Chrono Premium: Grey Market Watch Dealers

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Independent Grey Market Watch Dealers for Wholesale Customers

We do not sell to individual customers. We only work with wholesale B2B customers around the world.

The grey market refers to activities in which legit branded products are sold through unauthorised distribution channels.

Grey market dealers legally offer watches outside the official distribution channels.

The grey market is actually much bigger than many realize.

Chrono24, a marketplace heavily populated with grey market sellers, had over €1 billion in transactions in 2017, and Jomashop, a well known grey market dealer, had sales of $269 million already in 2016.

Usually, groups of retailers buy the unsold watches from the dealers with big discounts and then resell them.They buy the watches in bulk from the authorized watch dealers who suffered losses or were unsuccessful to sell inventory. Official dealers and even brands reach out to grey market dealers themselves. They offer to sell watches in bulk with big discounts. Grey market watch dealers do not belong to the authorized dealer chain. They are legal, but often the watches don't have official producer's warranty.

"Luxury watches traded on the gray market circumvent more traditional sales channels. Most brands in the luxury goods sector seek to maintain as much control as possible over the distribution of their products. In the watch industry, manufacturers traditionally deliver their timepieces to licensed dealers and jewelers, so-called official retailers. In theory, these are the only parties permitted to sell the watches in their stores and online shops.

These dealers are often required to accept large orders of watches including less popular models in a single shipment, meaning they often have to sit on excess inventory. Occasionally, they sell their extra inventory to other dealers, who don’t have a licensing agreement with the original watch manufacturer. These dealers, in turn, are able to sell the unworn watches at large discounts via their own sales channels, e.g., their own shops or online platforms like Chrono24.

These so-called gray market dealers frequently source watches from abroad. This offers several advantages; for example, particular models are less popular in certain locations and some countries have lower VAT, meaning it’s profitable to purchase a watch abroad and import it."

— Chrono24, 02/24/2020