'Ere mate, wanna buy a watch?
Posted by: Rasher on 15 March 2005
Sometimes I have driven into motorway service stations to find a few BMW's in the car park with guys inside calling people over to buy watches. They always wear BMW jackets and say they are BMW dealers, and that the watches are promotional items that they need to shift for whatever they can get. They never get out of their cars, but call over passers by. I've found these guys several times up & down the country, and another again today in Brighton.
It seems to me to be a funny old scam, if it is a scam, and oddly almost believable.
Anyone with any ideas of the background to this, where the watches come from? Why always BMW dealers? You never know, it might actually be what it appears to be, although I somehow doubt it.
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by Gianluigi Mazzorana
quote:
Anyone with any ideas of the background to this, where the watches come from? Why always BMW dealers? You never know, it might actually be what it appears to be, although I somehow doubt it.
Because BMW has a lot of promotionals in their licensees. Cars' models in scale, jackets, sun glasses, umbrellas etc etc.
Probably others do it, but it would be much more expensive for this people to run the country with Bentley or Rolls Royce or Ferrari with watches to sell.
When i was i child, on the motorway to seaside, my mother got a super-beset with diamonds watch for only 5.000 liras (about a couple of pounds).
It was the early '70s.
mmmmmmmmmmmm
Watches is always a best seller!
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by Gianluigi Mazzorana
Of course diamonds were false.
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by BigH47
Most motorway service stations have a notice somewhere warning of watch "salesmen".
Howard
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by long-time-dead
Why always BMW ?
Buy My Watch .........
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by Gianluigi Mazzorana
quote:
Originally posted by long-time-dead:
Why always BMW ?
Buy My Watch .........
hehehehehehehehehheehhe
Just to fight the phenomenon i've got my last watch from gas station contest.
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by i am simon 2
Some friends of mine came across this company once
http://www.oskar-emil.co.uk/index.htmthey sell these watchs wholesale under the name Oskar Emil for very cheap prices, we are talking £15 0r £20 (going back about 5 years).
The ruse was that Oskar Emil would place adverts in the BMW owners club magazine, offering them for sale at prices of about £600, and if you were to follow up one of the adds, no doubt they would sell you one for £600, of course no one would buy them. However this was not the point.
The idea is to sell the £15 watches in bulk to these service station guys who then stop you whilst you are filling up with petrol, say that they have these watches left over from their promotional show or whatever, show you that they are advertised in a rich persons magazine for £600 but they will sell them to you for £70 quid if you dont tell their guvnor.
In essence, the only scam is that they are telling you it a scam.
My friends bought a few of them which they sold on to mates at a small profit, but they did not have the gaul to really try it on.
At £15 the watches seem like good value, at £40 they are probably acceptable, but at much more than that, I think they are not up to it.
Simon
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by Rasher
That sounds very much like a good explaination. Thanks. I've often wondered.
ps. I never bought one.
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by Paul Hutchings
Does anyone actually own one of those "Zeitner" jobbies that you always seem to see advertised in the weekend magazines.. you know "rrp £600 but yours for the bargain price of £99" etc?
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by Mick P
Paul
Simple test.
Ask them where the watch was sold or is being sold at the price of £660.00.
Answer, one watch is on sale in some obscure shop in london. The watch is kept there and is never sold.
No one is daft enough to buy it.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by Gianluigi Mazzorana
quote:
you know "rrp £600 but yours for the bargain price of £99" etc?
I've seen something like that about Hi Fi.................
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by oldie
Anyway,
Who in their right mind, would want any one else to know they owned any thing from BMW, Jacket ,Watch or Car
.What was Micks Favorite name a couple of weeks ago, Chav
??
Sorry Brian!!
oldie.
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by garyi
Why BMW?
Simple because they are twats, and all BMW drivers are twats.
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by MichaelC
Looks like I had better change my name to twat then
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by BigH47
The usual forum in depth analysis I see.
I don't drive a BMW BTW.
Howard
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by Deane F
LOL BMW, BTW POS FWIW.
Posted on: 15 March 2005 by Brian OReilly
I've noticed that you've become very saucy since your return to the forum, Oldie, you little minx.
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by oldie
Sorry Brian,
As it used to say on my school report,
"He should try harder"
oldie.
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by greeny
I nearly got collared by this scam about 20 years ago. It was pretty much as Simon says, except they were showing a full page add in Vogue (or maybe Harpers..) (expensive!!). I think that Vogue and the rest cottoned on to the scam and banned the advertisers, obviously they have found a slightly different route now via BMW owners club.
Posted on: 16 March 2005 by Paul Hutchings
quote:
Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Paul
Simple test.
Ask them where the watch was sold or is being sold at the price of £660.00.
Answer, one watch is on sale in some obscure shop in london. The watch is kept there and is never sold.
No one is daft enough to buy it.
Regards
Mick
The thing is though Mick, I'm not a marketing person but I'd imagine those ads don't come cheap, which suggests quite a lot of people do buy them.
It know watches are a bit of a "funny" subject as some people would say that anything more than a three quid quartz is a waste of money but who in their right mind falls for that sort of thing?
