You might save thousands of dollars on a luxury timepiece, but are the risks worth the rewards? This guide reveals the secrets to help you decide.
If you’re in the market for a quality timepiece, you’ve probably stumbled upon Jomashop’s online store.
A quick scroll through the site shows a wide variety of watches from nearly every major name in the industry. They offer men’s and women’s watches, from prices as low as around $50 to north of the $1 million mark.
But the prices don’t seem right.
Anytime a deal seems too good to be true, there should be some red flags that shoot up in the back of your mind. This is especially true in the luxury timepiece industry, where fakes abound and dishonesty can run rampant.
So why are these prices so low? Is Jomashop a legitimate business? Does Jomashop sell counterfeit watches? Let’s unpack Jomashop and find out.
Table of Contents
What Watch Brands Does Jomashop Carry?
Aside from microbrands, Jomashop likely carries any brand you can think of, but it depends on their stock at the time.
You’re likely to find deals on Seiko, Citizen, Hamilton, Omega, Tudor, Breitling, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philipe or Richard Mille watches. They’re all listed with significantly lower prices than through a dealer.
While the overwhelming majority of Jomashop’s focus is on timepieces (and that’s where we’ll focus this guide), the company carries more than just watches.
The apparel and accessory shop consists of the biggest names in fashion like Gucci, Tiffany & Co. and Ray-Ban for as much as 50 percent off the MSRP.
Is Jomashop Legit?
Before we can answer whether or not Jomashop is legit, you need to understand a few things. You need to understand what Jomashop is, how its business model works, and the difference between white, black and grey market sellers.
What Is the White Market?
Anything you’ve purchased 100 percent as it was intended to be sold per a manufacturer/dealer agreement was a white market purchase. This purchase might be a watch, appliances from the local home store, shoes from a high-end dealer or a craft good from a local artisan.
As the name suggests, white market purchases are the purest form of transaction. This is when a customer buys a product from the manufacturer or authorized dealer according to the authorization agreement.
The dealer may discount or mark up the price, but this usually requires the manufacturer’s consent.
What Is the Black Market?
A stark contrast from the white market (in name and legality), the black market includes all illegal sales of any product.
This includes the sale of stolen goods, as well as the sale of counterfeit goods or other products that are illegal to own due to copyright laws, local laws or federal regulation.
In short, consider anything sold illegally as a black market transaction.
What Is the Grey Market?
The name is misleading, as it suggests there are underlying legality issues, but the grey market is an entirely legitimate way to purchase products. Grey market items are authentic products, made by the original manufacturer but sold outside of the originally intended distribution chain.
So, a used car sale could be a grey market purchase. Wholesalers like Sam’s Club and BJ’s might carry grey market products. These are not illegal activities.
Likewise, Jomashop is a grey market watch seller, which makes it a totally legitimate business.
Jomashop’s business model is entirely legal, and they sell authentic watches. However, they sell them outside of the originally intended distribution channel.
This is how Jomashop can sell new watches at significantly lower prices than a dealer.
How Does Jomashop Get Its Stock?
Jomashop’s business model is simple: Purchase stock at a low price and resell it for less than a dealer would. Jomashop purchases the majority of its inventory directly from manufacturer-authorized dealers (or the manufacturer themselves, although this is a taboo practice in the industry).
When an authorized watch dealer needs to recover some cash, they’ll unload their inventory at near cost to a third party. In this case, that third party is Jomashop.
Jomashop then lists those watches in their store for a significantly lower price than the dealership was trying to sell them for.
This grey market product movement benefits dealers with cash tied up in out-of-date inventory or those that have lost their authorization.
It could simply be that a dealer wants to move to a more expensive product line and needs to liquidate its inventory to bankroll those purchases.
Grey market profit margins are often less for a third-party seller, but the consumer can save a lot of money on the watch. Therefore, companies like Jomashop prefer to maximize their profits through quantity over profit margins.
Is Jomashop Reliable?
Let’s address Jomashop’s reliability on three levels; authenticity, customer satisfaction and warranty.
Authenticity
Since we already know that the grey market can’t sell fakes and counterfeits, it’s safe to assume that Jomashop’s watches are entirely authentic.
You can purchase a Patek Philipe, a Rolex or an Audemars Piguet and be totally confident that the manufacturers built these watches to the highest of standards.
Likewise, you can purchase older stock, like the discontinued Seiko SKX007, knowing you’re getting your hands on one of the last of these timepieces.
The one area where authenticity needs addressing is the boxes and papers. Not all Jomashop watches come with them. It’s important to know if your watch comes with its original box and papers, as display models in dealer cases might not.
