I was just shopping around a bit, and noticed that the tintin model at Jomashop is now OOS @ $2995. I'm guessing they won't receive additional stock. If you want to buy new at grey market prices, time may be running out. Still available at AuthenticWatches for $100 extra.

 

You're buying grey market, not black market 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.

 

When I google search "omega tintin" the first result is the official Omega website page for the 311.30.42.30.01.004
anyone else noticed?

 

Not quite simple - be careful. You will have Omega warranty only if you have the warranty card stamped by the Boutique or Authorized Dealer. The card should also be dated or else you need sales documentation to prove the sale date for that watch serial no. from an AD.

The "grey market" online sellers (Jomashop authenticwatches Amazon etc) only offer their in house warranty which may be inferior to Omega.

There are many "secondhand" dealers and individual sellers online and off. These sellers usually state if the watch was sourced from a Boutique or AD and if the Omega warranty still has time remaining. Start with the two sales forums here since the mods do a great job of keeping sellers honest. Technically all these watches are used even if in new condition.

(My Tintin came from a private seller on OmegaForums with about half the factory warranty remaining. I did bring it in for minor adjustments at the Boutique and everything went smoothly since I had a stamped and dated Omega warranty card for my watch from an Authorized Dealer)

 

Now back on topic

 

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.

 

Some grey market vendors do, in fact, buy from ADs and include stamped warranty cards from the AD. Why would the AD sell to the GM vendor? I'm sure they mark up over their cost so they still make some $,

 

Good evening to all of you I tell you that yours has a lot of scam and dealer who has no watch with infinite time and guarantees that do not exist at all

 

I've never seen a 4 year warranty does not exist

 

most reasonable and serious, to buy from omega with the date and pad ke warranty but the watch is not produced by or in their care and the Swiss watch is out of production

 

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

 

Apparantly that one is no longer available to tempt potential Tin Tin purchasers such as myself.

 

Ok. I saw the seller lower his price to $2,950.00 in the last 23 hours, so perhaps finally bought it.

 

Serial number - 77776.73x

 

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 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.

 

You've purchased from multiple grey dealers that provided AD/boutique-stamped warranty cards? Can you name some for future reference? I've been doing some online checking, and the best-known online grey dealers (joma, authenticwatches, etc) don't provide those cards. If you've dealt with physical B&M shops, then that's much more YMMV, as not everyone has easy access to the same. I wouldn't know where to begin looking for a physical grey dealer location for new Omegas. Hints? Just call local watch shops and ask if they carry Omegas and are AD's?

 

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?

 

Very interesting information, thanks. I guess it would seem logical that there are some grey shops operating in bigger cities in the USA, but this is all new to me. Something to look into for future purchases. The online grey dealers here are fairly reputable with their in-house warranties from what I can tell--they get the job done, and after the in-house warranty expiration, Omega services at the standard rates...

You've touched on a topic I've had interest in--how are you folks checking to confirm that used acquisitions haven't been reported stolen? Contact a boutique/AD and ask them to check the serial against their internal stolen list? I've read that isome people will take watches to pawn shops for appraisal, and they'll do a free check against the police's list of stolen serials.

 

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.

 

6 months?! I don't think we get that here in the UK... 45 days I think. You've got it good there!