zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: I have trouble pointing the gray market finger at authorized dealers. These
: people are trying to stay afloat.

I have trouble with businesses that violate their contracts because it is 'unfair' or 'inconvenient' or 'we're just trying to stay afloat.' Those are excuses and justifications.

That is like saying it is too inconveinient honoring copyrights or trademarks, so we won't pay any royalties to George Lucas and just print up a whole lot of Star Wars shirts and sell them. Gosh, you would not believe the market pressures in the T-Shirt business...

: The manufacturers are the ones making the gray market fiasco. They make
: their money regardless of who sells their watches to the consumer.

True. But I suggest that their ethics in doing that are no better than the dealers that violate their contracts to make more money, too.

Essentially, we have a business where the manufacturers and dealers are at odds with each other. The dealers claim the manufacturers are unfair, so they cheat on their contracts. The manufacturers have trouble finding out which of their dealers are cheating on them. So they treat the consumers as criminals if they buy from any seller downstream from the cheaters - without regard to how the consumer is supposed to know.