My Barcelona AD Price and Experience

[brandon13]

Just returned from Barcelona, Spain with a Datejust II fluted dark blue face in hand, purchased from an AD in Gracia street. Wanted to share that right now I found several benefits to buying Rolex there.

1- Historically the Euro has been higher than the dollar, therefore to start with the retail price of all watches are less. For example, my DJ is $9100 in the states, But in Spain it retailed at 8450 euro. With the euro to dollar ratio now being almost 1:1 I found this to be quite amusing.

2- Unlike my AD in Miami (Mayors), I was able to get a 13% discount off the retail.

3- As a US citizen, I am being reiumbursed 17.7% of tax (VAT). This tax was already built into the $8450 retail.


Overall, in dollars, I paid $6600.00 out the door. That's an effective 28% discount off US retail.

[travisb]

Great looking watch at a great deal. Enjoy it!

[ap1]

Love that math, congrats

[Xerxes77]

Congrats!
This is the benefit to buy from EU!
VAT is big and if you can recover you buy at a big discount!!

[Etschell]

wow great deal. mayors is ugh. people in miami will pay anything for anything.

[jaySL350]

congrats,,
a beautiful watch,,fell in love with my dj2 [same spec as yours] at Schipol Airport...
When i landed at London City Airport 45mins later i had decided to flip my blnr for her and have never been happier,,,,shades of blue ,purple,black are beautiful imho,,,
my 16013 has zero wrist time since i got my dj2 just before xmas,,,,,,
great price for you also,,,,,jay

[vladamir15]

Great deal! Congrats!

[RichM]

Great deal on a great looking watch. Congrats

[Speed]

Nice!

What did US customs clip you for when returning?

[piratepress]

Wow, good bargain!

[r8t3d_M]

Not a bad deal at all. Congratulations on the new acquisition!

[brandon13]

Speed: US Custom? As far as they are concerned that watch left the USA on my wrist.

[rebelceb]

Originally Posted by brandon13

Speed: US Custom? As far as they are concerned that watch left the USA on my wrist.

While I don't disagree with that personally, you are likely about to get ripped by the folks here who are "holier than thou"

[watchwatcher]

Not to mention it's a great looking watch. Congrats!

[zerocool]

Originally Posted by rebelceb

While I don't disagree with that personally, you are likely about to get ripped by the folks here who are "holier than thou"

Agreed. Even though if you were to declare coming into Florida you'd pay our state tax which is only 7% so you'd still be saving a lot of cash.

[dkmursalim]

congrats

[blue16613]

Originally Posted by rebelceb

While I don't disagree with that personally, you are likely about to get ripped by the folks here who are "holier than thou"

For the purposes of this question, let's leave "ethics" out of it. Hypothetically, if Customs just happened to stumble across the box & papers as your passed through and called you out on your failure to declare the purchase, what would be the penalty and/or cost?

Just trying to assess the true risk of your gamble.

Regardless, congrats on a gorgeous watch!

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by blue16613

For the purposes of this question, let's leave "ethics" out of it. Hypothetically, if Customs just happened to stumble across the box & papers as your passed through and called you out on your failure to declare the purchase, what would be the penalty and/or cost?

Just trying to assess the true risk of your gamble.

Regardless, congrats on a gorgeous watch!

His gamble paid off, however with the picture he posted customs now knows where he lives.

[ragingcao]

Gorgeous piece and a great deal Congrats

[Duke84]

Congrats! Sounds like you got a great deal.

[justdate]

Originally Posted by blue16613

For the purposes of this question, let's leave "ethics" out of it. Hypothetically, if Customs just happened to stumble across the box & papers as your passed through and called you out on your failure to declare the purchase, what would be the penalty and/or cost?

Just trying to assess the true risk of your gamble.

Regardless, congrats on a gorgeous watch!

In the UK it is around a £500 fine first time offender maximum, which is a risk worth taking if you are saving thousands and have a 99.999% chance of not being caught I would say.

Though I pretty much always buy my watches from uk suppliers anyway for benefits like 0% finance and warranty, it would be nice to get one over on the tax regime here in the U.K!

[kauffee]

Originally Posted by blue16613

For the purposes of this question, let's leave "ethics" out of it. Hypothetically, if Customs just happened to stumble across the box & papers as your passed through and called you out on your failure to declare the purchase, what would be the penalty and/or cost?

Just trying to assess the true risk of your gamble.

Regardless, congrats on a gorgeous watch!

One issue is that if you have TSA Global Entry they can revoke it. Lots of stories out there of this happening.

[jazznpool]

Smart purchase! Hope you enjoy the watch. Getting hosed at full MSRP + sales tax on that watch here in the USA doesn't make any sense.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by justdate

In the UK it is around a £500 fine first time offender maximum, which is a risk worth taking if you are saving thousands and have a 99.999% chance of not being caught I would say.

Though I pretty much always buy my watches from uk suppliers anyway for benefits like 0% finance and warranty, it would be nice to get one over on the tax regime here in the U.K!

You can avoid UK tax legally fairly easily. Excluding rolex/tudor you can buy at the airport and still get "airport pricing" close to 20% off withOUT leaving the EU so there is nothing to declare and no customs issues as you never left the customs union. Harrods for instance will even transfer any watch from their main store to the airport so you can just pick it up, fly 30 minutes to brussels and fly back 30 minutes later. easy.

[Cabaiguan]

Gotta love currency and tax advantages.

[cda555]

Isn't the custom's fee fairly small?

[justdate]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

You can avoid UK tax legally fairly easily. Excluding rolex/tudor you can buy at the airport and still get "airport pricing" close to 20% off withOUT leaving the EU so there is nothing to declare and no customs issues as you never left the customs union. Harrods for instance will even transfer any watch from their main store to the airport so you can just pick it up, fly 30 minutes to brussels and fly back 30 minutes later. easy.

Nice! Good tip, thanks.

[brandon13]

US customs charge a tariff (I think it is 6%) of anything purchased abroad that is more than $800. However, many people wear high end watches when traveling and unless you are dressed like a bum...you should not cause much suspicion. Even if they find the box I can always say I like to bring it on my trip. For the record the warranty card and receipt I keep in my wallet. Not on the box.

[Strummer25]

Lovely piece my next purchase just got to flip the Breitling Navi and Omega PO

[And1dre]

Very nice! Congrats