New watch purchases w/ our crappy exchange rates

[Disoblige]

Anyone been looking at purchasing a watch lately and been holding back due to the shitty exchange rate we have? Are you guys buying locally instead? Maybe places locally increased their prices as well too due to the crappy exchange rate? What to expect for deals?

Particularly interested to know about mid to higher level luxury Swiss watches. $4.5-10k, $10k+ etc.

Share your experience and any recommendations would be appreciated!

Thanks.

[rage2]

Only buy local. A lot of brands are holding the cdn MSRP stable (for now) with near 1:1 against US prices.

[Cos]

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[Disoblige]

Really eh? Good to know. Thanks guys.

I'll check out CJ sometime this week and see how it goes.

[flipstah]

Let us know how it goes and what you end up with :D

[cosmok]

I bought my PAM 372 in Brisbane for $9k AUD which is around $6.5k USD these days. Most places seem to have held prices with the currency fluctuations.

[shakalaka]

The Breitling I picked up in the summer ended up being just over $6K CDN, while the cheapest one I could find locally was $7500 and $7000 with some shitty discounts. Check out authenticwatches.com, they seem to have the best prices available.

[Cos]

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[86max]

The watch I picked up last week is $2400 less expensive on that website after conversion :(

Damn you shakalaka lol

[shakalaka]

Originally posted by Cos


The only thing is that I thought it was mentioned in your purchase thread that I thought that website voids the factory warranty. Now $1500 is a good chunk of change so that may not matter, but something to keep in mind besides buying from an A.D.

Yup, so what they do is that instead of the factory warranty card they include their own personal warranty card. So if you need any work done on the watch you have to ship it back to them (which they refund) and then they will ship it to the original factory. I guess it's a little weird cause they don't necessarily void the factory warranty as they themselves send it to the factory. They just themselves have the factory warranty and give consumers their own.

[shakalaka]

Originally posted by 86max
The watch I picked up last week is $2400 less expensive on that website after conversion :(

Damn you shakalaka lol

Haha sorry man should have asked. Their prices are absolutely insane, even with the bad conversion rates. I've felt like picking a few after the Breitling just because of the prices. Even with the warranty 'hassle' the savings are well worth it.

Even if you buy from the AD, my understanding is that they ship it to the original manufacturer anyway and it takes ages for it to get done. It's the same thing with this, but instead of walking in and dropping the watch to an AD you ship it back to them.

[Cos]

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[Pacman]

Originally posted by shakalaka


Yup, so what they do is that instead of the factory warranty card they include their own personal warranty card. So if you need any work done on the watch you have to ship it back to them (which they refund) and then they will ship it to the original factory.

This doens't sound right. If this because they don't want anyone to know who the original Authorized Dealer is that sold the watch?

[rage2]

Authentic Watches have their own service guys. It doesn't get serviced at the manufacturer's service centers.

With that being said, of all the watches I've owned, I've only had 1 watch that needed warranty work (loose rotor). These things are pretty reliable.

[98type_r]

Originally posted by rage2
Authentic Watches have their own service guys. It doesn't get serviced at the manufacturer's service centers.

With that being said, of all the watches I've owned, I've only had 1 watch that needed warranty work (loose rotor). These things are pretty reliable.

Do you take them in for scheduled maintenance as per the manufacturers guidelines, or only on as as needed basis?

[shakalaka]

Originally posted by rage2
Authentic Watches have their own service guys. It doesn't get serviced at the manufacturer's service centers.

With that being said, of all the watches I've owned, I've only had 1 watch that needed warranty work (loose rotor). These things are pretty reliable.

If that is the case then they have been blatantly lying to me about it as I still have emails from them clearly stating that they send the product back to the original manufacturers so they have no control over how long it takes to get the product back.

[rage2]

http://www.authenticwatches.com/info.html


We make continuous efforts to provide the highest quality of service with the lowest prices. We value you, our customer, and therefore offer the highest quality of customer service.
All Watches Sold By AuthenticWatches.com Have Their Original Manufacturer Serial Numbers Intact.
All Watches Sold By AuthenticWatches.com Are Guaranteed To Be Original & Authentic.
All orders from AuthenticWatches.com will come with a Certificate of Authenticity. This certificate, with an authorized signature from AuthenticWatches.com, will verify that the watch purchased is guaranteed to be authentic. AuthenticWatches.com does not sell products in accordance to manufacturer suggested retail pricing, therefore warranties offered are facilitated through AuthenticWatches.com to save you both time and money. We have found that forwarding timepieces to the manufacturer generally took far too long to be worked on, due to manufacturers outsourcing their repairs to authorized service centers. The turn-around period for a general repair took anywhere from 8-12 weeks, often times with extra costs involved; whereas, a general repair* processed by AuthenticWatches.com generally takes 4-6 weeks. Based on our years of experience in our industry, we have developed relationships with multiple service centers to both expedite any repair, and lessen the costs involved in non-warranty issues.
There's a lot of BS in there, manufacturers do not outsource their repairs. Everything is done in house. Not that it matters, it's not like these watches break often anyways. If they did, I wouldn't send it back to them. I'd get it serviced by the factory, or a reputable local shop that you trust.


