How big are greys now? Watchfinder sponsoring the French Open

[AK797]

Just seen the men's final is beginning on ITV, which promises to be an epic final, and WF are sponsoring it. I remember ten years ago when they were a small and rather unprofessional outfit and the staff were mostly slick young Turks and car salesman types, and now they are probably the biggest grey in the world and bigger than many established watch brands.

[Atliens]

Watchfinder is owned by Richemont now.

[AK797]

For a while now, but they bought them once and because they were already very big.

[DoraTheExplorerII]

When I visited for the first time they got even the Lange boutique pushing Watchfinder services unprompted now.

[Vivalas]

Yep I saw that and was quite surprised at first, but then again with their backing it kind of makes sense. Rumour was that they were wanted at almost any cost and they went for as much as £200m in the end.

[Tools]

Watchfinder is not a "Grey" dealer.

They are the largest Second-hand, on-line dealer in the UK now. The secondary market is not the Grey Market.

[dauster]

Originally Posted by Tools

Watchfinder is not a "Grey" dealer.

They are the largest Second-hand, on-line dealer in the UK now. The secondary market is not the Grey Market.

Please explain the difference? You sure they don’t sell unworn pieces ? I truly don’t know honest question

[Tools]

Originally Posted by dauster

Please explain the difference? You sure they don’t sell unworn pieces ? I truly don’t know honest question

It is grossly misused on Forums, but if you don't know the difference, it can make a big difference in the long run.

A watch sold to a consumer, then sold on again is never "Grey Market", it is a used watch, even if it has never been worn before.

Grey Market watches are always new. They have been imported, usually from foreign markets, and bypassed the Authorized Distributor, in the USA that would mean that they never went through Rolex USA, and were never at a US AD. Because they were never sold to a retail consumer, they won't have a valid warranty. Joma Shop and Alan Furman are examples of importers of Grey Market watches.

Re-sellers and flippers are mostly secondary-market (used) products.

In the case of this thread, Watchfinder themselves, advertise as Secondary Market on-line sellers of used watches - not as a Grey Market seller. Calling them "Grey" because we like the slang, doesn't make them one.

[Dabbadon8]

Was in IWC boutique today. They said they are working with watch finder to have a buy back/trade in program.

[Hollie_Rollie]

Originally Posted by Dabbadon8

Was in IWC boutique today. They said they are working with watch finder to have a buy back/trade in program.

Not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing for IWC

[fuigo]

Originally Posted by Hollie_Rollie

Not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing for IWC

They are owned by the same group, Richemont.


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[dauster]

Originally Posted by Tools

It is grossly misused on Forums, but if you don't know the difference, it can make a big difference in the long run.

A watch sold to a consumer, then sold on again is never "Grey Market", it is a used watch, even if it has never been worn before.

Grey Market watches are always new. They have been imported, usually from foreign markets, and bypassed the Authorized Distributor, in the USA that would mean that they never went through Rolex USA, and were never at a US AD. Because they were never sold to a retail consumer, they won't have a valid warranty. Joma Shop and Alan Furman are examples of importers of Grey Market watches.

Re-sellers and flippers are mostly secondary-market (used) products.

In the case of this thread, Watchfinder themselves, advertise as Secondary Market on-line sellers of used watches - not as a Grey Market seller. Calling them "Grey" because we like the slang, doesn't make them one.

Interesting makes a lot of sense. Thanks

[WatchEater666]

Richemont bought them a while back. Pretty clever IMO. Gives them a lot of very good data points.

[AK797]

Originally Posted by Tools

It is grossly misused on Forums, but if you don't know the difference, it can make a big difference in the long run.

A watch sold to a consumer, then sold on again is never "Grey Market", it is a used watch, even if it has never been worn before.

Grey Market watches are always new. They have been imported, usually from foreign markets, and bypassed the Authorized Distributor, in the USA that would mean that they never went through Rolex USA, and were never at a US AD. Because they were never sold to a retail consumer, they won't have a valid warranty. Joma Shop and Alan Furman are examples of importers of Grey Market watches.

