A guarantee that you're not getting a fake watch; a warranty that's worth a damn; purportedly, a guarantee that they have it in stock and will ship it promptly; and, currently, it looks like they're giving out backpacks with every purchase. Whether or not that is worth paying retail price is up to you.

 

A guarantee that you're not getting a fake watch; a warranty that's worth a damn; purportedly, a guarantee that they have it in stock and will ship it promptly; and, currently, it looks like they're giving out backpacks with every purchase. Whether or not that is worth paying retail price is up to you.

I ordered a Murph from them, after a month without seeing shipping information I asked for, and received my money back. I did get my HFM from them a good price however.

 

I buy flight tickets if possible from the airlines and not third parties.

I hate Apple so much and would never buy anything from them directly (the last MacBook I bought came from John Lewis).

Why pay more for a Hamilton? The one thing I can imagine it pays off if you buy directly from the manufacturer is if the watch develops a fault and then you are the first in the queue and the Jomashop and Amazon buyers are queuing far behind you with their warranty claims.

 

The warranty is the only one. A gray market seller like Jomashop offers their own warranty, which is beans by comparison to the real deal. However, I would generally say on a watch of this price, with a movement that I'd trust to generally be fine, it's worth the dice roll. Besides that, as long as the gray seller says it's in stock you're fine. Just buy it there.

 

Yup.

 

I wouldn’t purchase directly from Hamilton nor would I go grey or Amazon.

It’s quite easy to get a healthy discount directly from authorized dealers on Hamilton in the US and you get the full manufacturer warranty.

 

I like this but personally have never encountered a Hamilton AD. Maybe it's just me and need to open my eyes a bit more.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

 

I have a few Hamiltons. I went gray for the first two and direct for the third. The third was a Murph 38 a month ago, as it just came out. I didn’t want to bother trying to haggle with ADs for a new release. It was a painless experience and it was worth it for me on that one.

 

A couple of reasons to buy directly from Hamilton: you're getting the factory warranty; and also you're getting a factory fresh watch that hasn't been in a display case at the AD and handled by customers (to be fair this is the case with most GM watches).

But is it worth it? Only you can decide that.

 

Peace of mind is all I have to say.

 

There is no reason to buy directly , most online "official" dealers will offer 10% discount codes and you will still get the proper warranty.

 

Q. Why buy direct from Hamilton?
A. Maybe because you live in a locale that doesn't have an AD close by?

 

So long as you buy from an Authorized Dealer (AD), it is the same as buying direct from Hamilton. AD can also be either physical or online, but they need to be an actual AD (unlike Joma).

I know for Seiko Amazon.com counts as an AD if the watch is sold directly from them (vs a third party seller), but not sure if that is the case with Hamilton (I rather doubt it).

Also note there is nothing really wrong with the grey market -- You are just giving up the factory warranty. To me it does still come down to price on some watches. I bought my Khaki King from an AD (talked to them and got a bit of a discount), but if say I could get the bronze khaki mech from Joma for $400 vs the $900ish Hamilton wants, I'd buy it from Joma in a second.

 

Call Topper's Fine Jewelers. Tell them you're a member here and want to support sponsors. Say that you're aware they may offer a discount and ask what that offer is. They sell tons of watches to members here.

Get a watch with factory documents from an authorized dealer. You may never need the warranty, but it's there if something happens, and if you ever want to trade with other members here then your watch will be more attractive with factory documents.

 

+1 for Rob at Topper. Excellent in every aspect.

 

One thing I love when buying direct from a manufacturer is that the watch is basically factory fresh. Nobody's touched it except the workers. Even buying from an AD doesn't guarantee that it hasn't been handled by hundreds of customers. By the time a watch makes it to a grey reseller like Joma or Amazon, that watch has most likely been sitting at the AD for months. So it's like 2 levels of cleanliness/newness removed from factory direct.

Having said that, I usually chase deals, that trumps everything for me. So my order of shopping is in reverse of the above.

