astcell
14 November 2006, 02:42 PM
(Scroll down SLOWLY so the story comes up a little at a time and the pictures won't give anything away.)
Hi all! As you know I am in Qatar on military business. Well today I got to go out to City Center Mall. We travel in buddy teams and I went with an Air Force Major six years my junior. Imagine if you will a five story mall! Woohoo I am at home! Here it is.
http://23b.org/albums/army/5flooors.jpg
The bottom floor has an ice rink and the top floor is for women only. That still leaves hours and hours of shopping. Here is a picture of happy me at the mall.
http://23b.org/albums/army/meand5.jpg
Well they had watch stores all over the place. Every other store sold watches! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I saw a $100,000 Paris Hilton Watch, check it out!
http://23b.org/albums/army/1hilton.jpg
There were hundreds and hundreds of other watches too. Now most of the brand I had never heard of. Not that they were not beautiful but I had no idea of many of the brands! The shopkeepers were all smiling and happy. They love Americans and they love America, they just do not agree with out politics at all times. That's fine with me, they won't be shooting at us.
Well I finally found a ROLEX store! Time to go looking for 116713, my TT GMT II Anniv. I walk in the store and look around. Salespeople are scarce. I find the Rolexes and start looking. Hmmm they have the all gold version, and they have the TT standard GMT but no Anniv edition. Okay here is the salesman now.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, I want to buy 116173."
"What's that?"
"The two-tone GMT Anniversary."
"We don't have that. Try back in 30 days."
"Okay, can you give me a price?"
"No."
Ooooooo-kay. On to other watch dealers that want to sell watches and not rush me and my plastic out the door. Now so far the only brand I recognized in all of the stores was Rolex, Seiko, Calvin Klein, Guess, and Casio.
Okay now I see the "Qatar Trading Company." I go on in.
I am in heaven! IWC, Panerai, Tag Heuer, Glasshütte, and many others. No Rolex but still plenty to choose from. Near the Panerai they had little submarine models. I saw a gold Panerai in a HUGE box. That box can hold a phone book for New York City! Holy Cow!
I do a lap and the salesman is all smiles. I ask prices and he replies. he asks if I am looking for anything special. "Yes" I reply, "I want a weekend watch. This (showing my Rolex GMT) is my work watch. I looked at Rolexes across the way but they were not too interested in helping me find anything."
He replies with,"We can help you. Any watch you want is 15% off." So I look around and find a nice Glasshütte and a Panerai GMT. I get the prices and calculate the discounts. There is no sales tax either! Instant 7% discount!
Now here is where I learned something. I love the feel of the Rlex bracelet. I do not really like buckles and straps. But the Panerai is a bracelet that LOOKS like a strap! This is too cool. I may look at these after all.
There is also a nice Panerai GMT (PAM 00088) and a GMT with an alarm (PAM 00098). He also had PAM00140, a beauty in sold gold. I admired them all and told him I would think about it. 15% off and no sales tax from suggested list is pretty good. I am way ahead of anything my Rolex dealer did for me. I try on the two watches. The straps are loose but they can easily be adjusted. The watches felt to be asleep on my wrist. Tey were not smiling at me, they were asleep! They may smile later. They are limited editions and hard to come by, but I seem to find an unlimited number of limited editions, so I am not concerned.
So the Major and I walk around and have dinner. We have walked though about half of the mall in four hours. There is no way we will see it all in one day, it is just too big. Every other store sells watches or cell phones. Do you want a cell phone with a five megapixel camera? They have it in this mall! But I digress.
Well we are ready to go now. I want to go back to the watch dealer and take another look at the watches. I compare, I look, I play, I touch. And I apologize for taking so dang long. He is very patient with me and I glad that I came back.
I am very interested in the Panerai GMT. But I don't know, it is not smiling at me. I look at the GMT with the alarm. Now that watch is just too busy. I look at the gold watch. Too big! It feels like a clown watch. Oooh, I was like this deciding between the Sea Dweller and the GMT II, I cannot make up my mind that quickly.
I do another lap around the store. The Glasshütte is nice but it is something for my Dad, not me. I want a weekend watch. White face. Easy to read. Classy. Reliable. Trustworthy. The Glasshütte has a white face but it is not striking. Hmmmm. Do I want a white face? Maybe not.
I examine the Panerai GMT Alarm. I decide that the watch is too busy. There are too many markings and I will not use the alarm. Even though it is rare and a good deal, it is not my deal, it belongs to someone else.