Re-sellers and flippers are mostly secondary-market (used) products.

In the case of this thread, Watchfinder themselves, advertise as Secondary Market on-line sellers of used watches - not as a Grey Market seller. Calling them "Grey" because we like the slang, doesn't make them one.

Yes, technically right as we have said before, they are just resellers, just using the common shorthand for the forum.

[AK797]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

Yep I saw that and was quite surprised at first, but then again with their backing it kind of makes sense. Rumour was that they were wanted at almost any cost and they went for as much as £200m in the end.

I first thought these guys were trying to break into the mainstream a few years ago when they started sponsoring a car programme with Jodi Kidd and Quentin Wilson off of Top Gear, and now the French bleeding Open.

[brandrea]

Well there’s one thing we can all agree upon ... the tennis display by Nadal must’ve left Djokovic feeling awfully gray

[Sulituan]

Originally Posted by Tools

It is grossly misused on Forums, but if you don't know the difference, it can make a big difference in the long run.

A watch sold to a consumer, then sold on again is never "Grey Market", it is a used watch, even if it has never been worn before.

Grey Market watches are always new. They have been imported, usually from foreign markets, and bypassed the Authorized Distributor, in the USA that would mean that they never went through Rolex USA, and were never at a US AD. Because they were never sold to a retail consumer, they won't have a valid warranty. Joma Shop and Alan Furman are examples of importers of Grey Market watches.

Re-sellers and flippers are mostly secondary-market (used) products.

In the case of this thread, Watchfinder themselves, advertise as Secondary Market on-line sellers of used watches - not as a Grey Market seller. Calling them "Grey" because we like the slang, doesn't make them one.

It is good that you are distinguishing between the two models. What I find interesting is that in Europe (unlike in the US), buying a from a grey (in the definition above) doesn't let you lose your warranty. Plenty of times, watches needed to be fixed during the warranty period, were serviced (at no cost) and received by a, say, Wempe or Bucherer where the watch wasn't bought from.

Out of curiosity, why doesn't this happen in the US? Meaning, aren't there US based ADs who sell their inventory to greys? For domestic cases, Rolex would not know the source other than it is US sourced right?

[dauster]

just checked their pricing seems like it's consistently 10% plus more than at other dealers. now I am paying for marketing in the used market too?

[Vivalas]

Originally Posted by dauster

just checked their pricing seems like it's consistently 10% plus more than at other dealers. now I am paying for marketing in the used market too?

WF have been expensive the last few years compared to others. They also offer poor values now when selling, though they used to be quite decent in their offers. Other companies in the U.K. give far better values.

[ragsk]

Originally Posted by Vivalas

WF have been expensive the last few years compared to others. They also offer poor values now when selling, though they used to be quite decent in their offers. Other companies in the U.K. give far better values.

Who do you recommend? I want to offload by 26405CE as just not wearing it.

[Vivalas]

Originally Posted by ragsk

Who do you recommend? I want to offload by 26405CE as just not wearing it.

A friend sold through Bloombar - they offered him £8k for a sub when WF’s offer was £7k. A couple of others on another forum recommended them and said they were good. Not sure whether they are good for selling AP’s to but worth a try.

[AK797]

Originally Posted by ragsk

Who do you recommend? I want to offload by 26405CE as just not wearing it.

Have you tried Official Watches, the guys there were big on AP a few years ago and paid well for one of mine, but maybe now they are like WF tho.

[J.T.]

Originally Posted by ragsk

Who do you recommend? I want to offload by 26405CE as just not wearing it.

How much?

[GS93108]

Originally Posted by AK797

Have you tried Official Watches, the guys there were big on AP a few years ago and paid well for one of mine, but maybe now they are like WF tho.

I've used Dino at OW as well, he gave me a fair price for one of my ROO's, although he had already back to backed it, so he wasn't buying for stock. Nevertheless I'd have no hesitation recommending him.

Also, Ramon at Global Watches is a fair guy.

However, in these times I'm not sure how deep these guys' pockets are for stocking items.