Buying from overseas AD or the grey market

[tomasulu]

Assuming you have the warranty card stamped by an overseas AD but may not have the receipt with the AD (grey dealer), will the local Rolex service center honor the warranty or service the watch?

[116520]

No problem. Don't worry about it.

Assuming you have the warranty card stamped by an overseas AD but may not have the receipt with the AD (grey dealer), will the local Rolex service center honor the warranty or service the watch?

[tomasulu]

cool thanks. so why is it that folks always ask if a watch on sale was from local or overseas AD?

[triton]

cause the buying price for an overseas set compared to a local set if bought @ the same period can be cheaper.

cool thanks. so why is it that folks always ask if a watch on sale was from local or overseas AD?

[seiko.citizen]

just curious as to what watch was destined for what market originally.

[sagara]

Assuming you have the warranty card stamped by an overseas AD but may not have the receipt with the AD (grey dealer), will the local Rolex service center honor the warranty or service the watch?

Erm... how can your AD be a grey dealer when they are Rolex's AD? Able to define your meaning of AD and grey dealer?

[tomasulu]

grey dealers get their stock from ADs or people who bought from ADs. they can be watch retailers (but not rolex agents), online sites or even some guys operating on ebay.

why not just get the watch directly from an AD? well, some models are hard to get.

[triton]

if you are referring to grey dealers getting from local AD? i dont think they will do it, primarily because the maximum discount given to any customer by local AD is some what limited. the profit margin is not really worth the effort. there are some exceptional cases for example last year when couple of local AD are selling their white daytona for 13.5k around last quarter of the year. at this price, it is attractive enough, but not necessarily enough to entice these gray dealers. i dont recall in the past 10 years where a daytona is being sold ~500 above list price. i could be wrong.

gray dealers sell rolex in sg take their stock mainly from overseas where they can earn more based on at least one of the following factors

1) list price after exchange rate conversion. example, list of daytona is currently ~13600 in sg. say in europe, the list price after conversion is ~13k

2) the ability to claim tax overseas. do note that the price is inclusive of GST. if you take away the GST, it is quite substantial for any watch above 5k esp those above 10k.

3) discount structure also dependent on exchange rate.

then again why would one want to buy a rolex from gray dealer and not AD.

1) not all brand of watches will be cheaper overseas. so if you are eyeing on say a hublot or Lange. you may choose to buy from local AD so that you can build a relationship with them.

2) there are some value added services you can get from local AD depending again on what 'grade' of customer you are

3) dont need to go to authorised agent to authenticate the watch

the list goes on.....

grey dealers get their stock from ADs or people who bought from ADs. they can be watch retailers (but not rolex agents), online sites or even some guys operating on ebay.

why not just get the watch directly from an AD? well, some models are hard to get.

[coldzy]

grey dealers get their stock from ADs or people who bought from ADs. they can be watch retailers (but not rolex agents), online sites or even some guys operating on ebay.

why not just get the watch directly from an AD? well, some models are hard to get.

There are actually a term called 'wholesaler'. If you know the local retailer well (not AD), you will abe to get lots of inform on sales of Rolex thru certain channel. They are local set, and the price is swee swee.

[tomasulu]

the reason i asked is because of the darn ss daytona. i am just not willing to pay the crazy premium that sg retailers are selling them for.

i found a reputable US site selling it at list (US msrp). according to them, they got their watches from rolex ADs and the warranty cards are stamped by the AD. however you won't get the receipt from the AD cos you don't deal with the AD.

[triton]

no worries. but for 10k watch hor, i wont transact over the internet. very riskly. why? even with reputable AD, we dont know how many people will handle the parcel in between from them till reach your hands. what if something happen along the way? there was a case in one forum already. both reputable buyer and seller. complaint was paid good money for real watch. but arrival was a lemon. can argue till the cows come home. but ....

yes. these places like USA, it is possibe to have retailers purchasing from AD. because USA is a huge country. SG too small to have retailers.

the reason i asked is because of the darn ss daytona. i am just not willing to pay the crazy premium that sg retailers are selling them for.

i found a reputable US site selling it at list (US msrp). according to them, they got their watches from rolex ADs and the warranty cards are stamped by the AD. however you won't get the receipt from the AD cos you don't deal with the AD.