Beginning with the spelling, the word “Gray or Grey Market” is complicated. It is astonishing. While tackling this subject, there are a lot of definitions and spellings about such. Moreover, there is this legal that is called market descriptions. To further confuse the situation, there is a word in watch production called “Movements in The Gray.” This is during the first stages of production. They are compiled using “debauched.”
The so-called “Gray Market” has a very few to do with accumulating vintage timepieces. It utilizes to expensive and newer timepieces incorporating so-called ‘status labels.’ So exactly does gray market mean? A legal description might read anything like this, which might fall itself into a gray area. The “Gray Market” is a market manipulating unique but still legal methods in distributing or selling the products. Particularly, a market that legitimately encompasses approved carriers of administration to sell goods at prices lower than those designated by the manufacturer.
A global market definition may read anything like this. Gray market goods are non-authentic, fakes, reproductions and seldom direct knockoffs. These products are manufactured without the support from the trademark or brand owner. The products are marketed at an economical price than the genuine good.
It turns out there is another meaning relevant to watches. The above descriptions assume the goods, in this case, the watches, are counterfeits, knockoffs or stolen. In fact, gray market watches are designated to the customer through unusual means. It resembles that gray market timepieces are not unlawful to buy, sell or own.
Improving this view is that U.S. Customs rejects the import of gray goods with two exemptions. The first when a U.S. organization is the same or a fully owned subsidiary of the international company, sharing the same trademarks and licenses. The second is when the imported goods are primarily the same as products accessible for sale in the United States (U.S. Customs laws 133.23 importation constraints.) Still confused? Read on.
This is the way it runs. Some timepieces sold to international distributors and dealers find themselves on domestic shores. This is fulfilled without the specific permission of the manufacture. It may go against all agreements concerning trademarks and distribution. Nevertheless, they wind up here. For price and brand protection, the production sells with authority (license) to distributors or dealers with the idea of selling in one geographic region or at specific price levels. When the distributors or wholesalers sell outside their territory or sell for less, the watch is acknowledged “gray market.”
