Reply With QuoteDistribution costs? Wage differences? Rents? Transfer prices? Currency conversion charges?
I have been looking at a lot of german watches in particular, Sinn, Muhle, Damasko etc.
It seems a lot of UK dealers offer the sterling equivalent of the Euro price e.g. for a watch retailing at €900, you can pick it up from a UK dealer for £900.
There is no allowance for the currency difference in the UK price.
Is there any particular reason beyond plain ould opportunism?
It is sending me towards the Euro zone for my final purchase and I was wondering have others had the same experience?
Distribution costs? Wage differences? Rents? Transfer prices? Currency conversion charges?
Cheers..
Jase
Don't forget 20% VAT in the UK!
Which is the same as in other EU countries (19.6 in France, 19 in Germany)Originally Posted by tim2012
19% in Germany.
Nothing new as the $ price in the USA sometimes becomes the £ in the UK.
With the exception of Liechtenstein, it's 18% or over all over the EU.
That's not why prices are higher here.
Liechtenstein is not in EU anyway.
True.
US$ prices are usually without taxes
And you pay with CHF in Liechtenstein
Last edited by Vahalis; 28th September 2013 at 15:15.
It varies brand-by-brand but generally watches are significantly cheaper in the US, even when you add sales tax.
As a good socialist, of course I always pay duty and VAT on things bought in or from the US but, even then, there are savings to be made.
Ease of warranty and convenience are the only reasons to pay more in the UK. If you can save enough buying from a shop in a nice part of Europe to cover the flights, a hotel and a meal, why wouldn't you?
A UK AD will typically get 50% gross margin on Swiss watches but for some curious reason, German watch manufacturers only usually allow 25%. The exchange rate at the moment is 1.17 euros to the pound so it's not a big difference and they will still make less than they do on Swiss watches.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
That's interesting Eddie. So a UK AD will have lower margins on German watches than Swiss. I guess that makes German watches better value for consumers like me. Though it doesn't incentivise UK ADs to sell German brands, if they can't make the fat margins that they can on Swiss watches.
Any idea how Japanese brands compare in terms of UK ADs' margins?
In fairness, we have cheap women.
Sinn prices are much higher in the US than anywhere in the EU. I could buy a Sinn from the UK, pay shipping and import costs, and still be at least $100 less than the monopoly price charged by Watchbuys. You're correct in general though.
Easy maybe, but cheap? Never. Cost you an arm and a leg , if not the whole house, if you're not careful.
If you want cheap, Romania or Bulgaria. But they're not easy, usually rather emotionally demanding.
Well Grand Seiko aren't as good as Rolex, so I would imagine the margin is even less.
(It seems someone always has something like this to say when Japanese watches are in the same thread as Swiss ones, say we may as well cut to the chase...)
Interesting that the margin is as high as 50% on Swiss watches though.
That's why there's usually room for discounts of up to 30% with 20-25% being quite common.
That's also why a dealer will offer you a very low price for your second hand watch.
Thanks for the comments some interesting points made.
Just to be a little more specific:
I am quite interested in the Mühle Glashütte Terrasport II Automatic 40mm
The RRP is €990
I can get this from a reputable German dealer for €875
The UK price for this is £970 which works out at €1156
That makes the watch a whopping 25% cheaper purchased from Germany.
There are clearly some valid reasons for the price difference but accepting that, the UK dealers have certainly priced themselves out of my market.
In fairness to the UK dealers they all posted the same price for the watch which at least shows consistency in pricing.
It does, of course, fundamentally depend on the prevailing exchange rate. Currently, UK list prices for a lot of central casting watches like Rolex and Omega are cheaper than the US price, even when you factor in VAT, so I don't know what benchmark you're using to get to "significantly cheaper". Also, most forget that sales tax is highly variable, and generally not recoverable for tourists.
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Why not order from Germany online?Thanks for the comments some interesting points made.
Just to be a little more specific:
I am quite interested in the Mühle Glashütte Terrasport II Automatic 40mm
The RRP is €990
I can get this from a reputable German dealer for €875
The UK price for this is £970 which works out at €1156
That makes the watch a whopping 25% cheaper purchased from Germany.
There are clearly some valid reasons for the price difference but accepting that, the UK dealers have certainly priced themselves out of my market.
In fairness to the UK dealers they all posted the same price for the watch which at least shows consistency in pricing.
So you are saying that if I go into an AD in the UK and ask for a 25% discount on a typical Omega, Breitling etc, they will say yes?
That makes the 4.5% discount I was offered on a Zenith 36000Vph seem properly miserly.
For the Tudors and Omegas I looked at in Vienna a couple of weeks ago they were slightly more expensive than the UK, and seemed not to be in touch with the notion of discounting.
I think that the price was simply a vagary of the exchange rate.
And the Zenith I considered was a lot more than the price I know I could get at a UK dealer.
Haha thanks for sharing the wisdom!
Omega are getting like Rolex and discouraging their dealers from discounting but you should be able to get 20% off almost anything if you show that you are ready to part with your cash.
I don't know about other companies but Nomos transfer the price into the UK retail price so you will find the German price in Euros about £100 cheaper than the UK price. I doubt it costs 100 notes to send a watch from Germany to the UK.
Its that what put me off buying a Nomos.
^^ I don't think UK ADs would be happy if Nomos would sell directly below the RRP.
Last edited by Vahalis; 30th September 2013 at 04:04.
That is between Nomos and their AD's but I wont be parting with my cash on a Nomos watch when a German can get one £100 notes cheaper.
Thanks for the comments some interesting points made.
Just to be a little more specific:
I am quite interested in the Mühle Glashütte Terrasport II Automatic 40mm
There's a Terrasport I on SC at the moment if you're interested, I've no idea how different this is - http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...e-Terrasport-I
They are probably all asking 'list' price. A Swiss price converted into £ plus vat.
Thanks, I saw that.
I am after a 40mm, I think the 44mm is too big.
Regards
J
Need to get my posts up as would like to have a look at that terrasport
The Omega boutique in Royal Exchange weren't having any of it but did offer a free service on a Speedmaster which I suppose must be worth something like £500 at the moment?
Should be £310 - £340 depending on bracelet or strap if you take it in direct (I have done this as relatively close by, although you can alway send in). Taking to an AD for a service, they will often charge a premium.
http://www.omegawatches.com/customer...service-prices
Scratch that - chronographs actually look like £440 - £470 !!
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