Now I am down to the Panerai GMT 00088. I really do not like the black face. I like the size of the numbers and the weight of the watch,but not the color. I try the gold one again. No way, too big I think. I ask the Major what he thinks. "It looks like you need to be in a clown outfit and have a tiny car with 20 other clowns in it." Yup, too big. it's 44mm vs. 40mm. Back to square one.
The salesman asks what I like or dislike. I tell him I do not want a black face, that is a definite. I love the Panerai but not the black face. Can he get a white face?
"I can get the white face but I must order it and it will take a few days. But I do not think you will like the white face. The darker face is better with the glowing numbers."
My salesman asks if he may give some idea to help me. Now I like salesmen who think about what their customer needs and helps out. he sure is better than the Rolex dealer across the way!
He asks, "How badly do you need a GMT?"
"All the time. I deal with Qatar and Tampa times."
"But you want a weekend watch you said. Do you work on weekends?"
"Not if I can help it."
"Well then, you may not want to get a GMT watch since you already have one in the Rolex."
The man had a point. And he just talked himself out of selling me one of two watches. He is more interested in me than his commission. This guy is good. Very good.
"I have another watch on back that you may like. It is a Panerai with a blue face and a blue band."
"Sure," I said, "I'll look at it."
Hmmm, now this is very different. No GMT. No alarm. No tic marks between the numbers. Very simple and extremely easy to read. I like this watch! PAM0119.
I ask him, "15% discount right?"
He replies, "For that watch I will give you 20%."
Now this is the land of haggling, but I know that these guys have their limits, and this is a mall store where the prices they set are usually the ones you pay. This is not a souke on the streets.
"Well for 20% let's calculate the price." And he does.
I go back to looking at other watches too but come back to the blue one every now and then. And then I do another lap around the entire store. And then I remember that I have a Degree in Marketing, so I should use it!
"This is my first time to Qatar. It very well may be my last time. I am going to buy a souvenir of my stay here. This watch can be my souvenir and I will tell the world about it. 'When I was in Qatar I bought this Panerai,' I will say. Now if you give me a good deal I will tell everyone about this store. But if you give me a bad deal I will really never know until much later from now. But when I find out, I will post it on the Internet and tell all my military friends to avoid this store because I trusted the salesman and he let me down." I then took out my camera and asdked to take pictures.
The salesman told me, "You want to put pictures on the Internet? We have very good prices and I will give you a very good deal, you will have 25% off of the price! This is the price we give to our customers who have bought four or more watches from us in the past." I thank him very much and say, "In that case I will buy this blue Panerai. Please confirm the price in US Dollars for me."
He breaks out his calculator and starts to type. He looks up at me. "You will put this on Internet?" I nod. "And you have never owned a Panerai?" I state he is correct. He clears out his calculator and pauses. He punches in some more numbers, and pauses. The words he says really floor me.
"I will give you 30%."
He shows me the price. No sales tax. This is unbelievable. The watch is beautiful and the price is amazing. I am very happy. My friend the Major asks the salesman if he manages to make any money. To avoid embarassment on the salesman's part I jump in. "I hope he made money! I hope he is the top salesman for he month! He helped me through this decision and I am completely satisfied. If I found the watch $500 cheaper elsewhere it would be a crime to buy it anywhere but right here." The salesman says, "You will not find it for even $10 less." He poses for pictures.
http://23b.org/albums/army/sellerbuyer.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/seller.jpg
I get home. Time for my GMT to meet it's new friend!
http://23b.org/albums/army/58_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/59_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/60_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/61_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/62_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/63_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/64_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/65_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/67_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/68_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/69_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/78_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/79_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/80_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/81_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/end.jpg
This watch is beautiful. AND ... it is a limited edition! #296 of 600! I did not know that!
I have yet to read the books and other materials. I am SO HAPPY. I have everyone here to thank for their input on this model. I would have had no idea what I was looking at if it was not for TRF and everyone from Amanda to JJ. Thank you all. I truly do thank you. I love this new watch and know it to be of great value, and it means so much to me as I bought it here in Qatar.
On the way out of the store I had inspired the Major. He wanted to go back to a jewelry store we were in earlier. He wanted to get his wife a 22k gold necklace, bracelet and earrings set. He was debating it and I gave him ideas like, "You may never be in Qatar again", "This is 22 karat, you will not find this in the US" and "Buy the best and you only cry once." He bought the set.
Needless to say, I am very happy. I like this watch better than than the Rose Gold Brietling Cockpit, better than the Omega I asked about here, and better than others I asked about too. And this watch is THICK! Oh my God this is a big baby!
