Dino944
Distinguished Member
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- Dec 24, 2011
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Like anything the value is whatever a person is willing to pay. Watches aren't the only item besides cars or homes that people negotiate the prices. If you shop at certain jewelry stores you can get a discount on diamonds, necklaces, or watches (and not simply private label stuff). I've gotten discounts on Chopard necklaces, Chopard earings, Mikimoto earings and necklaces, just to name a few items.In regards to the current discussions here, I really think it is a wise choice for Brands to close the amount of ADs and focus on well-reputed ADs and Boutiques. I find it interesting that watches seem to be one of the last commodities that you can actually bargain for. You don't bargain for shoes, you don't bargain for clothes. And although you in a sense bargain for a house, or a car, I feel like the watches are fundamentally different.
I think the problem, in a sense, is that there is a disparity in price and value. I think I would be more willing to pay MSRP if I did not feel like the watch companies were price gouging me. When I buy a pair of shoes, I honestly feel like I am getting my money's worth. I don't know why I feel that, but I just do. $400 on a pair of Carminas feels like money well spent. I am not exactly sure what I am trying to say here, but I think that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way that the system is currently set up. When I pay for something, I want to feel that I am paying for the worth of what I am receiving. With all of the price increases (twice per year!), it is difficult to see where your money is going. Is it going to R&D? Advertising? It is a very frustrating endeavor. If I purchased a watch from Dufour, Voutilainen, or some of the other Indy's, I would not ask for a discount. With them, I feel like the price is correlated to a MUCH greater extent with what I am receiving. But when I look at an IWC Mark VII, I really do not understand why I am paying nearly double to what I would have paid 5-10 years ago, for almost the exact same watch.
And the discounting only exacerbates that. If I know I can receive 20 percent off of a $5,000 watch, is its price actually $5,000? Or is the price $4,000? Or is the price actually what the AD purchased it for?
I think the watch brands need to enact pricing structures that more accurately reflect the value. However, I am not sure how they are going to do that.
If I were asking for a customized item I would not seek a discount. However, if its a serially produced watch why not inquire about a discount? I'm a customer that day...the choice is theirs, maybe they make a sale if they take something off the price...if not I have to decide to I really like it for that amount of money. If so, I'll buy it...if not I might go and purchase something from another brand that I like just as much. I bought my RO Jumbo at the best price I could find from an AD I liked and felt comfortable with...there is no AD nearby that carries it. Could I have gotten it for less and hunted around for longer...maybe? Maybe I wouldn't have gotten a better price and that AD would have sold the 1 piece he expected before the end of the year. Maybe there would have been a price increase before I got it, thereby negating a greater percentage of discount. In the end, based on the quality of the watch, the dealer I was working with, and not feeling comfortable spending a lot of money with a gray dealer, I went with the AD that I thought treated me the best and gave me a reasonable deal. I called a well known place in NYC, the guy was a bit pompous, and made it sound like he was doing me a favor. He didn;'t want to commit to a price until I told him unless he will discount the watch, I might as well buy it at the boutique and get the extended discount. Even then he said he wouldn't give me a final price until I told him what the best price any other ADs gave me. I felt thats not really fair, to let some putz match the price when he would not have given me that price on his own. He gave me a mediocre price and kept telling me he could maybe to a tiny bit better but that I was getting their fantastic customer service that is second to none. I said in dealing with a watch in this price range all of the ADs I dealt with were really nice to me, so I really couldn't figure out what he was offering me that I wasn't getting with anyone else. He couldn't actually articulate any difference I would get in dealing with him versus another dealer. In the end I went with a slightly smaller but well respected AD and the guy was much nicer.
There is never going to be a change in price structure that will create what you call an accurate reflection of value. We all have different perceptions of value, so you can't come up with a number to satisfy everyone. I suppose companies could try to lower their prices significantly in addition to cutting the number of ADs. With less competition, and lower prices fewer watches would sit in stock in ADs' show cases and AD wouldn't be trying to sell slower moving items out the back door to gray dealers. Also with lower pricing there might be less inventory and ability for gray dealers to undercut AD pricing or even to obtain certain models. However, it would have to be on a world wide scale and I don't see that happening.
In the end lots of people like the negotiating aspect of buying a watch. Some people are better at it than others, or they have dealers that are more desperate to make a sale than in other locations.
As for the pricing of most brands, its gotten out of control and IMHO shows a bit of greed. But as long as people keep buying and showing no resistance to price, prices will continue to rise.
As for enacting pricing structure that more accurately reflects the value of a watch...thats just not possible.