Buying a Speedy in Singapore : AD or Grey Market?

[Shanker]

I’m finally getting my grail, a Speedy Pro Hesalite but I’m a bit confused to go with an AD or grey market. AD online price is 10K SGD and grey is about 8.3K SGD for the 2021 Hesalite model. Not sure if ADs give discounts.

I’m planning to use the Speedy daily as a GADA watch and don’t plan on buying a new watch anytime soon so an AD don’t make that much sense to me. But eager to hear your thoughts.

 

[ErichKeane]

The nice part about the speedy is that it is REALLY easy to tell a fake just by running the Chrono for 20 minutes, so the danger of greys is pretty limited IMO. The 2021 should still be the 3861, so otherwise identical. That said, the AD might be willing to give a discount, I believe they are permitted, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

The question is what that 1700 SGD buys you. Brass tacks, what it gets you is 5 years of warranty coverage. So figure out in the Grey case how many extra services/repairs that buys you, and decide whether it is worth it.

I made a similar decision earlier this year: ~6500USD for AD, or ~4000 USD for 'lightly used' (not grey just ebay, and albeit, an 1861). I figured that for the $2500, I could have serious problems with it repaired locally 2-3x, which I doubt would be necessary in 5 years. The grey/used market ended up being easier for me to buy from, and the AD I walked into (only one in my area) was a bit of a jerk, so it was easy to walk out and buy elsewhere.

 

[FSG]

If you go for latest 3861 models I would go grey market all the way… the piece will still mostly have full warranty duration left, you save money and you possibly don’t lose time trying to play the AD flawed game for a future piece…

 

[Evitzee]

I haven't been to Singapore for about 20 years but in the good old days everything had a discount....Lange, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, every watch price was negotiable. But long gone is the old Lucky Plaza with the myriad of watch shops, each jammed cheek to jowl with high end watches under the glare of fluorescent lights, with a calculator and ashtray on each counter. I miss that kind of shopping. So not sure if an AD might give a little on pricing in 2023, you can always try. 1.7k SGD is about 1.24k USD, about 18% discount, nothing to sneeze at. If you go the AD route, and they won't discount the price, see if they will throw in a leather strap and deployant buckle to juice the deal, I've done that a couple of times and that's worth some dough and is a usable item.

 

[Aludic]

… or buy one in slightly used condition on this forum, for a little less than the prices listed above. 😗

(Full disclosure; I have one listed here for sale, right now, so I can hardly be called unbiased here…)

 

[Shanker]

Thank you for all the replies. Decided to go the grey market route for a full 23% discount on a new and unworn 3861, dated Aug 2023 so most of the 5 year Omega warranty still intact.

 

[Article55]

E ErichKeane

The nice part about the speedy is that it is REALLY easy to tell a fake just by running the Chrono for 20 minutes, so the danger of greys is pretty limited IMO. The 2021 should still be the 3861, so otherwise identical. That said, the AD might be willing to give a discount, I believe they are permitted, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

The question is what that 1700 SGD buys you. Brass tacks, what it gets you is 5 years of warranty coverage. So figure out in the Grey case how many extra services/repairs that buys you, and decide whether it is worth it.

I made a similar decision earlier this year: ~6500USD for AD, or ~4000 USD for 'lightly used' (not grey just ebay, and albeit, an 1861). I figured that for the $2500, I could have serious problems with it repaired locally 2-3x, which I doubt would be necessary in 5 years. The grey/used market ended up being easier for me to buy from, and the AD I walked into (only one in my area) was a bit of a jerk, so it was easy to walk out and buy elsewhere.

Interested to know how you spot a fake 3861 using chrono?

 

[ErichKeane]

Article55

Interested to know how you spot a fake 3861 using chrono?

There isn't a good fake of the Speedmaster Chrono movement, every other mechanical movement has the sub-dials wrong SOMEHOW.

For a Speedmaster Professional, first make sure the dial spacing is 'right', then make sure the seconds sub-dial is sweeping.

If those both check out, the fakes tend to have a 24 hour hand in the right sub-dial rather than a chrono minutes register. So with the chrono rest (pressed the 'bottom' chrono button), the big seconds, the right subdial, and the bottom subdial should all be at 'zero'. Start the chrono. After ~58-60 seconds, the right 'minute' subdial will 'jump' 1 minute. If that is working, it is pretty much guaranteed to not be a fake. If after ~15-20 minutes the 'hour' subdial (bottom) has moved about 1/4-1/3 of the first hash mark, that confirms IT is doing what it is supposed to.

This is basically all down to the fact that there isn't any 'good' fakes of the Speedmaster, they all use a cheap off-the-shelf chronograph movement that all works 'differently' in some way.