Shopping for Weddings

Luxury watches always seem like they’re the most wonderful things since Titanic. They feature a carefree lifestyle, all evidenced by their ads. Those ads always showcase the best looking models, living a luxurious life, wearing the best clothes, the best make up, the best hairstyles, their best smiles. They’re selling at their finest.

However, no matter how spotless those ads might look, luxury watches are not. There are a lot of precautions that you have to take before you make that purchase. After all, it’s your money and luxury watches usually cost as much as a car or an entire college course.

But if you just arm yourself with the correct information, you’ll be taking the entire purchase process in a breeze.

So before you make that critical purchase decision, there are a few things to note about luxury watches:

Warranties and Authorized Dealers

Visit the luxury watches’ websites or local stores for a complete listing of authorized dealers. Make sure that you buy ONLY from these dealers. They are the only ones who can furnish you an original warranty, a warranty which can be honored by even the international branches of these luxury brands. Now, even if companies which are not listed in the authorized dealers list furnish you a warranty card (and no matter how attractive that warranty deal may look like) they are warranties given only by the local company where you bought your wristwatch from and not from the actual brand of the luxury watch.

Also, another good thing about authorized dealers is that they offer excellent service. Most of the time, they have watch experts who are really well-versed in anything concerning watches and can aide you in making your purchase decision. They also offer a 30-day return policy should the watch have any unnoticed defects.

One of the most reliable features of an original watch is a serial number. If they give you one, that means they are willing to be traced. Meaning, the products they produce are carefully numbered and can be authenticated under a legitimate name.

Discounts Offered

Discount watches which happen to be luxury watches spell a tricky deal. Again, you may check the websites of the brands which you like and see if they are really doing a sale. Usually these sales happen when they try to phase out a certain model and introduce a newer one, just like in the case of cell phones and mp3 players. Double and triple check when you are making a purchase online.

Be very careful of stores which offer discounts especially suspiciously low prices. They might be replicas or defective pieces. You know what they say, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Cross Reference

This is one of the best precautions before buying a luxury watch. This is done to avoid buying a replica watch or buying a luxury watch at an even more expensive price. Now, there are certain watches which have been phased out and have reached their floor value. Other retailers may still sell these watches at a high price and since they can prove it as original, you might end up buying the watch anyway. The question now is, “are you truly getting your money’s worth”? With the aid of the internet, you can trace the piece using its model number and find out about your desired watch.

Same process works for watches which you think are fakes.

Get to Know the Watch Itself

Know the difference between water resistant and water proof. Know up to how many meters the water proof feature can effect. Know about its maintenance specifications. Read about chronograph if you own one. Know the ‘what not to do’s’ from your supplier. Know until when can one battery last and if its one of those self winding automatic watches, know about its restrictions and other things to note. Befriend your watch.

The thing is, since any luxury watch is an investment, make sure you take care of it properly and memorize it like the back of your palm before you actually swipe that credit card on the P.O.S. machine.

Cash Matters

The financial aspect is one of the most important aspects in buying fine watches. Do not buy watches which are way beyond your limit, just because you already made up your mind that you’re going to buy a luxury watch today and when you browsed the net, you find out that the automatic watch that you desire is a few thousands over your budget.

Find out about ALL the charges concerning your watch. Does the warranty come with an extra fee? Does it have more than one kind of warranty? If so, what are the price differences? What are their payment schemes? What are the corresponding interest rates? Do you have to shoulder the freight-in? How much are you going to shell out for taxes? It’s good to be inquisitive, to be an informed consumer, rather than just depend on what the site or store catalogue implies, no matter how legitimate the site is. Ask questions.

Moreover, know where your money goes. Know the privacy policy of the company where you’re buying your watch from. Giving out bank details is a dangerous act.

As you can see, the purchase of a luxury watch is just as critical as buying a new house, a new car or a new educational plan. Aside from you betting your money on a single item, it’s also the what-comes-after that keeps you on your toes. Then you fear of being swindled, of buying a less-than-impressive item to disappoint your high expectations, your fear of the actual items looking less flashy in person than they did in the catalogues, etc. All those fears can be easily erased if you just follow the aforementioned guidelines properly.

Then you can go painting the town with your newest accessory, the best of wristwatches.

Tags: automatic watches | automatic watches | discount watches | discount watches | luxury watches | fine watches | fine watches | wristwatch | wristwatch

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 5:12 pm and is filed under misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.