Dual Purchase - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

[CashGap]

Spent another week on business in Riyadh.

Business was good, so after a twenty-five hour work day and a nap, my coworker and I decided to hit some watch stores. He was hoping to run into a BLNR, my expectations were more realistic.

An online search showed that all of the authorized Rolex locations had common ownership, so we went to the most convenient... Rolex at Panorama Mall.

Of course, no BLNR. But they did have something I'd wanted to see in person... DJ 41 Rhodium stick dial, oyster band. 25,515 SAR = $6,797 USD. No VAT refund in Saudi (it's 5%). No discount. No deals. No free stuff. No champagne LOL. But, a bird in the hand, so I decided to get it to commemorate our successful selling trip.

We sat at the counter and the gentleman explained he would leave a few stickers on the clasp. I asked if I could remove the other stickers myself in front of him, but the language barrier made that impossible to negotiate.

He brought over a credit card terminal, ran my metal AMX Platinum.

With what seemed like delight, he tossed the card at me and said "DECLINED!".

At that moment, I received a text from AMX fraud protection. I pressed "1", send, and asked him to try again. Perhaps it was my imagination, but he seemed disappointed when the sale authorized.

He filed in the date and store lines on the warranty card, and allowed me to enter my name.

Something interesting, he ran the warranty card to "register" the warranty and the terminal produced a declined master card receipt for 10 SAR. Is Rolex somehow using declined transactions on the Mastercard network as their vehicle to register watches? I can't seem to decode the reference number or the serial number from this receipt.

We then Ubered to Kingdom Tower Mall to find an Omega retailer. Friend wanted to look at a Planet Ocean, I wanted to find a graduation present. My son is graduating University of Alabama, after earning a full scholarship there and graduating in three years. But he has no interest in watches. I figured the Seamaster 38 Aqua Terra would be "young enough" and possibly interest him in watches.

The gentleman behind the counter was fantastic. He asked about the Rolex bag "My competition!" and we talked watches for half an hour. He said he could discount anything 15%, and that due to a "special promotion", he could discount 25% for American Express purchases. 15,683 SAR = $4,178. Deal. When I settled on the Seamaster, he asked if I could wait thirty minutes to have a sealed unit brought from his warehouse. Gladly!

We removed it from the coffin long enough to inspect. I was VERY impressed with the materials, box, etc., that accompanied the watch.

For the return trip through Amman and O'Hare, I placed the empty boxes in checked baggage and zipped each watch into a pocket of an amenity bag in my backpack. I checked them approximately 500 times during the 24 hour trip back.

At Global Entry, I dutifully clicked "I have goods over $800" and received a receipt with a big circle on the face. Approaching the final customs/immigration official with thoughts of $341 about to evaporate, I was thrilled when he took the receipt and said "Have a nice day".

I look forward to going back in five weeks!