when you buy from an authorized dealer, you probably are pretty close to 100% going to actually get exactly what you believe you were paying for. the percentage is likely lower with grey market.

So grey market watches are not coming from say "TAG HEUER" headquarters?

usually not. Authorized dealers are authorized by the manufacturer to sell the product. The watches are typically real but likely not direct from the factory.

Citanul is correct but it sounds worse than it is. There's a lot of fud from factories and ADs that try to associate "grey market" with "ripoff" or "fake". Grey market watches are (by definition) genuine. Now there might be some shady bozos out there trying to pass off fakes as grey market watches. But there are plenty of reputable grey market dealers. If you buy the seller you're going to get what you paid for.

Anyone have some good digital display suggestions that aren't g-shocks? I need it for work in a manufacturing environment.

Where would they get the watches from then? I am wondering if it's a situation like this. My good friend works at Louis Vuitton, she gets a 2k handbag for >500. This is RTV merchandise though. It was originally new, then it was returned to the store and then sent to a warehouse where it's published on a "IN NETWORK" site. The employees can purchase stuff at a pretty good discount.


Yeah my brother bought a watch from Amazon, it was Tag Heuer, It looks very real to me. I think he paid around 1150$ for it. I am sure Amazon doesn't sell junk. This was from amazon.com site not a re-seller account or w/e it's called.

I always have assumed that the grey market dealers have connections with legitimate ADs or run legitimate ADs which is how they get their supply.

How about Suuntos?

People have definitely gotten fake MB pens from amazon.com through one of their vendors or however it works.

You can still buy them in fact.

I know one way gray market dealers acquire stock is by maintaining relationships with AD's and then buying excess stock or old models from them.

http://gizmodo.com/?_escaped_fragmen...-be-terrorists

I have long wondered if there is ever some inventory of 'sub par' merchandise the gray market gets their hands on.. ie, products that have passed product control at the manufacturer but still have some small flaws people pick up on... do you know if this could be the case?

hi-end watches are not like clothes where manufactures would pass the "irregulars" to the outlets. grey market sellers get their inventories from ADs that have slow-moving stock...but want to keep carrying the brand and have to sell a certain quota, like in se asia/eastern europe. that's why most of the time the warranties are left blank, the AD don't want the watch traced back to them (obviously it's a big no no if the watch house find out).

How difficult is it to change bracelets on a watch?

Specifically I'm looking at the GO PanomaticLunar that was posted earlier. With the steel band and another leather band. How difficult will it be to swap the 2 every couple days? I don't need to bring it into a shop or anything right? Special tools needed?

Not difficult. I wouldn't let the first watch I attempt it on be a Glashutte but in reality all you're doing is taking a bar with a spring on each side of it, squeezing it out, and reversing that order.

I can change from bracelet to strap on my Breitling in under a minute. Some watches(Panerai and Cartier) it's even easier.

depends on the type of spring bar the bracelet uses and whether the lugs are drill through or not.

If you have a really nice watch, I would maybe practice on a lesser watch first before attempting it.

Tool should be a Bergeon springbar tool pictured above, should run about $30 or so.

If you take it to the shop, switching bracelet out for strap, they should charge you no more than $5 if they are charging you.

Sizing bracelets on the other hand is a different matter and difficulty will vary widely depending on type of bracelet you have.

what you guys think of this watch: http://forums.watchuseek.com/f8/well...p3-455857.html







anyone have details about the company and is the movement legit? good value?

^
Really like it! It's on a short list of watches I'm interested in. Was posted earlier itt somewhere.

and thanks guys. Probably is I don't have a watchmaker anywhere near me, and don't really have a lesser watch to practice on lol. Maybe I'll have to buy a beater watch with similar mechanism to practice on.

Buy a $70 fake Rolex.

I posted those pictures so many pages back.

All things seem to indicate that Dornbluth and sohns is a legit watchmaker with some really nice looking movements in the 3/4 plate German style. The movement isn't anything complicated but they are pretty well finished.

Its a very small company so there isn't a lot of data on daily rate, longevity, etc..

value is relative. Its good for what you are getting. In house movement, good finishing. Are there going to be lots of people clamoring for it in the used market? don't know. Dornbluth is going to run you a bit more than say a Nomos, which also offers German in house movement watches. The finishing on Dornbluth is better though. So depending on how much premium you put in to that.

there are some cheap watches you can get for less than $20.

if your watch has drill through lugs, it will be much easier than one without.

whoops, sorry didn't search but mainly I love the aesthetics + in house movement just yea not sure about longevity or qualify of said movement... but given I think you can get one custom build for around 3.5k ... on my short list of dream watches for sure

Looks like the GO i had in mind does NOT have drill through lugs. So I'm sort of confused as to how the process would work?

if it does not have drill through lugs, you will have to slip the tool in between the lug and bracelet, catch part of the pin and push the pin in.

typically on the reverse side of the bracelet, there will be parts in which the pin is exposed.

look on top right quarter of picture, you see where the springbar is exposed?

So this is where you need the practice. if you aren't careful, you might not fully catch the springbar, the tool can slip and scratch either your lugs or your bracelet.

There are some youtube videos too on how to take off bracelets so search for those.