You should also know if those boxes and papers add much, if anything, to your watch’s value.
Customer Satisfaction
When it comes to the grey market, customer satisfaction is not usually a priority. That’s not the case with Jomashop. Customer satisfaction matters so much that they use third-party reviewers to contact their customers and inquire about their satisfaction levels.
On top of that, Jomashop has garnered these scores and ratings:
- Better Business Bureau: A+ Rating
- eBay: 99% feedback score with over 140,000 ratings
- Amazon: 4.9 stars with over 77,000 ratings
- Shopper Approved: 4.7 stars with nearly 632,000 ratings
The worst score that we found for Jomashop was 4.2 stars from Trustpilot.
Clearly, customer satisfaction is important to Jomashop.
Jomashop Warranty
As far as warranty concerns go, this is where the grey market falls short. Since these watches are being sold outside of their original distribution channels, warranties are definitely an issue.
Unless you’re unusually lucky, any watch purchased from Jomashop isn’t covered under a manufacturer’s warranty.
That’s okay when we’re talking about a $50 Invicta Pro Diver, but it’s less acceptable when you’ve dropped $3,000 on a Tudor Black Bay. It’s even more of a concern when you consider that Jomashop has thousands of watches listed between $10,000 and $1,000,000.
Jomashop’s website states that it will service every watch sold on its website for a period of one to five years. There are some exceptions, but Jomashop isn’t coy about listing them. The warranty covers internal malfunctions while covering almost nothing externally.
This begs the question: Should you send a $20,000 Hublot or A. Lange & Sohne to a grey market seller for warranty work? This is a risk in its own right.
If it’s peace of mind you’re after, then you’ll have to take or send your watch to a manufacturer-certified service center, or to the manufacturer itself. And the bill, if you purchased your watch from Jomashop, is likely to come out of your pocket.
“So, Should I Buy a Watch From Jomashop?”
Although we’ve answered the questions around Jomashop’s legitimacy, some watch collectors or consumers are still wary about purchasing a watch from a grey market seller.
It’s totally understandable to be concerned about where you’re going to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on a fine timepiece.
If you’ve been saving for hard-earned cash for your Grail piece, you want to know that you’re spending it on a quality watch from a well-respected seller.
Jomashop might be that dealer. Might be.
There is a risk involved…
The reality is that spending your money on a watch from Jomashop is a risk. You’re buying a watch outside of its intended distribution channel. That means the manufacturer is probably going to tell you to take a hike if you take it in for warranty work.
Like we touched upon earlier, this isn’t a big deal for the lower-end watches, but it can be a considerable issue for luxury timepieces.
You have to weigh this risk out against the reward. Is purchasing an authentic luxury timepiece at sometimes less than half of the original price a good deal? Absolutely.
Is it worth it if it breaks and costs you time and money sending it to the manufacturer, only to have them tell you it needs a new hand-built movement? Still yes—probably.
As long as you can afford to pay for the work.
Do your research
When an experienced collector saves for a Grail piece, they study it. They’re often educating themselves on every aspect of that watch until the time of purchase. By the time they buy the piece, they’re making an educated decision.
Jomashop makes watch collecting very accessible for new collectors. It’s also a perfect opportunity for new collectors to get in over their heads in a hurry. A good deal it may be, an uneducated watch purchase through a non-authorized seller is always a risk.
The best way to hedge your bets against a lousy purchase is to do the research and know what questions you need to ask.
Jomashop takes and answers questions through their customer service page on their site. They’re also available for questions through their contact number during regular business hours.
You can ask them about boxes and papers, model numbers, common problems, and any other important questions your research has led you to.
The key here is educating yourself on the risks involved and how much they’re worth to you. And it’s important to note that the risk doesn’t fall on Jomashop—it’s proven itself a reliable and reputable company.
The risk revolves around the watch’s value (with and without the accompanying box and papers) and the chance that something will go wrong with it. The cost to repair will have to come out of your pocket.
The Bottom Line
If Jomashop carries the watch you’ve been after, you’ve got some gut checking to do. If you’ve asked the critical questions and weighed the risks against the rewards, and it still seems like the deal for you, then the answer is yes.
You should buy a watch from Jomashop. Since you’ve handled all of the research thoroughly and found the watch you want, it might be one of the best, most informed purchases you’ve ever made.
I just purchased a Tag formula 1. I’m very skeptical of the gray market and this purchase. I understand my risk and I’ve done my research. I’ve been waiting for the watch a few days although I did pay for next day PM. JOMA said my watch has been delayed due to a wrong zip code. Not true which is making me very nervous. I called the company and they’re sending me a new watch before the watch that was originally to be sent is going back to them after two plane delays and an incorrect zip code. I’ve paid another $30 US to have the watch sent tomorrow 10/14 am to Los Angeles. We’ll see. If I don’t get my watch I will go and purchase from Jared jewelers.
