You mean a stamped warranty card? But if you have one of those from an authorized dealer, it wouldn't be grey market... so am I misunderstanding what you've said?
I've heard that the warranty card needs to have both the AD listed on it AND the date--either missing = no warranty service. I don't know though, as I've never sent anything to Omega for service. Aside from warranty service, I see little reason to pay Omega's exorbitant rates, when a competent watch shop is around half...
You're buying grey market, ... It's pretty simple really.
You're buying grey market, not black market 馃榾 Grey dealers are middle men. They have good relationships with genuine dealers so they buy at a discount. They then sell on at a discount and you save.
You're still buying from an AD therefore with a stamped warranty card. So the warranty still applies. It's pretty simple really.
There is BNIB one located in Japan for $3,200 that has been available for quite some time. Someone finally snatch it (I would have but still managed to locate mine in continental U.S.)!!
Apparantly that one is no longer available to tempt potential Tin Tin purchasers such as myself.
Black market goods are stolen goods, whereas grey market just means legally acquired goods are sold through a non-authorized vendor with no manufacturer warranty implied. Grey market dealers could only offer the manufacturer warranty if they acquired stock through authorized dealers or boutiques and neglected to remove the warranty cards--Omega clearly wouldn't sell directly to a non-authorized vendor and provide warranty cards. Why would an authorized dealer sell current watches to grey vendors at discount and risk getting in trouble with Omega?
I checked with someone I know who purchased from Jomashop (a grey dealer), and he confirmed that a brand new Omega watch did NOT come with a stamped warranty card. Instead, he got one from Joma for inhouse service. So no, buying from grey vendors and AD's are very different. Joma's warranty is apparently not as all-encompassing as Omega's, as they will refuse to replace or repair due to cosmetic defects and the like--just major mechanical issues.
Every grey dealer I've ever dealt with has sold the watch with cards. If you manage to buy a watch from a dealer without cards then that's your own fault 馃榾 If the cards are there though and stamped, that's the main thing. There's nothing to stop somebody filling in the date themselves is there.
I think what I'm noticing is a difference between European Grey Dealers, and USA Grey Dealers. Here in the UK, there are companies such as Iconic Watches, Xupes and various others who are all fantastic to deal with, and provide everything. With Panerais you'll get the triple boxes, with Rolex you'll get all the tags etc. They all come with stamped cards and manufacturer warranties intact; needless to say I've had no issues when it's come to warranty repairs.
The USA seems to work differently from what I'm seeing in the responses to this thread where warranty cards aren't provided. They really should be. I'd be very dubious of this personally but perhaps there's good reason for it. The main worry for me when buying without warranty cards/papers is that the watch is...
A) Stolen
B) Fake
I don't mind a lack of papers/cards when it comes to Vintage but with new watches it's a must-have for me. If I bought a new watch without cards, I'd be worried somebody has kept the original cards and a few years down the line, they make a fraudulent insurance claim.
The cards could be used as proof they own a watch that's not actually in their hands. If I had the watch related to the cards and sent it in for repair, it could flag up as stolen. Perhaps this is far-fetched but it's a possibility.
Are there definitely no grey dealers in the USA who supply all the original items with the watch?
So gray market or ebay or Chrono24 must pay attention to all announcements and news fraudulent scam of all kinds mine and contacting authorized dealers omega 馃槈
Chrono24 is an interesting one--I inevitably go through them when researching watch prices. Even now I see a new tintin available from an authorized dealer for $3237 USD. Lots of good watch listings that never make their way to ebay. I've never purchased on Chrono24, so not sure how they function in the event of seller misrepresentation. I try to stick to ebay/paypal when possible, as I get their 6-month "not as described" protection, which covers fake goods and defects.
