Panerai In Europe

[vipergts66]

I’m planning a trip to Italy in August and wanted to stop By the flagship store in Florence. Anyone have experience in Italy? Are the retail prices similar to USA? Do they give sos lungs? How does the VAT refund work?

[Pattyb69]

Retail is the same and you’ll get about an 18% VAT refund, so basically an 18% discount. You can obviously wear it back into the country to avoid import duties but I wouldn’t risk it. I declared a recent purchase and paid about 2-3% last March coming back from Switzerland on a Bucherer Black Bay Bronze

[synequano]

Vat refund works like this:

You buy the watch,ask for the vat refund form in the boutique after you pay,usually it’s around 12-14%

In the airport,since it’s a watch you can just wear it,just go to customs before checking in your luggage,they might want to check the box etc then they’ll stamp your form(s)

After that ask the customs where to collect your vat refund,some airport have it after the immigration,some have it before immigration,check beforehand...if you want to get the money returned to your card,just fill in the forms and drop it to the box near the customs/refund place...