I usually start with the grey market dealers, see what kind of discount they are offering. If it's much better than an AD and I'm willing to roll the dice on the warranty and condition of the watch, I just go grey. I've gotten some good watches/deals this way. Some have even randomly come with actual manufacturer warranties. I've had the best luck in this regard with Ashford, I think they even say some brands they carry actually come with manufacturer warranties.

Then I go to ADs.

But if a watch is something I can only get at MSRP (extremely limited, rare, etc), then I go direct from manufacturer.

 

The grey market khaki field automatic i purchased has been excellent - and I paid 45% lower than the full retail price. Agree with comments above that the main difference is probably the warranty. If you want the first 24 months covered by the manufacturer vs. the grey market seller’s own warranty, then it would be best to buy from an authorized dealer (or buy direct, but how often does the Hamilton site discount?).

 

Is a factory warranty really better than whatever service center a grey market supplier contracts with? Especially with sub $2000 watches?
Because given some of the horror stories I hear on these boards from official service centers, I have my doubts that there is actually much of a difference.

 

Hmmmmm, sounds like a good long therm assignment.

 

appreciate you asking this question as i was also wondering it. I was also skeptical on the legitimacy of Joma Shop, how can their prices be so much less than the manufacturers and other authorized dealers??

 

It’s legit, they’ve been the biggest gray for years. Couple reasons. The biggest being that very few manufacturers actually sell at msrp in dealers. Yeah, Rolex does, some fancy minute repeater thing does, but uncle Suzy’s jewelry store on Main Street that has hamiltons would probably take 20% off for almost anyone who asked. Watch centric ADs maybe even more if they have slow moving models or some incentive to sell. Brands like TAG and Oris are both good brands imo, but tend to actually trade at 25 or 30% off. So anyway, this effect right here makes the pricing seem way, way off on the manufacturer website. In truth they’d probably rather not direct sale and instead sell wholesale to their dealers instead. The price likely reflects that fact for some brands.

and then the way jomashop gets watches. Generally it will just be overstock. Some jewelry store goes under or a model is over produced and some ad wants to dump their inventory for new bling, stuff like that. It’s also possible that these could be display models or returns, though I personally believe this is somewhat rare as you never really hear of people getting “used” looking Jomashop watches. They take returns like any other dealer if you’re not happy and generally have a good rep.

the only downside to a gray like Jomashop imo is that their stock is fluid. They won’t always have what you want. So, it may be that the variant or color you’re after just isn’t available at that healthy discount.

 

I bought my Ventura from Hamilton directly. I think it was because only they had it on stock at that time.

 

I’ll be the third person to recommend Topper. Check their website for inventory then call them. I have bought watches all over the US and some overseas and Topper has the best customer service and depending on the model may offer a nice discount. Rob and Joe are class acts.

 

Topper or Brent L Miller jewelers. You can't go wrong either way.

 

Discounter ashford.com is a Hamiltion Authorized Dealer and has excellent prices on the models they carry.

 

With Hamilton you get a new watch with a Hamilton warranty. With Grey market you may get a watch that was returned or previously new watch that was returned and repaired. I consider that used. For me it would be new from Hamilton or not at all.

 

The retail prices offered by manufacturers on their websites are usually ridiculously high.
I have a Hamilton GMT World Timer I bought on Ebay for about 30% of retail price on the web site.
Two months old, LNIB, with signed papers.
Also recommend Ashford. Been getting deals off them for over 20 years.
They are a Hamilton, GO, and Tissot AD among others.

 

For Hamilton, I'd mostly try to get a good price. With their credit card and discounts, I got one from Macy's for $368.75:

 

It is probably not worth buying it directly from Hamilton as the MSRP is so high. I personally do not mind getting it from Joma or CreativeWatches but I know your concern. Perhaps there is an AD near you with good discounts? JuraWatches in the UK is an AD and I believe they do ship internationally. I think they are a good middle ground.

 

I'm always happy to help out when we can and shameless plug, we are located in the home of Hamilton (Lancaster, PA). Feel free to direct message me with any questions.

 

Phone number, please. I’m considering the Hamilton H 69529113. Thanks for adding to the Watchuseek thread. Until I saw that thread, I’d not seen your company.