is stuff that was supposed to be sold overseas getting shipped here and sold. Usually the downside is that the manufacturer won't honor the waranty.

[scotchnrocks]

From reading the article, it looks like the sellers are just doing an arbitrage of sorts. As long as the watch is legit, it becomes a question of how much you want to pay for the warranty.

[ohioguy218]

I looked at Grey market TAG, and honestly I didn't feel the discount was worth the uncertainty. I've heard from some that grey market watches often have small imperfections (such as a misaligned second hand and the like) and can't be sold at authorized dealers. I'm not sure that I believe this, but I like the piece of mind that comes with buying from an authorized dealer.

[RoundTower]

[ QUOTE ]
From reading the article, it looks like the sellers are just doing an arbitrage of sorts.

[/ QUOTE ]
Isn't that what all sellers (all businesses, really) do? I want to buy a watch at $3000, the manufacturer wants to sell that watch at $1500, the watch shop makes it happen.

[Manque]

[ QUOTE ]
I looked at Grey market TAG, and honestly I didn't feel the discount was worth the uncertainty. I've heard from some that grey market watches often have small imperfections (such as a misaligned second hand and the like) and can't be sold at authorized dealers. I'm not sure that I believe this, but I like the piece of mind that comes with buying from an authorized dealer.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. The prices I saw from gray dealers were not significantly better than from an authorized dealer. I wanted my first watch purchase to go smoothly and not have there be any doubts as to what I'm getting. For that I'm willing to pay the premium.

[plaster8]

I would probably not purchase a gray-market watch with one exception: Costco. They sell high-end watches, and I'm comfortable with their guarantee -- they will give you a full refund if you are not completely satisfied.
Costco watch page