zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

To chime in here a bit on the whole "gray market" thing, I worked in the early 80's as a wedding photographer and needed a Hasselblad -- a very high-end medium format camera, "went to the moon," et cetera. A precision instrument, mechanics AND optics. Back then I went to a lot of camera shows, and it was not uncommon for a photographer to sell his used stuff as he was getting out of the business or trading up. If you knew what your cameras, you could buy something "as is" and truly balance value for price-paid considerations.

Like a car (or lease): The camera was and should have been discounted to reflect "life used up."

On the other hand, you would also run into folks selling "new" cameras. Big discounts, no warranties.

What folks have to realize is that taking off the warranty is like taking off any other part of a new watch. You are assuming the "risk" that if something goes wrong, you will pay for fixing it, full boat. A warranty has VALUE, and when you are charged for it, it is not unlike paying for insurance on your car. No one wants to have an accident, but they do happen -- and you are covered against the cases when it does.

One of the best cars I ever owned was a 1987 Oldsmobile. But let me tell you, in the first 12,000 miles, it had a lot of "shake out" warranty work done. Nothing wrong w/ the car: Just that the manufacturer recognized that every contingency could not be anticipated, so they provided a warranty to stand up for that.

I think this is what Omega does, too, and I think it speaks well of them. I also think you have to pay for that backing, because that is the value delivered.

So if you are buying "grey market," among other things, part of the discount you are receiving is because the watch you are buying is worth less.

Thanks for letting me comment on this.