Country of origin, does it matter?

[3sheets86]

I once bought a new sea dweller Whilst on holiday in Cyprus and years later I had to sell it to help fund my first house. The most common question I was asked was if it was UK supplied and quite a few people were put off completely when I told them that it wasn’t.

Why is it so important?

[Flex368]

It isn´t important, the watches are all the same.

However, some collectors prefer to have watches that were originally supplied in their home country. Some people want to know because of VAT and import duty issues for example when the watch was originally delivered through an AD outside of the EU.

[peterpl]

I dont know why that would matter at all.

If I was buying I dont care if the watch came from Europe, Asia, Australia or the USA. Its all the same

[MonBK]

Doesn't matter one bit!

[tyler1980]

because resellers like WF seem to want UK watches. Less likely its stolen i guess(or easier to verify). If its from outside of the EU they don't want illegal (non VAT paid) watches so you may also need to supply proof you paid it if its a non EU watch, but not applicable to cyprus in this situation. Knowingly buying illegally imported watches puts their business as risk and HMRC probably doesnt say its ok to not try to find out before buying.

receipt (proof of purchase) and warranty card will need to go with the watch

[bayerische]

It doesn't matter.

Same phenomenon here;

"Onko Suomi-kello?" Translates to; "is it a Finnish watch"? What can you answer? Show me a Rolex made in Finland?!

Just dumb tactics to try and bargain. As with the, "is it serviced?" Usually asked on a 2-3 year old watch. Who the heck has a normally functioning watch serviced within a few years. LOL.

Bargaining tactics - poor ones that is.

[joli160]

The country code means nothing for customs to determine if VAT has been paid. A Uk watch can be bought duty free and sold to a British citizen. Only a proper invoice is acceptable. Country of origin is totally irrelevant. Lots of buyers don’t understand this, especially in Germany

[Jack T]

Might be pertinent on a Day Date

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by joli160

The country code means nothing for customs to determine if VAT has been paid. A Uk watch can be bought duty free and sold to a British citizen. Only a proper invoice is acceptable. Country of origin is totally irrelevant. Lots of buyers don’t understand this, especially in Germany

sort of what i was saying. A country code does show if customs fees are applicable at all just based on where it came from. If its from a country where duty would be payable, then they would ask for other documentation to show it was brought here legally and it was paid

A duty free watch is not duty free. Its duty free where you bought it because you are exporting it, not where you are bringing it to. Duty is due there.

[Swiss Mad!]

Originally Posted by Jack T

Might be pertinent on a Day Date

A Day Date with a Kanji date wheel like you find on some Seiko's might be quite cool actually

Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk

[Onikage]

I have Tai Hing Watch co Hong Kong on the paper for one of mine. Probably going to be a difficult sell.

[ragingcao]

County of origin should be Switzerland

[tom2517]

Yes it does, in Taiwan if your Rolex was sold by local AD, it will command better prices when comes to selling it.

Usually we see this in 3C goods because of warranty issues, but for some reason while RSC will service any genuine Rolex, buyers still prefer locally sold watches.

Hence in Taiwan all for sale ads will always include whether or not the watch was bought locally.

[Rashid.bk]

Originally Posted by ragingcao

County of origin should be Switzerland

It doesn't really matter, particularly in today's climate. People are buying what ever is available where ever it's available.
I once cared about origin as I wanted a national watch to avoid any issues that my mind generated. Now I don't care, doesn't matter if everything is in order.

[Onequik135i]

My K series Pepsi was a Taiwan reg watch, had no idea on that one. Thought it pretty much didn’t matter what country code any of them came from. Good to know.

[ragingcao]

Originally Posted by Rashid.bk

It doesn't really matter, particularly in today's climate. People are buying what ever is available where ever it's available.
I once cared about origin as I wanted a national watch to avoid any issues that my mind generated. Now I don't care, doesn't matter if everything is in order.

You're completely missing my point or my poor attempt at humor
All Rolex watches CoO is Switzerland hence Swiss Made? Get it?

[beshannon]

Originally Posted by ragingcao

County of origin should be Switzerland

Exactly

[DoctorA]

Originally Posted by 3sheets86

I once bought a new sea dweller Whilst on holiday in Cyprus and years later I had to sell it to help fund my first house. The most common question I was asked was if it was UK supplied and quite a few people were put off completely when I told them that it wasn’t.

Why is it so important?

Shouldn’t matter! They all come from the same mother!

[soran]

Personally it does not make any difference.

[tng11]

Same deal here in Canada - it's easier to sell pieces acquired from local ADs to other Canadians, and they command higher prices. When buying from other collectors I tend to only touch Rolexes from Canadian ADs as well, because taxes will have been paid in case the border authorities ever ask when travelling, and because the origin will be easier to trace.

When it comes to other brands I tend not to care as much.

[Art 1]

There was countries that I would not want my watch to originate from when buying used, just my preference.

[R!$]

but but its a UK WATCH?!?!?!?!?!?!

[VintageVagabound]

I prefer far off destinations for my watch origin. I enjoy having watches with papers from Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica, Peru, and Canada. I got my U.S. origin Tudor in Dubai. The travels of the watches makes such an interesting story.