Not being facetious- don't follow those threads, can't come up with a know grey-market dealer off the top off my head.

But to your earlier point: if these grey market dealers that you refer to deal only in wristwatches, and don't also sell things like kitty litter, than, no, I don't agree that the brand perception is analogous in both situations, as you maintain.

 

If you say so...

So to recap your position on this, you are going to (in your mind) think lesser of the Omega brand because a grey dealer is selling them, even though Omega is not involved in getting that dealer the watches, and actively fought a court case and lost trying to prevent it from happening, And ONLY because they sell non-watch related products along with those watches?

Wow...

 

Huh?

 

Exactly

 

I guess I haven't been clear: I don't care where they sell anything, or who does or does not buy it, whether the grey market stays, or whether it goes. Luxury items have traditionally been associated as being sold in an environment commensurate with what that buying demographic typically expects. When the selling environment is incongruent with what is being sold, for some people, it cheapens the perception of the brand. Period. If you don't think so, that is perfectly fine as well.

 

For whom? Based on this thread, it seems most here are unconcerned with this, so I can only conclude you are speaking for yourself here.

 

I think if I were GOD ... I’d have Costco memberships appearing in certain OF member mailboxes....

 

Had you read more carefully, you would have not needed to ask this question.

Plus, are you being purposely obtuse and combative? Do you honestly think that because I have this perception, there is no one else that shares this perspective, outside of this forum demographic? Why don't you get back to oiling watches, and I'll go back to fixing broken people, because this has certainly exhausted its interest for me.

 

What this thread has done for me is enlighten me on what “grey market” means. I always equated grey market with shady guys operating out of an industrial park through places like chrono 24 selling products on the internet that came through the back door somewhere.
I know Jomashop sells “grey market” like my newly acquired Certina which is not distributed in the US so is imported by them and sold without a Us warranty (so I assume, although it did come with a blank Certina warranty card- Jomashop offers their own warranty for whatever that’s worth). It’s the same product as sold overseas but not distributed here. I wonder how they acquire it- and further sell it so much lower than MSRP- not just a little lower, but by almost half!
I never thought of Costco as a grey market seller but I guess if they are selling Omega and Rolex on their shelves and are not authorized dealers of those products (or are they?), then that makes it grey market then. Are the watches sold by Costco subject to manufacturer warranty? I understand that Rolex has a pretty tight stranglehold on their new product distribution- are the Rolex’s sold at Costco considered new product and are manufacturer warranty honored at an AD if something goes wrong with a Costco purchased Rolex or Omega?

 

You denied knowing about any grey market dealers, even though you have posted about them before, and I'm being obtuse? Okay...

Now to this:

Okay, but then you turn right around and say it's not just you...

I'm not trying to be combative...what I'm trying to do here is gain an understanding of the logic behind your position, and I think that's the mistake I'm making. There is no logic behind it that I can see.

So I'll repeat what I said before:

"So to recap your position on this, you are going to (in your mind) think lesser of the Omega brand because a grey dealer is selling them, even though Omega is not involved in getting that dealer the watches, and actively fought a court case and lost trying to prevent it from happening, And ONLY because they sell non-watch related products along with those watches?"

If I am misrepresenting your position, then please tell me how I'm doing that. Just saying "Huh?" as you did before tells me I'm not.

From my perspective this is sort of an unjustly "harsh" or "unfair" way of looking at Omega. Why do you look on them differently when they had nothing to do with this, and even tried to stop it is the part that to me makes zero sense. If you want to think less of Costco, the people who shop there, that makes more sense to me than thinking less of a brand that isn't involved other than it's their products. If they condoned it (by making Costco and AD), or if they stood idly by while Costco sold their watches, it might make some sense, but considering they didn't, I can't see the logic in this at all.

I don't think the average Costco shopper thinks less of brands that are offered for sale there, and it seems most in the watch community don't either. So if they are not seeing a reduction in brand perception, that leaves who exactly?

It was not my intent to upset you. If you choose not to participate in this thread any longer, that's you prerogative.

 

The grey market is anything out side the normal distribution chain. It's nothing shady, just not through the AD.

Costco are not AD's for any brand that I am aware of.

 

But would purchasing through them invalidate any factory warranty since it wasn’t purchased from and authorized dealer?

 

Now you have me confused. My understanding is there are 50 shades.

 

Swatch group has US$7.2 billion in accumulated inventory. As much as Hayek publicly states that they are tackling the grey market and buying back excess stock from dealers, that is still a huge amount of inventory to move.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...cline-on-crackdown-against-unauthorized-sales

As in all publicly traded companies, there is often a clash between the public corporate messaging to please investors versus the harsh reality of day-to-day operations and cash flow. So should we be surprised that more Omega watches are turning up at Costco?

In terms of brand perception I think Omega could start "at home" improving their own "luxury boutique" watch displays with hundreds of variants on show, which hardly make their own products look very exclusive

 

It depends. Some grey dealers sell watches with filled in warranty cards, and those have factory warranty. Others do not...

 

Which they do without argument. Another reason I love that company.

 

Costco will also service/repair the watch:

This exceeds any factory warranty one could imagine.