Hello,
I read with great interest the comments made here on Authentic Watches.Com. It is a bit of a reality check as I was getting very hyped up about saving at least 55% off the Retail price here in SA for the watch I so dearly want (a Longines, sorry!)
Anyway, I would like to ask what is the actual definition of a Grey Dealer vs. an Authorised dealer?
I am familiar with the term for e.g. stuff coming from the Far East, but how does an Grey Dealer get hold of products that are made only in 1 factory in Switzerland somewhere? Why would a reputable brand risk releasing sub standard products into the market at all, whether through a Grey or Authorised dealer? Are they legally selling it to the GD for a discount because it comes with no backup support? Or are these things stolen from the factory? Or in fact fake clones made somewhere else? Why do the companies tolerate the GDs at all, unless they actually supply them in the first place?
From what I can gather, these GD are not as bad as the fake Chinese sites that openly con you with cheap replicas or plain junk, but how would you distinguish between the actual product sourced via a GD as opposed to the AD? Could you be lucky and receive a perfect watch at a substantial discount because lots of greedy middlemen have been cut out (especially here in SA) ?
That said, can anyone please point me to the AD that are talked about in these posts? It should preferably be willing to ship to South Africa.
Regards
Leon
