The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I'm wondering what the real benefit from buying a Breitling from a grey market dealer is, no I'm not going to. If you know a good AD you can get as good if not better of a price. The Breitling warranty will be void because it didn't go through an AD and I have to imagine it would hurt the business of AD's who go through the proper channels. The only benefit I can think of is you can order it on-line, but with an AD you can order one over the phone. Personally, I don't like the idea of buying through grey market dealers, but I was wondering what some of the other members here though about it, or if you have purchased through one of the many grey market dealers, why?

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

The ONLY REASON I could ever see buying through a grey market dealers is a discountinued piece that wasnt in AD's anymore. Even then I feel like I would rather buy from one of the trusted members here before going to a grey dealer if one of the members have the piece I was looking for and they were willing to let it go.

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SA-Baton White Dial/ProII
Tissot Le Locle

to add to my postd above, there was a time when most luxury watches werent discounted heavily like they are now and grey market dealers were far ahead in the discount aspect of things.

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SA-Baton White Dial/ProII
Tissot Le Locle

I may be off base here, but I think that people often don't know the real benefits of going to an AD vs. buying on the internet. Some people are not even familiar with the concept of Authorized Dealers. They think you can buy a watch from where ever you please. Also, internet dealers often claim that they give warrenties and proport to have 100% genuine pieces - in reality, as we know, this isn't always the case.

These days, people's first instinct is to run out to the internet and find the cheapest deal you can get. In the end, like with everything else, you get what you pay for.

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“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” - Albert Einstein

Agree 100%

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SA-Baton White Dial/ProII
Tissot Le Locle

Constant price increases -> heavier discounting -> loss of brand value -> AD's competing with gray market just to stay afloat

Seems to me it might be better to just have small price increases when necessary to keep up with inflation and try to build the brand over a course of decades rather than months.

But what do I know? I'm just a consumer?!?

I'm also with Ian. What's even worse than "running out to the internet" is shopping an item in person, trying it on, examining it, getting all the benefits of a brick-and-mortar shop, and then buying it off the internet for less money. Despicable behavior that hurts everyone.

Peace

Mike

I kinda figured that most people to buy from grey market dealers are people who are new to watches and don't realize what they're missing out on. I actually found this site because I was looking for somewhere to buy a Rolex online I was really wondering why a WIS would buy one from there.

I can understand what Gzgym was saying about getting a piece that isn't available at AD's anymore, but like him I'd rather find one on a site like here from a member who I trust, or at least one that other people trust.

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

I dont think your theory is correct. If it were, Rolex and Panerai would be heavily discounted via gray market as well. The difference is that those companies are actively looking for discounters and pulling the line from them. After all, the gray market gets their watches from ADs in the first place. If breitling really wanted to, they could just buy a watch from a big gray market site, check where it originated from via the serial number, and pull the entire line from that AD. Simple. They dont because they secretly put up with the gray market since it moves more watches for them. ADs are forced to buy watches that they dont need, and they really have no choice but to dump them off to 3rd parties. Breitling is well aware of how it works, but for the time being, they turn a blind eye to keep the almighty dollar rolling in.

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-RJ

I have friends here in the UK who have bought from grey-marker dealers in the past and their reasoning for the most part was one of cost. Plain and simple.

Now I know this doesn't hold across the globe (and especially in the States), but 99.9% of UK AD's are incredibly tight when it comes to discounting, and when the FX rate of the Dollar to the Pound was closer to 2:1, it was enormously cost effective for people in the UK to buy from a US based grey-market dealer. Hell, there was a time when I bought a couple of grey-market pieces from the States purely to sell on at a profit because the market conditions were such that I could do that! (And before you ask, I never sold one on here!)

Things have changed somewhat though now - not least the FX rate! Additionally, places like this allow buyers to access ADs like Govberg who are prepared to offer fine prices and also deal internationally, so to the informed buyer, grey-market dealers have lost their major bargaining chip - i.e. the lowest prices available.

And on the other point raised, I've said before on here that while we all like a nice discount, I thoroughly believe that excessive discounting cheapens the brand. That's why (to use the brands already mentuioned), Panerai, Rolex, and others like Patek and Lange all enjoy sky-high used values and their buyers enjoy that particular form of kudos that comes from exclusivity.

The part I particularly hate is the disparity between regions of the globe when it comes to discounting. IMO companies should have a global policy, or at least a global approach, when it comes to discounting. In the States there is a "stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap" attitude, whereas in the UK we have a "don't stack 'em at all, sell 'em sky-high" approach. Personally I think companies should either say to AD's, "No discounts at all anywhere", in which case they recognise that they wish to protect the brand and the image, or they should say "All global ADs can discount to **% max.", in which case they recognise that they will sacrifice brand image for market share. This halfway house of one rule for one, and one rule for another doesn't work for me.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

WOW... I didn't expect that kind of response.

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

Can I ask why?

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Sure you can.

I have a question for you. If Breitling monitors the site as others have professed, wouldn't this convey the wrong message to them that one of our moderators buys Grey Market watches (breitling or not doesn't matter) and resells them strictly for profit? What you do is your business, but expressing that in an open forum, where Breitling 'monitors', could be a bad reflection....especially if they wanted to endorse the site so we could get a BS LE.

Back to the OP... I'm not a fan of Grey Market Dealers, I much rather have a relationship with my AD for many many reasons..but mostly peace of mind on authenticity and warranty/service.

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

Serge does have a point there. He's got a good way with trying to paint my mods in a bad light tho eh?

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BreitlingSource Admin
http://www.breitlingsource.com - http://blog.breitlingsource.com

Sure you can.

I have a question for you. If Breitling monitors the site as others have professed, wouldn't this convey the wrong message to them that one of our moderators buys Grey Market watches (breitling or not doesn't matter) and resells them strictly for profit? What you do is your business, but expressing that in an open forum, where Breitling 'monitors', could be a bad reflection....especially if they wanted to endorse the site so we could get a BS LE.

Back to the OP... I'm not a fan of Grey Market Dealers, I much rather have a relationship with my AD for many many reasons..but mostly peace of mind on authenticity and warranty/service.[/quote]

Sadly I agree.

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SA-Baton White Dial/ProII
Tissot Le Locle