Daddy, where do grey market watches come from?

[rsg]

Originally Posted by Tools

It's easy to get confused.. and even in this thread, there are still some who do not understand that "Grey Market" is a customs/legal description of Parallel Import products into any country.

If it is coming from a US AD, it is not grey market.. If somebody else has gone to an AD and bought it then re-sells it to you... It is a used watch, not Grey Market..

If somebody finagles the paperwork so it ends up in your name, then you have just gamed the system, but you didn't buy a "Grey Market" watch..

Thanks for clearing it up for me.

[JJ Irani]

I'm LMAO reading this thread - what a crazy mixture of sensible and silly replies......all grouped into one!!

[snowbird]

I hope this isn't too far OT but it seems like there are a lot of photographers on here so . . . it's interesting to me the contrast between grey market in cameras versus watches.

With cameras many ADs are also GM sellers and are open about it i.e don't use intermediaries between them and the end customer. However some manufactures will not service grey market product period, even if the customer is willing to pay . . .maybe if the customer sends it to the home office in Japan (or wherever) but the US sub will not work on it.

[dieseldragon]

Originally Posted by nch209

Some good answers so far! Excess inventory is also part of the equation, as well as them buying from regular WIS's like us... I've sold several to grey dealers over the years. These were never worn, but usually had my name on the paperwork- they never seemed to care either way. These big grey dealers move some watches for sure!!!

Thats no longer Grey Market, once there is a name on the card, it is pre owned. Car dealers do the same, they register cars to boost sales figures, the car is new, but has an owner, so no longer "new", even though never been driven.

Grey market refers specifically to sourcing and importing NEW goods from outside of your specific trade zone, with the specific purpose of circumventing the pricing of the official distributer in your zone. Called a Grey import because it is not illegal - ie BLACK, but not WHITE either because it was not supplied in your country.

So you have a NEW product with a substantial saving over the product sold in your zone. This could be anything, from cars to cameras.

The crunch comes when and if a a warranty claim is needed. The dealer in your country may not honour the warranty, because they did not supply it.

So grey imports have a bad name, mostly created by the official distributer to put you off buying their products from another area at a lower price.

I am all for Grey imports. I do not think there should be a monopoly on pricing, ebay has helped alot with this, showing us a worldwide market place.