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M A T T E R
PERFECT TIMING STORY / KEITH STRANBERG
"When you are buying something expensive, you want to make sure the retailer has a direct relationship with the manufacturer. If the seller is not an authorized retailer, you could unknowingly be buying a used watch, for which the warranty has already started or expired." In today’s hurried and harried world, we often buy things with little thought, looking to get it done as quickly as possible. And, as a result, the pleasure of buying just about everything has been lost. Remember browsing in book stores? Now, many people buy from Amazon.com-style websites or purchase e-books, which is really convenience but not nearly as satisfying or pleasurable. The same is true with music, which is mostly digital today. Thankfully, you can still enjoy the purchase of a fine timepiece at one of the many fine retailers dedicated to delivering the agelong shopping experience. For a luxury timepiece, a big part of buying it is the experience – coming into a beautiful store, trying the watch on, finding out as much as you want to know, having the watch fitted to your wrist and more. Fine timepieces are not commodities, like books or music, where it doesn’t really matter where you buy them. Quality and authenticity vary widely in today’s watch marketplace, so to a certain extent it is “buyer beware” -- you don’t necessarily want to buy from the person or business that offers the lowest prices. That’s where your friendly authorized retailer comes in. Today, there are so many ways you can buy a watch. You can: > Go into and buy from a speciazed retailer in your country, > Go into and buy from a specialized retailer while travelling > Call and buy from a specialized retailer, > Buy on a manufacturer’s website > Buy on a specialized retailer’s website > Buy from a general retailer’s website > Bid at an auction (in person, by telephone, on their website, through a proxy, etc.)
> Buy on eBay, Craig’s List or any number of alternative buying sites > Buy privately from a watch collector and more. When you think about it, it’s never been easier to buy something today. But, all these options can be a little confusing and there are risks, of varying degrees, involved with some of these modern ways. An authorized retailer is a store that is approved to sell the products of a particular brand, which means that the product has a full warranty and the retailer, as the brand’s local representative, will stand behind it. When you are buying something expensive, you want to make sure the retailer has a direct relationship with the manufacturer. If the seller is not an authorized retailer, you could unknowingly be buying a used watch, for which the warranty has already started or expired. A watch that seems new could be six years old, and it could include watch parts that aren’t even made by the manufacturer. Sometimes the seller doesn’t even know it is a used watch. If you buy from an unauthorized seller, there is no warranty. Authorized retailers such as ZAKAA, if you have any problems, can facilitate any repairs or service resolutions due to their direct access to the company. Also, authorized retailers have a wide range of timepieces from the brands they carry – unauthorized sellers often have very little variety to offer, after all they can only sell what they can get their hands on. There are all sorts of horror stories of people unknowingly buying counterfeit or stolen watches, which cannot happen when you work with an authorized retailer.
ZAKAA LIVING | ISSUE 1 2018