Originally posted by 98type_r
Do you take them in for scheduled maintenance as per the manufacturers guidelines, or only on as as needed basis?
Only as needed.

[Cos]

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[Disoblige]

Bleh. I wish I bought this watch last year when the currency was better. But I felt too busy to even look into it.

Authentic Watches has it for ~25% cheaper than CJ when all the conversion is done. Even got an all-in price later which was much better than the initial 10% off they offered.

The watch is special order and it would take 4-6 weeks for it to come. I'm not exactly in a rush so not sure it's wise to pull the trigger on this locally at a 25% price difference.

Seems like Authentic Watches is the way to go if we are talking price.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Originally posted by rage2
http://www.authenticwatches.com/info.html

If the repair info. is bullshit so be it but is everything they sell legitimately authentic?

[shakalaka]

Originally posted by rage2
http://www.authenticwatches.com/info.html


There's a lot of BS in there, manufacturers do not outsource their repairs. Everything is done in house. Not that it matters, it's not like these watches break often anyways. If they did, I wouldn't send it back to them. I'd get it serviced by the factory, or a reputable local shop that you trust.


Only as needed.

I think there are two meanings to that. "Facilitated through AW" could also mean that they send the watch to the manufacturer instead of the customer doing it. I read that as well before.

My watch the first day it came, I stupidly tried changing the quick time feature when it was in the time zone when you're not supposed to. The effect of that was literally after wearing the watch for 1 hour I messed it up so that the date started changing at 4 AM at 12 AM. I immediately contacted them saying iOS t the watch like this and that they need to fixed it. I sent it back to them and when it was taking 3-4 weeks for me to get it back I contacted them and they advised me that they ship the watches back to the original manufacturer so they have no control over how long it takes. I think they maybe perform smaller repairs or something as they do have their own service department too but for anything substantial they send to the original manufacturer. I have emails from then saying that they do and prior to when I ordered it on the phone the rep told me the same thing.

That being said, if they are lying and are shady then I guess who know. Either way, like you said these watches don't really need anything usually unless you're dumb like me and start winding it when you shouldn't. Lol.

[rage2]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE
If the repair info. is bullshit so be it but is everything they sell legitimately authentic?
The watches they sell are authentic. It's pretty easy to spot fakes, and they'd go under if word gets out that they're selling fakes. They're just grey market watches, meaning dealers that move them at really low prices against the set pricing rules to get high volume going.

[86max]

Is the second hand value of a watch impacted significantly if it's purchased from an unauthorized distributor?

Will it be like selling a car that is from the US, people will automatically value it less than the same car purchased here in Canada?

[Cos]

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[rage2]

You can't tell a watch is grey market. Used prices are pegged to the highest discount levels as a new price anyways, so no, there's no effect. The only possible effect is if you don't get a warranty card, so your "papers" are incomplete, but that's rare nowadays anyways. Even if you are missing the warranty card, the pricing difference is miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

[86max]

Okay thanks. Wasn't sure if asking for receipts from AD's or scratched off serial numbers was a thing or not.

[rage2]

Serial #'s aren't scratched off on grey market watches.

[Pacman]

Originally posted by rage2
Serial #'s aren't scratched off on grey market watches.

It's not common these days, but 10 - 15 years ago I used to see all sorts of laser etched, polished or acid used to remove serial #'s. I still have Tag Monaco from 2005 that has a nasty acid stain on the case from some dingbat dealer removing the serial #

[Disoblige]

Small bump.

Anyone have experience purchasing new watches off of a trusted seller on Chrono24?

What to expect for duty/customs charges when it is shipped from the US?
Some were telling me 15%, while when I looked it up, it could be somewhere around 5%. I could be missing something though.

Thanks.

[A790]

Originally posted by Disoblige
Small bump.

Anyone have experience purchasing new watches off of a trusted seller on Chrono24?

What to expect for duty/customs charges when it is shipped from the US?
Some were telling me 15%, while when I looked it up, it could be somewhere around 5%. I could be missing something though.

Thanks.
I've bought off Chrono24. Mine came from Europe. It was a smooth transaction overall. :)

Can't help with the duty info... sorry!

[JDMMAN]

Disoblige - for imports, duty is dependent on country of origin (where it's manufactured), GST will be levied as well.

[holden]

Have local shops adjusted prices to reflect the multi year lows we have in the loonie? I was going to buy some Omega watches for the parents next year, but scared of the exchange rate.

[Justing]

There was a price increase earlier this year. I haven't heard of another increase yet, but I'd imagine it's coming if the dollar stays at these levels.