I'm a happy camper. :clap:
Hi all! As you know I am in Qatar on military business. Well today I got to go out to City Center Mall. We travel in buddy teams and I went with an Air Force Major six years my junior. Imagine if you will a five story mall! Woohoo I am at home! Here it is.
http://23b.org/albums/army/5flooors.jpg
The bottom floor has an ice rink and the top floor is for women only. That still leaves hours and hours of shopping. Here is a picture of happy me at the mall.
http://23b.org/albums/army/meand5.jpg
Well they had watch stores all over the place. Every other store sold watches! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I saw a $100,000 Paris Hilton Watch, check it out!
http://23b.org/albums/army/1hilton.jpg
There were hundreds and hundreds of other watches too. Now most of the brand I had never heard of. Not that they were not beautiful but I had no idea of many of the brands! The shopkeepers were all smiling and happy. They love Americans and they love America, they just do not agree with out politics at all times. That's fine with me, they won't be shooting at us.
Well I finally found a ROLEX store! Time to go looking for 116713, my TT GMT II Anniv. I walk in the store and look around. Salespeople are scarce. I find the Rolexes and start looking. Hmmm they have the all gold version, and they have the TT standard GMT but no Anniv edition. Okay here is the salesman now.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, I want to buy 116173."
"What's that?"
"The two-tone GMT Anniversary."
"We don't have that. Try back in 30 days."
"Okay, can you give me a price?"
"No."
Ooooooo-kay. On to other watch dealers that want to sell watches and not rush me and my plastic out the door. Now so far the only brand I recognized in all of the stores was Rolex, Seiko, Calvin Klein, Guess, and Casio.
Okay now I see the "Qatar Trading Company." I go on in.
I am in heaven! IWC, Panerai, Tag Heuer, Glasshütte, and many others. No Rolex but still plenty to choose from. Near the Panerai they had little submarine models. I saw a gold Panerai in a HUGE box. That box can hold a phone book for New York City! Holy Cow!
I do a lap and the salesman is all smiles. I ask prices and he replies. he asks if I am looking for anything special. "Yes" I reply, "I want a weekend watch. This (showing my Rolex GMT) is my work watch. I looked at Rolexes across the way but they were not too interested in helping me find anything."
He replies with,"We can help you. Any watch you want is 15% off." So I look around and find a nice Glasshütte and a Panerai GMT. I get the prices and calculate the discounts. There is no sales tax either! Instant 7% discount!
Now here is where I learned something. I love the feel of the Rlex bracelet. I do not really like buckles and straps. But the Panerai is a bracelet that LOOKS like a strap! This is too cool. I may look at these after all.
There is also a nice Panerai GMT (PAM 00088) and a GMT with an alarm (PAM 00098). He also had PAM00140, a beauty in sold gold. I admired them all and told him I would think about it. 15% off and no sales tax from suggested list is pretty good. I am way ahead of anything my Rolex dealer did for me. I try on the two watches. The straps are loose but they can easily be adjusted. The watches felt to be asleep on my wrist. Tey were not smiling at me, they were asleep! They may smile later. They are limited editions and hard to come by, but I seem to find an unlimited number of limited editions, so I am not concerned.
So the Major and I walk around and have dinner. We have walked though about half of the mall in four hours. There is no way we will see it all in one day, it is just too big. Every other store sells watches or cell phones. Do you want a cell phone with a five megapixel camera? They have it in this mall! But I digress.
Well we are ready to go now. I want to go back to the watch dealer and take another look at the watches. I compare, I look, I play, I touch. And I apologize for taking so dang long. He is very patient with me and I glad that I came back.
I am very interested in the Panerai GMT. But I don't know, it is not smiling at me. I look at the GMT with the alarm. Now that watch is just too busy. I look at the gold watch. Too big! It feels like a clown watch. Oooh, I was like this deciding between the Sea Dweller and the GMT II, I cannot make up my mind that quickly.
I do another lap around the store. The Glasshütte is nice but it is something for my Dad, not me. I want a weekend watch. White face. Easy to read. Classy. Reliable. Trustworthy. The Glasshütte has a white face but it is not striking. Hmmmm. Do I want a white face? Maybe not.
I examine the Panerai GMT Alarm. I decide that the watch is too busy. There are too many markings and I will not use the alarm. Even though it is rare and a good deal, it is not my deal, it belongs to someone else.
