Guangzhou Watch Markets "live" Report Part Three

[tvt]

Back to the story...

As the young girl was expertly switching bands (they can do it with a speed and precision that you need to see to understand, it is very obvious that she has done this thousands of times before) something started to happen all around me. Each and every booth started covering their good with newspapers. Rolling shutters started to come down over the booths built into the walls around the perimeter of the room, even the main rolling doors that are normally open to the street were half closed blocking the main entrances and exits. There was a calm and orderly but very fast and determined movement to hide the goods, but in no real meaningful way... just to cover them. The girl paused from the work she was doing, covered her watches, put the Panerais I was looking at under the table, and then continued to change bands. People rushed by me, I had no idea what to do so I sat still on a stool. I heard a siren in the background; I have no idea if that had anything to do with this. I few uniformed guards walked through but no one paid them any attention and I think they were just security guards anyway. Then a few minutes later things slowly returned to normal. I bought the Vegas and 188 managing to get her to come down slightly with my "bulk" order of 2!

All I can figure here is that the Chinese government has agreed to a "crackdown" on counterfeit goods. As such they must have occasional task forces that come to look for fakes. However it is TOTALLY superficial, if they don't see them sitting out then they do not exist as far as they are concerned. There is nothing inherently wrong with a watch market, they do in fact sell legit albeit off brand watches, plus all the parts. So I think China is paying lip service to the rest of the world. From time to time they take some pictures of a steam roller crushing some fakes or a bon fire of fake Prada bags and they show on paper how they conducted X number of raids this week. In reality they are turning a blind eye to this business and making it only SLIGHTLY inconvenient every once in a while for the dealers.

The girl took the two watches from me and carefully bagged them, the ducked behind the counter where I could no see what she was doing at all. I heard rustling... she came up with a black plastic bag tied at the end in a tight knot. I thought "Here we go... she just switched watches, I know have a bag of rocks or something and I am going to find myself arguing with a Chinese minor in the middle of a fake Watch market on the other side of the globe from anything that is remotely "normal" to myself. I figured I was out the money and there would not be a lot I could do... I just did not want her brothers coming after me. I opened the bag and there, neatly packed, were the exact two watches I purchased! No scam, no switch, just a big smile and a "BYE BYE" for me. I realized that Chinese do not really practice petty theft, it just does not occur to them, perhaps because there are so many people here that you HAVE to respect others or else life could not go on. Sure, there are pick pockets and crime but it is not like we are used to... if you made a deal you made a deal, she will honor that deal, that is business. Now the funny part is that these same people have no problem looking you in the eye, smiling, and charging you ten times what they are prepared to sell for... it is how business is done in China.

Armed with my new purchases I decided to press on a little longer. As I was looking at one booth a nice middle-aged guy grabbed my wrist (Chinese are VERY aggressive like this, it takes some getting used to) and looked at the PAM 36. He said "Very good, VERY nice... Number 1!" And gave me the thumbs up. They started removing the watch from my wrist!!! I did not feel threatened or as if a crime was happening... it was oddly friendly in fact. I opted to take it off and hold it for him, he snatched it from my hand and inspected it closely. I don't know if he thought it was real or just a good fake but he was enthralled by it. He grinned and gave it back, again said "Number one, the best" and then handed me his business card. He asked my name and where I was from, he asked me to call him for good deal. I thanked him, a woman handed him a bag and he disappeared in a hurry!

I was pretty happy with the day, ready to leave and once again, at the last moment something caught my eye. There in another case was the Santos I was looking for earlier. Very nice, ETA, GREAT deployant clasp... perfect for what I needed. And then I saw the Panerais sitting next to it... the entire line of Swiss Panerais. Black Seal, 1950, PVD (they are too black BTW after seeing them in person finally) Carbon fiber, 196, etc, etc, etc. The only PAMS I did not see were the Power Reserve and Tuxedo dial GMT... they had ALL the rest. Here we go.... I asked how much the Santos was: $97, and it came in a pretty nice Cartier box... all the others only came in bags. I did not really need any other PAMS as I have most of them already but I asked prices, again, I was quoted the exact same price as the previous booths... there is consistency of price. I was not being taken as much as I thought I was... this was not coincidence... this was set wholesale pricing. This booth was run by two young guys, like 23. And it was interesting to see what happens to one's teeth if they are not brushed in 23 years... but that is a different story. The one guy standing next to me on the outside of the booth saw my watch. He was excited to see it (perhaps I knew what I was looking at in his display) and he asked how much. I decided to test them and told them I bought it for about $20 less than I did, a LARGE difference percentage wise. They were SHOCKED! They asked where (these guys spoke a little English, not a lot but more than most). I pointed to the other building and said yesterday. They jabbered back and forth in Chinese, and then he asked me to take it off. I said "Swiss" he said, "Yea, I know Swiss", and then inspected it front and back carefully. I asked how much he would sell for and he gave me the exact cost that I actually had paid from the other dealer the previous day. I smiled and said, "I get better deal, BEST deal" and they smiled back but were stunned at the price. Again, this shows me that these prices are consistent on the high-end stuff, this is true wholesale pricing.

Then they showed me something that I know MANY of you would love to have... the much talked about buy rarely if ever seen PERFECT SS Daytona... there it was, I was holding it. PERFECT sub dial spacing, running seconds at 6 (which he was very proud of), great feel... I mean it looked DAMN good. I asked "Swiss?" he said "ONLY SWISS!" and then showed me a picture of a Swiss Valjoux... he said "you see inside?" He was offering to open it for me. I asked "How much" he typed some numbers and after some quick math I determined he was asking $525 or so. I acted shocked and said "too much!" they laughed. He said, "Best movement... best can get". I told him that I knew this but did not want to waste his time... more than I had on me or I was willing to spend at this time. She pulled out a group of very nice Daytonas with Asian movements but I was not interested, those were only $24 or so. I was not looking for them, but I believe this was the only Swiss Daytona I saw... it was nice, I must say, and at wholesale if it is $525 you figure $800 or so is not a bad deal if our dealers can offer it for that.

I took my Santos and his business card (they all have cards, his is quite fancy with embossing and nice graphics) and said goodbye. They were very friendly. While I felt very out of place I never felt unwelcome and certainly not in ant danger whatsoever. These people are running what to them are legit businesses, they take pride in the goods they have and the service they offer. I would have a drink with many of them if given the chance.

I headed back to my hotel and along the way the cab both hit a pedestrian AND got hit by a car... no one was hurt... driving in China is a sight to behold... but that's another story.

[mystix]

Wow thank you for the sequel

I am pumped to head there myself next june