Hi guys,
hope you are on vacations or at least have an air condition in the office. =)
I´m kinda new to the watch-world and just startet a year ago. Now with the next, big purchase ahead, I´m a bit confused where to buy.
Got my first watch (Junghans) from my late father.
I bought my first mechanical watch (IWC Portugieser) at an AD nearby. Was okayish, got a little discount, but not very personal and not very competently.
Bought the second mechanical watch at anohter AD nearby (Omega Speedmaster) which was a great experience, decent discount, with a little watch talk and nice service. Unfortunately they don´t offer IWC.
Third mechanical watch (IWC Pilot Chrono) was bought via Ebay marketplace (hope thats what its called in English). Good price indeed and had to do it as I wanted to have the one with triple day date which was no longer available at an AD.
This year I got a nice little bonus at work, so I thought about treating myself with the IWC Big Pilot LPP which I ever wanted and the new model looks stunning to me. I might add a dive watch on top of it - thinking about an Aquatimer or Tudor Pelagos.
Now, finally, the question. Where shall I buy it.
Option A: The IWC AD where I bought the Portugieser is my last choise at the moment as they even did not know that the strap on the BP is from Santoni. Also they dont have an Aquatimer on stock and wont order one for me. They had a last one within the group - sent it to the AD nearby but when I wanted to make an appointment they already sold it without giving me a chance to buy it.
Option B: Grey market - but thats not really an option for me for buying such an expensive and nice watch.
Option C: IWC Boutique in Munic. Got the contact to the Boutique manager through the German IWC Instagram account. Very nice contact (bought some straps there via phone and mail) and they have all the watches I´m looking for (except the Tudor of course, but thats okay).
But Munic would mean traveling from one side of the country to the far other side. Also guess there is no discount possible or just very little.
On the other hand everybody is praising the great service, kind sales staff and buying experince of course.
Option D: Another watch freak I met on Instagram introduced me to Bucherer in Hamburg. They have all 3 watches I´m looking at and are just 2 hours away. Not sure if there is going to be a discount possible and how the sales staff is. But the guy told me he got invited to Schaffhausen after buying a watch there and he had the awesome chance to fly with the IWC JU-52 ...
What would you prefer? I would love to finally "settle down" ... or would you recommend buying different places all the time? How do you guys handle your purchases?
Appreciate that you made it throught the long text and looking forward to getting your input on all that. =)