Now I am down to the Panerai GMT 00088. I really do not like the black face. I like the size of the numbers and the weight of the watch,but not the color. I try the gold one again. No way, too big I think. I ask the Major what he thinks. "It looks like you need to be in a clown outfit and have a tiny car with 20 other clowns in it." Yup, too big. it's 44mm vs. 40mm. Back to square one.
The salesman asks what I like or dislike. I tell him I do not want a black face, that is a definite. I love the Panerai but not the black face. Can he get a white face?
"I can get the white face but I must order it and it will take a few days. But I do not think you will like the white face. The darker face is better with the glowing numbers."
My salesman asks if he may give some idea to help me. Now I like salesmen who think about what their customer needs and helps out. he sure is better than the Rolex dealer across the way!
He asks, "How badly do you need a GMT?"
"All the time. I deal with Qatar and Tampa times."
"But you want a weekend watch you said. Do you work on weekends?"
"Not if I can help it."
"Well then, you may not want to get a GMT watch since you already have one in the Rolex."
The man had a point. And he just talked himself out of selling me one of two watches. He is more interested in me than his commission. This guy is good. Very good.
"I have another watch on back that you may like. It is a Panerai with a blue face and a blue band."
"Sure," I said, "I'll look at it."
Hmmm, now this is very different. No GMT. No alarm. No tic marks between the numbers. Very simple and extremely easy to read. I like this watch! PAM0119.
I ask him, "15% discount right?"
He replies, "For that watch I will give you 20%."
Now this is the land of haggling, but I know that these guys have their limits, and this is a mall store where the prices they set are usually the ones you pay. This is not a souke on the streets.
"Well for 20% let's calculate the price." And he does.
I go back to looking at other watches too but come back to the blue one every now and then. And then I do another lap around the entire store. And then I remember that I have a Degree in Marketing, so I should use it!
"This is my first time to Qatar. It very well may be my last time. I am going to buy a souvenir of my stay here. This watch can be my souvenir and I will tell the world about it. 'When I was in Qatar I bought this Panerai,' I will say. Now if you give me a good deal I will tell everyone about this store. But if you give me a bad deal I will really never know until much later from now. But when I find out, I will post it on the Internet and tell all my military friends to avoid this store because I trusted the salesman and he let me down." I then took out my camera and asdked to take pictures.
The salesman told me, "You want to put pictures on the Internet? We have very good prices and I will give you a very good deal, you will have 25% off of the price! This is the price we give to our customers who have bought four or more watches from us in the past." I thank him very much and say, "In that case I will buy this blue Panerai. Please confirm the price in US Dollars for me."
He breaks out his calculator and starts to type. He looks up at me. "You will put this on Internet?" I nod. "And you have never owned a Panerai?" I state he is correct. He clears out his calculator and pauses. He punches in some more numbers, and pauses. The words he says really floor me.
"I will give you 30%."
He shows me the price. No sales tax. This is unbelievable. The watch is beautiful and the price is amazing. I am very happy. My friend the Major asks the salesman if he manages to make any money. To avoid embarassment on the salesman's part I jump in. "I hope he made money! I hope he is the top salesman for he month! He helped me through this decision and I am completely satisfied. If I found the watch $500 cheaper elsewhere it would be a crime to buy it anywhere but right here." The salesman says, "You will not find it for even $10 less." He poses for pictures.
http://23b.org/albums/army/sellerbuyer.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/seller.jpg
I get home. Time for my GMT to meet it's new friend!
http://23b.org/albums/army/58_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/59_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/60_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/61_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/62_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/63_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/64_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/65_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/67_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/68_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/69_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/78_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/79_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/80_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/81_G.jpg
http://23b.org/albums/army/end.jpg
This watch is beautiful. AND ... it is a limited edition! #296 of 600! I did not know that!
I have yet to read the books and other materials. I am SO HAPPY. I have everyone here to thank for their input on this model. I would have had no idea what I was looking at if it was not for TRF and everyone from Amanda to JJ. Thank you all. I truly do thank you. I love this new watch and know it to be of great value, and it means so much to me as I bought it here in Qatar.
On the way out of the store I had inspired the Major. He wanted to go back to a jewelry store we were in earlier. He wanted to get his wife a 22k gold necklace, bracelet and earrings set. He was debating it and I gave him ideas like, "You may never be in Qatar again", "This is 22 karat, you will not find this in the US" and "Buy the best and you only cry once." He bought the set.
Needless to say, I am very happy. I like this watch better than than the Rose Gold Brietling Cockpit, better than the Omega I asked about here, and better than others I asked about too. And this watch is THICK! Oh my God this is a big baby!
I'm a happy camper. :clap: