I haven't been able to find any recent information in regards to the TAG outlets and their timepieces. I was in one of the outlets looking at the watches. They told me they were brand new pieces that included a two year warranty however out of the 3 that I looked at 1 was dinged up around the lugs, the other had it's bracelet adjusted and the other had scratches on it's crystal and all over the bracelet. Clearly not new and unmolested. I decided to pass on purchasing from the outlet but wanted to pose the question here to determine where these watches come from? TAG customer service would not comment, the TAG boutique in Las Vegas said it's overstock from Boutique's that did not sell, the Las Vegas outlet stated they're "directly shipped to us from Switzerland" (yeah right) and the other outlet in California didn't even know how they received the watches. I'm assuming these are returns from AD's that got sent back to TAG and were refurbished and a combination of overstock that may have been in local warehouses? Does anyone know first hand where these units are coming from? Again, they did say that the watches carried the two-year warranty and they are a direct dealer but what I know about many outlets is there are items made specifically for outlet stores only that use cheaper grade materials to give the allusion that you are getting a great deal and there are others that just have overstock. For instance TUMI sells both, they have old items that didn't sell at stores or online. All stores ship back their old items they can't clearance and then TUMI sends those pieces to the outlets. The TUMI outlets also sell outlet only bags that have cheaper zippers and material used to make the outlet bags which is why the similar bag you'd see at your Macy's, Bloomingdales or TUMI directly is over 3x more expensive. Anyway I've gotten different stories from the boutique's I've called and the outlets differ their stories as well which lends me to steer clear of my purchase. It sucks because they have 2011 and 2013 pieces I'd like to pickup but don't want a refurbished watch sold to me as "new" I might mention the staff at these outlet stores are not very knowledgeable in their products either which surprised me given the fact they're an AD. Hoping someone has first hand knowledge.
Based on my experiences of the outlet store in York, UK, Im fairly sure they have a mixture of new stock direct from Switzerland, and stuff that didnt sell from boutiques. I picked up my Aquaracer 500m Chrono Full Black in an outlet and it was clearly a new and had never been worn, there wasnt a hint of damage or dust on it, and the strap was untouched. However, the display model looked like it had been kicked around a war zone, it had a few chips out of the black coating and the chrono pushers were so easy to push they almost felt like electric buttons. I realise this is a 2011 watch, so maybe this was just a model that had been on display for 3 years, but it looked more like it had been worn, hard, for at least a year. Possibly by the staff in the store? When I was back in the outlet recently, I spotted a whole bunch of limited editions (See a different thread), which clearly had been shipped in from other stores. All in, I would definitely buy from an outlet again, as I got a brand new watch with full warranty for a price that was impulse-buy-able. Going on the quality of the item, Im certain there is no difference in workmanship between the products.
The outlets stock their stores through discontinued older lines. This will consist of watches that were on display in jewelers and also stock that never made it onto the shop floor so will be in pristine condition. I understand that they do not have crossover so what you see in the Boutiques will not be in the outlet and vice -versa. From my travels there seems to be some discrepancies that what may be outlet pieces in some countries and still on sale full price in the AD's in others. I know when I've purchased you still get the 2 years warranty which is the main thing. As for watches made specifically for outlet. I think they made a Carrera a few years ago but other than that they're all watches from their general range.
Hello first post I bought the same AR 500m from the same York outlet as dtf and agree that it was a brand new unmolested watch. With regard to after care, I'd had the watch about 4 months and overnight it started to gain 3mins/hour. I went back to the outlet the assistant agreed with my assessment. He gave me the option of credit against a different watch or a brand new replacement, I chose the replacement and the warranty started from that day. Personally I can't see a downside of the outlet. I did see some watches marked "sold as seen". I asked the assistant what this meant and was told that they may have been display or show items, but they did seem to be priced accordingly and came with the full 2 year warranty.
I wonder why you didn't get the same option as myself. Perhaps they saw mine as terminal with that rate of gain and yours as repairable.