: Where do "gray market" watches come
: from in the first place? I guess the
: assumption is that they are fundamentally
: ORIGINAL watches, genuinely manufactured by
: Omega. So (taking the serial number removal
: or not removal question off the table for a
: moment), "HOW" do they get from
: the Omega manufacturing source, into the
: hands of the grey market dealer?
Sadly, they get to gray market dealers through unscrupulous authorized retailers. The key here is VOLUME. An authorized dealer may sell his watches to a gray market dealer at just a bit above cost, but he'll sell them lots of them at one time to make a big profit. This is why so many gray market dealers remove the serial numbers - to protect the authorized dealers from whom they bought the watches. Omega will revoke their AD status if they are caught selling watches to gray market dealers, so these dealers are often willing to remove the serial numbers to prevent the watch from being traced back to the AD.
: Is there something "illegal" going on
: in this chain? Is someone not enforcing
: something they should be?
Not illegal, just immoral. Omega should be cracking down on gray market dealers, but there's a reason they aren't - $$$$$$$. If Omega sells lots of watches to AD's who sell them to gray market dealers, Omega has still sold these watches regardless of where they end up. Since Omega is in the business of selling watches, they seem to be willing to turn a blind eye to the problem.
