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Ahh, how times have changed!
20 years ago, I bought my first Lange 1 from a grey dealer. It was shipped from Europe to the US. It arrived with (a) Customs duties pre-paid by the seller/shipper, (b) two beautiful custom short straps to fit my wrist (both stamped with the official Lange stamp because they were ordered from Lange's strap maker), and (c) a box of chocolates (in addition to more chocolates that arrived for the holidays several months later). I still keep the watch on that same strap, and the second short strap is untouched. For about 15 minutes -- a beautiful, brief period -- I thought this was normal/typical!
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Why I'll Never Go Grey (Market) Again
I bought a Lange over one year ago from Wempe. At that time I was given a nice second OEM replacement strap for my watch. I realized a few days ago that they gave me the wrong size (my watch is 20 mm lug to lug and they gave me a 19 mm strap). I notified ...
How is that even comparable?
Excuse me, but I don’t see why grey dealer would be at fault here? You are supposed to check what you get and if you don’t it’s on you, especially after a whole year. We might not agree with grey dealers markup on popular pieces but for thousand others th...
OEM means Lange
And 1mm difference is easy to miss unless you actually go to swap straps. The point of my post was that an AD has great, arguably better, customer service. The fact that they took care of it shows they are understanding
I did do business with them in the past, hence the "Again"
Different situation, but mentioned it in detail below replying to LX
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The grey dealer wouldn't give you a second strap to begin with so it would never happen. You're reaching.
Ahh, how times have changed!
20 years ago, I bought my first Lange 1 from a grey dealer. It was shipped from Europe to the US. It arrived with (a) Customs duties pre-paid by the seller/shipper, (b) two beautiful custom short straps to fit my wrist (both stamped with the official Lang...
I know they wouldn't
My point was just that an AD, in my experience, has a tendency to offer better customer service.
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How is this even comparable? Plus you are making an assumption which could be wrong as well, because you don't know how others would react. You had a good experience with your AD, but there are also people who haven't had a good experience with the same A...
What is the assumption I am making?
I have had a great experience with an AD and a terrible experience with a grey dealer (which I've detailed now a few times in this thread). Granted I didn't explain the bad grey market experience in my OP, but the title says "Again". This is an a posterio...
Any dealer could give a strap right or wrong, new or used, authorized or gray market
Choosing where to buy is more complex than you make it out to be Cazalea
I am not teaching a class on where to buy watches from
I'm not over simplifying anything because I'm not presenting all the complex things that go into a watch purchase. That wasn't the objective of my OP. My objective was to share my experience, the fact that being treated decently goes a long way for me, an...
Completely agree. I had so many positive moments with wempe.
Why is everyone so negative... i dont get it.
Wempe is my go-to AD
I've used the local branch since the 90s and have dealt with the same master watchmaker every time. He's knowledgable, patient and trustworthy. I've even visited with family members and he's taken the time to show watches and explain the finer details kno...
No, I couldn't
I was able to get my watch for below retail, similar to what it was going for on the secondary market. Took more time and effort than if I went grey market. But to me that is worth the added benefit of being treated decently
Most don't have that price opportunity so grey still is a viable option; and a replacement strap is de minimis compared to the price savings.
I just don't see how your experience reflects poorly on the grey market. But of course, each of us chooses what we most prefer, so I could never quibble with your choice.
And I've had a bad experience with the grey market which turned me off.
My apologies, I should have included it in OP to make my position more clear. I'm going to copy/paste my response to LX from below: "I guess the more nuanced point I should be making is Wempe NYC is much better than Jomashop. To contrast my great experien...
Fair enough. No question that Wempe, which holds one of the strongest reputations, is going to be much better than Jomaship, which is hit-or-miss as far as I understand.
I have bought grey and second-hand before, but knowing that I would only ever get a factory service if needed--never through the grey or second-hand dealer. All that goes into the price calculus from my perspective. You are certainly not alone in preferri...
I assume a gray market watch will need a full service and consider that in my cost calculus.
A few times, the watch has needed the service. But since I planned for that (and I have a great independent watchmaker), it's no problem other than service time.
I guess that I have been fortunate, any dealings that I have had with apres market vendors has been flawless...
On occasion, I have been treated worse by AD's...
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I’ve had only good experiences with the 2d hand dealers I’ve worked with, which I chose because they had brick-and-mortar stores and great reviews. And I’ve been treated badly by a boutique of a major watch brand. So choose your seller wisely, but don’t p...
I'm not prejudiced against pre-owned
I have a vintage pre-owned piece that I received from a lovely dealer in Florida. You can see my post below in response to LX on my more nuanced take
It is about excellence in customer service, not whether you buy from an AD or grey market dealer.
I also had a terrible experience at an IWC AD in Zurich. When changing a strap they badly scratched one of the lugs and when I complained they said that I had already brought the watch in this condition and were accusing me of wanting to extract a free re...
That is a fair point. I guess the more nuanced point I should be making is Wempe NYC is much better than Jomashop.
To contrast my great experience with Wempe, Joma has treated me terribly. I purchased a speedmaster from them which required service after a few months (issue with the keyless works). As part of the service they changed my hesalite crystal. The new hesali...
Wempe is one of the few honest ones out there IMHO...
And probably in the last 5 years have recognized the importance of going to an AD and building a relationship with them. In the near term you may be spending a little more, but if you feel like watch collecting is a long-term game, then it’s worth buildin...
Thanks for your input
I completely agree. It is not just one purchase, but a relationship which will pay itself back over the years if you stay in this long enough. A. That seems reasonable. If I were in that situation I would be very circumspect in who I purchase from. The gr...
