zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Dear sir,

: Thanks for your response. I do understand your
: explanation.

: Please correct me if I am wrong.

: My thoughts are: 1) The grey marketers or
: parallel importers need to buy the watches
: from somewhere right ? Parallel imports are
: genuine goods. If they do not buy from the
: manufacturer, they will need to buy them
: from Omega AD right ? PI is a legal
: activities causes it provides consumers with
: better prices and make the market more
: efficient.

Yes, authorized retailers are the sources of these gray market watches, since Omega obviously only sells directly to its authorized retailers. I would not say that gray market dealers make the market more efficient, since a good AD can match the price of a watch purchased from a gray market dealer.

: 2) Did Omega put in writng anywhere that they
: will only service watches bought from AD ?

They will service any watch that still has its serial numbers intact, but YOU must pay for it if it is a gray market watch. Factory warranties only come with watches purchased directly from authorized retailers. If the serial number has been removed by the many unscrupulous gray market dealers who do this, Omega will not touch the watch, period.

: 3) As a matter of service, I think Omega needs
: to service any authentic products purchase
: from anywhere, be it on the net, AD or not
: AD. If their products flow from their AD to
: the grey marketers, then it is due to the
: flaw in the channel managements and not the
: fault of the end users. I happen to work in
: a company that sells our products everywhere
: in the world. We service the products,
: regardless whether they are PI, bought in
: the internet or anywhere else, as long as
: the product is not a fake.

A watch with no serial number indicates a "dubious origin" so I think it's reasonable for Omega to refuse to service it. If they can't trace it and confirm that it is THEIR product, they have every right to refuse to repair it.

: To us, as long as you buy our products, we
: service it. Period.

: 4) I believe grey markets can be so rampant in
: Omega watches probbaly due high margin
: structure the ADs enjoys. The AD gets fat
: enough margin to sell the stock to the PIs.
: So the real culprits are the ADs. Am I right
: ?

The AD does have enough of a profit margin that he can choose to sell to gray market dealers (if he wants to risk getting caught by Omega and having his AD status revoked). However, the AD can choose to sell the watch for the same price the gray market dealer does. You just have to shop around and find the right AD to buy from. Mine offers 33% off MSRP, which is often just as cheap as gray market dealers sell their watches for.

: Sorry for my ignornance...

No ignorance, just a difference of opinion perhaps.