The Enabler Thread

paysdoufs
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Mark my words: 2024 is going to be the year of great grey market savings…

For example, I just realized that Breitling still hasn’t sold out the AVI Co-Pilot re-edition one year later - despite only N=164 having been produced. Same for the first AVI 765 they did in… 2020!

Don’t be fooled by our bubble: Not a lot of steel sport-watches >4-5k are selling. Xmas sales season has been, according to all available anecdotical evidence, pretty terrible across Europe.
 
Jim Dollares
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paysdoufs paysdoufs
Mark my words: 2024 is going to be the year of great grey market savings…

For example, I just realized that Breitling still hasn’t sold out the AVI Co-Pilot re-edition one year later - despite only N=164 having been produced. Same for the first AVI 765 they did in… 2020!

Don’t be fooled by our bubble: Not a lot of steel sport-watches >4-5k are selling. Xmas sales season has been, according to all available anecdotical evidence, pretty terrible across Europe.
I really hope you are correct. I sincerely genuinely really really really hope that the current Swiss pricing strategy will fail completely 👍
 
dtf
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Jim Dollares Jim Dollares
I really hope you are correct. I sincerely genuinely really really really hope that the current Swiss pricing strategy will fail completely 👍

Particularly TH. Tudor still seems viable and even Omega seems to give better value for money, except I can’t justify one right now.
 
Jim Dollares
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dtf dtf
Particularly TH. Tudor still seems viable and even Omega seems to give better value for money, except I can’t justify one right now.
This morning I saw some planet ocean Omega released recently and I cant really say I see much reasonable value in the isch 10k price tag
 
Jim Dollares
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Omega doesnt even seem to do 4 hertz movements? Apparently they do some low beat movements to achieve higher power reserve just like Tissot and other entry level Swatch brands?
 
Jim Dollares
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Is it true that many current Omegas dont even have quick adjust date? I seen videos showing that you have to flick the hour hand back and forth like an idiot to proceed the date 😲🙄😁
 
dtf
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Jim Dollares Jim Dollares
This morning I saw some planet ocean Omega released recently and I cant really say I see much reasonable value in the isch 10k price tag

A ceramic speedmaster with in house, anti-mag, anti-vibration for 10k feels like better value than a 3k Aquaracer with a $50 selita or a 6k Denbigh Dato with the weird bezel thing.
 
abrod520
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Jim Dollares Jim Dollares
Is it true that many current Omegas dont even have quick adjust date? I seen videos showing that you have to flick the hour hand back and forth like an idiot to proceed the date 😲🙄😁

Those Omegas have jump hour features so they're easy to adjust while traveling. The date function is tied to that so you need to twirl the hour hand to move the date back and forth. Similar to the way a true GMT works, just without the 24hr hand.

IMO all watches should have this!
 
Jim Dollares
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abrod520 abrod520
Those Omegas have jump hour features so they're easy to adjust while traveling. The date function is tied to that so you need to twirl the hour hand to move the date back and forth. Similar to the way a true GMT works, just without the 24hr hand.

IMO all watches should have this!
Interesting 👍 I never travel to different timezones so to me it makes no sense but I can see why those who travel every month/week would love it. I prefer being able to quickly adjust the date since I do this every time I wind my watches 😀
 
Aquagraph
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No but they have a carbon for less than I paid for mine... 🙄
Crazy that the second hand value is half the retail.
 
THFan346
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Aquagraph Aquagraph
No but they have a carbon for less than I paid for mine... 🙄
Crazy that the second hand value is half the retail.
That really is nuts. I just think most people only think Steel is worth buying…which is rather shortsighted.
 
Aquagraph
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dtf dtf
what’s the logic behind trusting watchfinder but not grey market? Isn’t watchfinder just as likely to be fake?

Watchfinder is owned by Richemont, they do servicing for the big brands, yes I trust them more than grey market which can mean one guy buying and selling watches from anywhere in his garage. When I sold them my F1 they had it for a week before they gave me the go ahead. Which could be smoke and mirrors, obviously. But the real point is, could a watch slip through? Yes of course. Will Watchfinder still be there to make it right? I'm guessing so. You remember my previous conversation with Watches and Crystals. Didn't exactly give me solid vibes that a fake would be refunded no matter what. And let's be honest most fakes are not discovered immediately, most are discovered when thd battery needs changing or the movement needs servicing.
 
Aquagraph
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No disrespect to James Biz but I find it vaguely laughable that people here trust 'a guy on the Internet' with literally no reputation to lose over a multi million dollar business that employs multiple experienced watchmakers and access to big brands.
 
Aquagraph
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You remember they told me my Grand Carrera minute hand jumping when the chrono was activated was normal and I thought they were full of it, but TAG confirmed it in writing, so I have to give them that.
 
Pitfitter446
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‘multiple experienced watchmakers’
I have worked with multiple experienced motor technicians over the years- with all the certifications to prove this- and some I wouldn’t trust with a wheelbarrow, hangover day, argued with someone before work, these folk could still mess up, or not care, big companies are often worse than small indies?
 
Aquagraph
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Yes sure, and I'm sure there are good grey market dealers. But how do you define grey market dealers and how do you know they only buy from where they say they do? I'm not saying Watchfinder is perfect, but my trust in them is that if I send a watch to TAG 3 years after I bought it and they say it's fake I believe Watchfinder would sort it. Of course that's not happened to me so I can't say for sure... but at least they will still be there, unlike some of these grey market dealers that change their name every six months.
 
Aquagraph
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I don't know, I think grey market is too vague a term as it seems to encompass companies like Montredo and Jura Watches who seem to be genuine but also companies like Swiss Watches Direct who I am told have definitely been the source of problem watches.
 
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