Breaking News: Richemont do not verify Panerai watches anymore

[Oceanklassik]

Was at Richemont and spoke to my friendly Assistant Manager. Richemont stand (for all their brands) is that they shold focus their business in selling new watches and servicing. It is not their focus to dedicate staff time to help the used watch market florish.
Sounds reasonable to me but I never had to pay them to authenticate all these years. Only go there when buyers insist on authentication. 10 out of 10 times, watch no issue.

It is logical and probably true, and that is why they had been charging for authentication service, which should be free in the first place, right? By charging a fee, they were already "focusing their business in selling new watches and servicing, and not dedicate staff time to help the used watch market flourish". They are now merely reinforcing their focus, by totally taking out such a service.

Let's hope other watch brands do not follow suit or we will start to see the used watch market crumble..

[KuchingKu]

It is logical and probably true, and that is why they had been charging for authentication service, which should be free in the first place, right? By charging a fee, they were already "focusing their business in selling new watches and servicing, and not dedicate staff time to help the used watch market flourish". They are now merely reinforcing their focus, by totally taking out such a service.

Let's hope other watch brands do not follow suit or we will start to see the used watch market crumble..

Won't crumble lah. Singapore is only a small market. Still got global demands and overseas service centers do not charge for authenticating.....probably cos this only happens rarely. So used pams still selling overseas and they never needed to bring to agent to authenticate.

[Oceanklassik]

Let's hope so it will do more good than bad.

[tpmmark]

so let's say im getting a pre owned pam 312 k series, any where else can i get the verification done? JW? appreciated any opinions form the seniors here =)

[lefty]

Was at Richemont and spoke to my friendly Assistant Manager. Richemont stand (for all their brands) is that they shold focus their business in selling new watches and servicing. It is not their focus to dedicate staff time to help the used watch market florish.
Sounds reasonable to me but I never had to pay them to authenticate all these years. Only go there when buyers insist on authentication. 10 out of 10 times, watch no issue.

I not one who bothers with authentication. However, many out there do. Fact is, how well a brand does in new sales in the market is highly dependent on how well this same brand is received in the pre-owned market. So if Richmont wants to "kill" their own brands in the preown market and not let it "flourish", buyers of brand new watches may end up not having the confidence to buy their products as they know they might face this potential issue of verification when they wish to offload the watch down the road.

[KuchingKu]

I not one who bothers with authentication. However, many out there do. Fact is, how well a brand does in new sales in the market is highly dependent on how well this same brand is received in the pre-owned market. So if Richmont wants to "kill" their own brands in the preown market and not let it "flourish", buyers of brand new watches may end up not having the confidence to buy their products as they know they might face this potential issue of verification when they wish to offload the watch down the road.

Well, you may be right but richemont must certainly have done their sums before coming up with the decision on all brands.
For example, the profiling of customers could have been done to find out that most people simply buy from AD and do not sell. Those who flip are small numbers?
For example, their luxurious brand like Lange....I do not seem to see people bringing them in to authenticate but their new watch sales does not suffer. I was told 90% of request for authenticity comes from Pam.

For AP, they do not charge for this service and do not issue receipt....just verbal if you need. However, if this is 'abused' and people bring loads of watches and insist they do it....then mgt may decide to stop doing it cos their staff end up with no time to do their core duties.

[Oceanklassik]

so let's say im getting a pre owned pam 312 k series, any where else can i get the verification done? JW? appreciated any opinions form the seniors here =)

Any watch shop that sells such watches should be able to do a visual authentication. There's Visiotime, Hobbylink, Watch Arena, etc.

I not one who bothers with authentication. However, many out there do. Fact is, how well a brand does in new sales in the market is highly dependent on how well this same brand is received in the pre-owned market. So if Richmont wants to "kill" their own brands in the preown market and not let it "flourish", buyers of brand new watches may end up not having the confidence to buy their products as they know they might face this potential issue of verification when they wish to offload the watch down the road.

Well, you may be right but richemont must certainly have done their sums before coming up with the decision on all brands.
For example, the profiling of customers could have been done to find out that most people simply buy from AD and do not sell. Those who flip are small numbers?
For example, their luxurious brand like Lange....I do not seem to see people bringing them in to authenticate but their new watch sales does not suffer. I was told 90% of request for authenticity comes from Pam.

For AP, they do not charge for this service and do not issue receipt....just verbal if you need. However, if this is 'abused' and people bring loads of watches and insist they do it....then mgt may decide to stop doing it cos their staff end up with no time to do their core duties.

Both your explanations have merit. I recalled having read something rather similar to what lefty had explained in one of the watch mags sometime back. It was about how the fake & pre-owned watch markets correlate with the various watch brands. There was some form of love-hate relationship between the two and the existence of the former actually helped (not harmed) the new watches market. I can't seem to find the article now, maybe because I've given away the mags to 'poison' some relatives/friends

[leslie]

Bros,

Like that if really wanna buy a panerai how to authentic ah? Especially those with a standard movement like unitas 6497 etc.. I am keen in a preowned black seal but dunno how to see.. so dun dare to buy also..

[KuchingKu]

Bros,

Like that if really wanna buy a panerai how to authentic ah? Especially those with a standard movement like unitas 6497 etc.. I am keen in a preowned black seal but dunno how to see.. so dun dare to buy also..

Buy the seller. Do your homework about the watch and check for these but best is still to buy from trusted people and shops. A few pre-owned watch dealers and shops are reliable.

[leslie]

But after spending 5-6k..still need some confirmation then will feel shiok leh..

[Oceanklassik]

Dun worry. If you buy my PAM005 sure no need confirmation you will also feel shiok..

[KuchingKu]

Dun worry. If you buy my PAM005 sure no need confirmation you will also feel shiok..

Agree.

[leslie]

But another thing. How hard is it to change the strap on the blackseal? seems like a small slip will result in a big scratch on the casing..

[Oceanklassik]

But another thing. How hard is it to change the strap on the blackseal? seems like a small slip will result in a big scratch on the casing..

Did you read this?

http://www.sg-roc.com/showthread.php?t=47118

[tiger4]

Buy from reputatable grey market dealer is one thing, but if Richmond do not verify the watch, then how do the grey mrkt dealers verify the authenticity of the watch when someone walk-in wanting to sell their watch? by viewing/touching/gut feeling/ buy the seller oso? Can someone advise?