The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I don't want to let the shark out of the bag but I'm reasonably sure that Sharkman is all three of those guys.

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David
Je suis désole pour mon mauvais français.

Zenith Pilot Big Date; IWC Vintage Collection Aquatimer; IWC Portuguese 7-day

I think that was a figure of speech...

It thought I was being rather transparent while at the same time not overtly implicating any one AD. Breitling is listening, ya know?



Because, as I said, I don't know if it is saber rattling or an actual policy shift. (I suspected the former, but you never know - Breitling has done some pretty weird shit in the last couple years. Trying to predict Breitling these days with reasonable accuracy is like trying to predict what will come out of Crazy Aunt Sally's mouth at the holiday dinner table.). In either event, were I a known AD rep on this site, I wouldn't be too keen to post, "Yeah, it's just Breitling's semi-annual blowhard tour" or words to that effect. This was the top dog from Grenchen, after all.

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SHARKMAN

I love how we equate Breitling's to Ferrari's, now that's a load of crap. Let's face it, Breitling watches are nothing more than a Tag and they should be priced in the same league. I'd actually rather buy a Tag Aquaracer at half the cost of a Super Ocean.

They are NOT Rolex, they are NOT JLC, and they aren't even in the same league as IWC; they shouldn't be priced with the big boys. Their new watches are hideous, their prices are outrageous, and their direction is a mess.

If they crack down on AD discounting they're only going to sell watches in trendy areas like Florida where people will buy anything at any cost.

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

Intentional, or not, Breitling has created a settle, rather than select mentality for
potential buyers, new & old. The inflated prices remind me of the Omega shake-
down that began circa 2006. Yanking auths from trusted, long term dealers,
jacking up prices, opening boutiques to monopolize their products & market
shares. Breitling & many others are doing the same, realizing they must pander
to wealthy people, because everyone else is financialy doomed, & not apt to
purchase classy watches. I DO NOT like the way things are heading, but it's
unstoppable. Some have reacted by stealing, such as a major Rolex robbery on
LI last summer, & in other states/countries. These examples are indicative of why
vintage markets are more popular, but again, the high end auctions are closed to
us commoners. We must simply suck up reality. I see these events happening not
just with watches, but with homes, cars, clothes, etc. Watchageddon, anyone?

Silly Breitling...

AD Crackdowns are for Rolex

Be thankful you have AD's.

I'm happy I got my two Breitlings when the MSRP prices were a "reasonable" 7-8k. I have zero interest in expanding my Ling lineup at the current asking prices.

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

Hence I only look at preowned yesteryear pieces when Breitling knew what they were doing.

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"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

Can't argue with that. (OK...I don't think they're all hideous, but I don't see any of them justifying their prices.)


Retailers who sell to the grey market are already violating their retail agreements with manufacturers, so I don't see how a change in Breitling policy would have much impact on this behavior. If anything, the change would make the grey market thrive even more: a lack of discounting would make the models harder to move, meaning less legit sales, meaning an increase in ADs moving them out the back door.

So what you're saying is that AD's are selling watches that they later report as stolen or "lost"? Because I can't see how a strengthening in the discount agreement could make it possible for AD's to sell watches with a discount to the grey market dealers.

Or you mean that they rather take a loss in their purchase from Breitling just to sell watches? I'm confused because it doesn't make sense.

Sorry but what the hell are you talking about?????? Where did you come up with that from??

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

It makes perfect sense.

ADs have to maintain sales volumes, otherwise they lose their license to sell Breitlings. If they can't generate that level of sales through legitimate customers then they ship them off to the grey market just to be able to generate sales volume - better to break even or even take a small loss (see the current thread on the Flying B Chrono as a perfect example) than be stuck with stock that you can't shift and sales volumes below targets.

Additionally, remember that list prices go up frequently and in fairly sizeable jumps (certainly relative to inflation) so an AD may have more profit margin simply because of the change in list price.

Discounts will never be completely eliminated, Breitling will simply set a maximum on them and then enforce it a little more - if an AD is currently selling to the grey market in breach of their contract without getting caught then they will surely find a way to circumvent these rules while still nominally showing compliance.

Well in this case there were talks about lack of discount. So as I interpreted it was that the dealer couldn't sell Breitling watches with a discount or a very small discount. How would they even brake even if they're not allowed to sell discounted watches? Let's play with the thought that Breitling does the easiest solution of them all and raises the prices to the AD so they won't be able to discount at the rate they're doing.

Then they'd still be able to sell them to grey market dealers to break even BUT what would the benefit for grey market dealers be then? 1, 2, 3 or even 5%? Hardly enough incentive to sell Breitling. In that case the question would be if the AD's would sell them at all. I wouldn't.

But then again the likelihood of that happening is probably zero to nothing so this would be me rambling and contemplating about something that will most likely never happen.

Dealers aren't allowed to sell to grey market today but they still do it!

It doesn't matter what the differential is, if people can buy cheaper from the grey market they will even if it is only 1 or 2%. We have people who come here regularly convinced that the grey market is a better option because it's $200 less than their AD will do.

I know that they do and I've read all the stories about ripped out pages from the warranty booklet and so on.

Well I don't know what to say. $200 when buying a watch for $9 000 is like feeling ripped off because there's only 4 gallons of gas in your brand new car for $80 000. IMHO anyways.