Sunday, October 16, 2005

Guide to Buying a Watch

Honest and nice people do find this quite tough and usually feel awkward about the deal process. I think in the end it boils down to a few things, in no particular order:
  1. Know your target. Know the bottom line cheapest price in your country, and rest of world from greys (and then take off 10%).
  2. Persistence -Agree with all the dealer's points whining about shop rent, "last one available" nonsense or a "special price for today" - whatever. Just nod sagely, but don't budge from your view; preferably based on well researched facts from '1'.
  3. Pitch several dealers against each other if possible.
  4. Patience. Say less, do not fill silences in the conversation. The fact that you haven't walked away signals you are still interested.
  5. Eye contact - don't talk away from them and don't let them talk away from you.
  6. Politeness - keep it friendly, signal your knowledge but don't overemphasise it.
  7. Deal with the organ grinder not the monkey (no shop assistants thanks, just the boss)
  8. Dealers who are their own boss, not a shop chain, respond better.
  9. Appear serious - wear a watch of similar value to the one you're going to buy.
  10. "I can buy it now, today for cash" - then back off if needed once the deal is struck.
  11. Try on the interest in two watches; that you want to buy both, they'll want to sell you both, but back off to one after the price is struck.
  12. Make your mind up about how you feel about AD and Grey. Do the maths - is the difference more or less than the cost of a repair?
  13. Deal alone, no partners, friends or whatever along for the ride....
  14. Be prepared to walk away - there is ALWAYS another deal somewhere else.
I just cannot justify in my mind setting fire to even a $1000 for the pleasure of a happy dealer. Of course if the watch hasn't hit the grey channels yet, or is oversubscribed, then that's a different matter. But it doesn't appear you have to pay list for anything. Go for the throat!

And finally, two rock solid recommendations. These guys are cheaper new than some 2ndhand sellers.....the best kept open secret in the WIS community, they'll also manage the declared value for customs purposes -

4 comments:

John F. Opie said...

Hi -

But "which" these guys? There's no link there...

John

Anonymous said...

for a total novice, what do "AD" and "grey" mean?

Velociphile said...

AD= authorised dealer
grey= grey market

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the clarification and a great blog. I look forward to reading your posts and check for them daily. Of course the advanced (for me at least) articles launch me into endless searches in Google to be able to understand what you're describing. It is addictive. Thanks!