They then sell it to a grey market dealer.

An end customer buys the watch from an official retailer.

There are many different ways that watches enter the grey market. But from a definition standpoint, it would be more correct to include both used and new watches if the seller is an unofficial retailer, regardless of whether it has been used or not. Some people use the definition of grey market to only include new watches. This is why a lot of sellers on the grey market, or ”secondhand market”, use the term ”unworn” instead, to refer to the condition and state of the watch. After it has been sold by the official retailer, it cannot be sold as ”new”, even though it has never been worn. The term new is however something that splits opinions since many argue that a watch is only new when it is being sold by an official retailer. So in that sense, a grey market watch can be either used or ”new”. In other words, this also applies to whether the owner has used the watch.

A secondhand watch is just a watch that someone has owned before. With all of this said, the grey market and secondhand market are the same and could be used interchangeably. Grey market watches are authentic products, only that they are sold through an unofficial, unauthorized channel. This also sparks another misconception and common belief, which is that grey market watches are in some way illegal. The only difference is that they have already left the official retailer and are now being sold by an unofficial party. They are the exact same watches that first come from the manufacturer, then from the official retailer. So the distribution channel actually starts at the official retailer.Īnother misconception that is also not true is that grey market watches are in some way different types of watches than non-grey market watches. As mentioned, all watches that come from the manufacturer are first delivered to an official retailer. Some people have the perception that watches on the grey market come from somewhere else than the retailers. So, in short, grey market watches can essentially be summarized as any watches that are not sold by official retailers. The second, which is a little broader (and technically more correct from a definition standpoint), is an unofficial dealer or retailer that sells any watch, regardless if it’s new or not. The first is when an unofficial retailer sells brand new (and only brand new watches. There are two main definitions of the grey market watch industry. Instead, they need to get their watches from somewhere else. And because they are not official retailers, they do not get brand new watches directly from the manufacturers as the official retailers do. Different people also have different definitions of the grey market so we’ll try to sort out them all as well.Įssentially, the grey market involves all watch dealers and boutiques that are not official retailers of the watch brands that they sell. The grey market can be summarized using the definition of Investopedia, as all grey market dealers are not official retailers. As such, all watches first need to go through official retailers. The watch brands will only ship watches to their official retailers and not a third party. However, the majority of watches are sold through official retailers which are independent and not owned by the brands. There are some exceptions, however, and these are watch brands that exclusively sell direct-to-consumer, as well as watch brands that also own some retail stores themselves. The official retailers are not owned by the brands, hence why the majority of watch brands are predominantly business-to-business (B2B) companies, not business-to-consumer (B2C). Most watch brands use official retailers which sell the products under a retail agreement. This is where the watches are manufactured. And to understand how it applied to the watch industry, we need to understand how watches are distributed within the industry.įirst, we have the factories and the brands.

This definition can also be applied to the watch industry. The term “gray market” also refers to the import and sale of goods by unauthorized dealers in this instance as well, such activity is unofficial but not illegal.” “The gray market is an unofficial one but is not illegal. Investopedia’s definition of the term ”Grey market” is the following: The term ”grey market” is a term that is used not only for the watch industry but actually for most other product-based industries as well. What is the grey market in the watch industry?

There are a lot of misconceptions about the grey market watches and the grey market watch industry so in this article, we’ll get to the bottom of what it is and what it means. What are Gray Market Watches? The Ultimate GuideĬhances are, you have heard the term ”gray market” in the context of the watch industry before.

Reputable grey market watch dealers