I’ve bought two watches from Joma, they’re a legit company, good to go.
Very helpful. I recently bought Mido watch from a dealer (it was on 30% sale). I could get that same watch from Jomashop for about $300 less but after reading this I think I did the right thing getting it from an authorized dealer.
Extremely helpful, clear article Laying out the pros and cons of shopping through Jomashop. I was pondering buying an omega from
The site, but now being familiar with the pros and cons After reading this article, I think I will buy through an authorized dealer.
But did the bags still have the brand name hang tag? I don’t necessarily need the box to say —such & such brand—but I DO need the bag to have the appropriate tags. Thanks, Jonathan, any info you can provide.
I bought 2 bags and my friend bought bag from Jomashop, on different occasions. All bags did not come with original box from the brands. We needed the oriental box as those were intended to be given away as presents.
So NO, I would not buy from Jomashop again.
This is an interesting and informative article. I was drawn to it because I purchased a new Hamilton Intra-matic chrono from Jomashop in Feb/20. It has performed flawlessly except I was a tad concerned about the screw down crown which at times, felt a little gritty when tightening. I subsequently took pains to back the crown off before tightening but now the crown will not hold when screwed down. I have contacted Jomashop to see if they will repair under warranty so I will wait. The watch came with the OEM box and papers along with a Jomashop warranty card and a Hamilton 2 year international warranty card. Info on the back of the Hamilton card is blank which isn’t a surprise I guess but does this suggest the Hamilton Warranty card is useless given the watch came from Jomashop? I think I know the answer but thought I’d ask anyway.
cheers,
Russ
Well I ordered a Citizen Eco Drive Titanium Promaster from Jomo which they advertised a while ago but did not have in stock. They did not charge my credit card and said they would not until they ship the watch
Agree with Kevin. It seems to be their business model.
They take money, keep them for long time, and even if they don’t ship anything after promised up to 5 weeks they still keep quiet. Seems like they use our money to earn interest or to finance whatever they are doing .
I canceled my order after almost two months.
Totally unethical, most retailers don’t take money until shipment.
Actually they don’t actually charge your card until the item ships. It will, however, show as a “pending transaction” on your CC account. Meaning it takes away from your available balance. But JS doesn’t actually have your money. It’s just an authorization. Source: just bought a watch from them and had similar concerns.
Thank you for your input, I am a rookie collector of watches and.made 3 watch and clock purchases junghans and ORIENT from Jomashop. I THINK I WILL MAKE FUTURE PURCHASES FROM AUTHORIZED DEALERS OF GERMAN WATCHES
My concern with Jomashop is the ‘usually ships in 4 – 8 weeks’. What that tells me is they’ll take your order (and your money), THEN go out and see if they can find the watch. Very cheesy, if true. Anyone else know why it would take so long to ship a watch they have listed on their site??
I tried Jomas in part because of this article. It has been a wretched experience so far, and if one looks at reviews at Better Business Bureau (not the paid-for rating), one will find a LOT of terrible reviews. Many echo my current experience of being told an item has shipped win 2-day UPS only to find, two days later, that UPS doesn’t have it. I ordered one watch and was told, several days later, that it was not available. Return phone calls are not returned. Forgot about waiting on hold.
this is my wretched experience exactly including the misleading shipping confirmation. who knows if i will get the watch, and they don’t answer the phone. won’t use them again.
I’ve bought three watches from Jomashop in the past two years. When they work, its no problem. But don’t assume their warranty will cover the watch. The people who work with their warranty are trained to reject your claim in almost every case. I tried to get my Movado fixed under warranty, but they said it had damages to the case and rejected the claim. Fair enough. I then had a problem with my Tissot which had no physical evidence of external damage. They agreed to repair it, I sent it in and they confirmed it fell under the warranty. Six weeks later I got an email saying it was not covered by the warranty. Calls to the service center went terribly. Buyer beware. I still haven’t received the still broken watch back yet. The warranty they offer is basically useless and I get the feeling that the watches themselves maybe defective which is why they can offer them so cheap.
SO MY QUESTION IS ..IF I BUY A ROLEX …I WONT HAVE A WARRANTY ON ITBASICALLY ..BUT I COULD STILL SEND IT IN TO ROLEX TO FIX BUT WOULD HAVE TO PAY OUT OF POCKET ?? IS THIS CORRECT?
Yep, that’s it.
