I am considering buying a Frederique Constant Classic Index and have been looking at several options, including buying it from Jomashop. If I buy it from Jomashop I get around 50% discount from what I would have to pay at an AD.
Does anyone have experience with buying from Jomashop, or anyone who can tell me the downside/upsides with buying watches from them?
Posted Jul 19, 2016, 10:31 AM UTC
Another positive Jomashop reference here.
I purchased a white ceramic "Hyperchrome" Rado from Joma for my wife's 40th birthday. It was a zero-issue experience and I was happy to save the 28% over retail. I'm not up on Rado pricing so I have no idea if a similar discount could have been negotiated from an AD, but I did not live near one at the time and Jomashop was an awesome convenience.
Also, their gift wrapping is ...interesting.
That gift wrapping makes it look like a chicken or something.
I seriously started laughing when I pulled it out of the box.
What is this dragons flesh they've mailed me?
I bought a Zenith from them and saved over $3000 on the retail price. Haven't had any problems yet so no complaints here. If the savings is 20% or less you can probably go to an AD and negotiate the price down but when it is greater than 30% it's hard to resist going grey market.
This is solid advice because if you buy from an AD as soon as you walk out the door you're taking a 30% depreciation hit right away.
if you buy from an AD as soon as you walk out the door you're taking a 30% depreciation hit right away.
Depends on the deal you get. My Zenith was 50% off MSRP from my AD, which was less than Jomashop's price.
Still wouldn't buy an expensive watch from Jomashop. If the AD price is too high, I'd rather buy used.
That's awesome! I've never heard of an AD giving that much of a discount on a new watch. You must have a solid relationship with them or your negotiations skills are a beast.
Yes, my family has a long relationship with them and I went to school with their son.
The only downside I'm aware of is that I've heard that their post sales service is not consistently good. Almost nobody needs any post sales service, though. The upsides are that you can save a lot of money and the watches are delivered quickly (if they're "in stock"). I've bought a couple watches from them and am pleased with both transactions.
Exactly what I heard. If you get a good watch, you're fine. If your watch doesn't work, you're in for a long, painful process.
Yep can confirm. Endured long and painful process with Jomashop. Not buying there again.
It's been almost 10 years since I last dealt with them but my experience wasn't positive. I bought a watch that had the serial numbers polished off...not saying this happens to everyone but it happened to me. Serial numbers were intact inside the case though.
I'm not knocking Grey Market, just relaying my experience. This was in 2008 so a lot of things may have changed since then. I now tend to buy used from private sellers and let them take the depreciation hit.
I still cruise Jomashop for deals (accessories mostly) but I've found better watch buys on Chrono24 and DavidSW.
I think this may have changed. They now have an express authenticity guarantee and and a guarantee that all serial numbers are intact. How much is that really worth? Who knows, but they are opening themselves up to liability if a bored lawyer ends up with a less than authentic watch or one treated as yours was.
http://www.jomashop.com/company-info/authenticity-guarantee/
Jomashop is 100% authentic for sure. Maybe there were issues in the past, but it's certainly not like that with them now.
That's good to know, thanks.
Jomashop is fine. Don't listen to doomsayers. There is next to nothing wrong with grey market or Jomashop.
I had a positive experience buying my Frederique Constant through them and a Tissot as a gift. I have heard they can be a pain to deal with if anything goes wrong post sale, but haven't had that experience yet.
The best advice I've heard about Joma is that when the watch comes, you should not immediately unwrap it and take off all of the tags, as tempting as that is. Wind it and let it run for a day or two, inspect carefully. They are much harder to deal with if you've removed all of the original packaging than if you can say that you haven't "opened" the watch and would like to return/exchange it.
This is true of all internet retailers, IMO. Never unwrap the day of.
I think it depends on the amount of savings. If it is close, I'd go with an AD just because. But in this case, it would be stupid not to go with Joma and get the 50% discount. I bought my Speedmaster from Jomashop and saved about $2k which would more than cover any potential problems I might have encountered during what would have been the 2 year warranty period.
Just do your research. I purchased my Nomos Zurich Weltzeit from a German AD (that I found on Chrono24) for almost 40% below retail, actually significantly less than Jomashop. I've heard mixed things regarding Jomashop, but a 50% premium wouldn't be worth an AD purchase for me unless I could afford a Lange, at which point a discount would be irrelevant.
my experiences with Jomashop have all been positive. No complaints here.
I purchased my Seamaster 300 master coax from Jomashop a few months ago. The amount I saved over the boutique will more than cover several services should something go wrong.
Jomashop is great
Jomashop is fantastic. Have had four watches from them, now. If the discount is greater than 20%, buy from them without hesitation.
A lower discount? Likely AD for me. I'd rather get "the experience" than save, say, 15-18%.
how does jomashop afford such a bit discount from AD's?
Their supply (mostly) comes from ADs who need to liquidate old stock, like unpopular models or an AD going out of business. So those highly motivated sellers sell at very low margins, Joma themselves can then undercut other ADs for the same product. If you notice, they'll almost never have brand new 2016 models.
your right I didn't even realize that.
and there is the simple fact that brick and mortar retailers always have costs that internet stores can avoid
commercial real estate in desirable locations charge a premium
keeping millions of dollars in inventory in a bunch of different locations
more labor costs
ordered a FC slim moonphase from Joma and it's great, i think it was 45% cheaper than local ad after shipping, duty, conversion
So everything here is focused on Joma but what about other grey market sites? I've been looking at AithenticWatches.com a bit, are they OK too or should I just go with Joma? Does it really matter?
I've made a few purchases from JomaShop, most recently my Mondaine Automatic. I have nothing but good things to say about my experiences. A word of advice, though: pony up for the express shipping. I would imagine a lot of us are alike in that once we click that 'confirm order' button, we don't want to wait more than two days for our new purchase to arrive. Made that mistake one time. Wouldn't dare it again.
Cheers
My rule of thumb is that if it costs more than $1000 or so, buy from an AD. Things go wrong with mechanicals and having a place you can get help with no worries, makes it worth it for me. Grey market usually means they were bought in different markets and imported so they will have no/different warranties
Google for "jomashop customer service" and decide for yourself.
With a discount that big there is no reason to buy from an AD. If anything went incredibly wrong, you could literally buy a new watch from them and still have it be the same price as one new warrantied one.
What does AD mean?
Authorized Dealer/Distributor.