An excellent review, thorough and well balanced and, so far as I can tell, fair minded. You’ve done a more than competent job of addressing the questions I had. I intend to revisit this site when seeking advice on those topics you cover. Thanks so much, GSR
Tom, really like the new oreint M force. Oreint site selling for over $600. Jomashop has them for a little over $300. Your thoughts?
Hey Dave! Funny you should ask that, as my Instagram feed has been loaded with M-Forces. They’re cool! A little chunky for my wrist, but I think they’re a great watch.
Here’s the deal: Unless it’s a microbrand, I would warn anyone against buying directly from the manufacturer without shopping around a bit first. They’re often the most expensive option. Plus, the M-Force is incredibly burly and durably, so you probably won’t be needing a warranty for mechanical defects.
I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase an M-Force at half the price without a manufacturer’s warranty. I say go for it!
Thanks! -Tom
My 9 yr old citizen eco drive failed sent back to citizen for repair. They wanted $340 for repair more than the watch cost. I could replace. It new from Joma for $200 A very good company.
A very informative article. I bought a Citizen Eco-Drive for my son in Việt Nam. He is working on a cargo ship and saw it on the Jomashop website and asked if I could buy it for him. (He said he would pay me back, but I think I will just give it to him for Christmas. I will ship it to my other son and he will ship it to his wife. I am glad in the article you mentioned they sold authentic watches. I think I will send the receipt and a note saying I bought it as a gift and maybe (I hope) he will try to get the warranty on it. Your article says Citizen won’t honor it, but I am going to hope. It did come with the box and card saying it was authentic, it is a watch that retails at 495$ and I bought it, tax included, was 302$.
I bought a Citizen Eco-Drive about 10 years ago, a day-date RailRoad Approved WR-100. I wear a Samsung smartwatch so I don’t wear the Citizen, but I keep it by the window, and it still works great!!
Anyway, sorry for the long comment, thank YOU for the article!!!
Hey Norris! Thanks for the story! So, if I may offer some reassurance:
Your son’s Citizen was most likely an awesome deal, and the chances of him needing something repaired under warranty are slim to none. Citizen’s recipe is incredibly dialed in at this point, and they offered super solid products. They just don’t have the same following that Seiko or Casio do. As Seikos climb in price, I see that changing—but I digress.
The warranty conversation is really more directed at luxury brands like Rolex, Patek, Omega, etc. They’re complicated and expensive to repair. Your son’s Citizen benefits from a much simpler design—basically just quartz movement recharged by a photovoltaic panel. He’ll have it for years, and if the battery wears out, any Citizen dealer can replace it. If I were you, I would revel in the fact that you got a steal of a deal on a durable watch. Great move!
No.
I my self purchased a tissot sport model v8 from jomashop. I was skeptical at first but I did my research and looked at several stores and shop sites and was convinced that my purchase from jomashop was legit. Gorgeous watch with speedy delivery. Authentic box and paperwork accompanied my purchase as well. The box watch contained a book mind you built into the watch case of Tissots watch history. I was blown away. I will definitely purchase from them again.
I bought a high dollar Omega Speedmaster and Tag Heuer 01 from Jomashop. Both were authentic and discounted quite a bit from their retail prices. However, now that I’m a bit more educated, I would like to go back and not make purchases for premium watches because it knocks the resale value down significantly. The question of authenticity isn’t the issue but the lack of a manufacturer’s warrant card is. If you don’t hold onto that, your resale value goes down signficantly.
I only buy new watches as reminders of significant moments in my life. That way, the resale doesn’t matter and the watch its self holds much more value than I could ever sell it for! Plus you end up with a pretty solid collection…
Christopher, I’m the same way. If I’m going to spend more than $100 or so on a watch, I like it to mean something or symbolize some stage or accomplishment in my life. I think it helps me over the guilt of buying yet another watch, and it gives special meaning to the purchase.
Excellent point, my friend!
Thanks for your valued insight. Silly question but doesnt the manufacturers warranty expire after a time period anyways? Why is then a discount if you are selling a grey market watch after the natural end of the manufacturer warranty? thanks
Tag’s warranty is only 2-yrs anyway. Unless you plan on selling your watch within only 2 years of buying it, then you made the right move to save money by purchasing from Jomashop.
Does Jomas provide COSC if the watch came with it from the manufacturer?
Thank you for putting together such a detailed piece over here. I actually placed my first Jomashop order 1 month ago for an Hamilton. I am so incredibly happy about it. Delivery was quick and the watch looks gorgeous.
Hi Adam, may I ask if it came in original box? I’m wanting to buy a Hamilton as a Xmas gift for my husband. Thanks