Vintage watches for sale from Japan / Israel
I'm looking at a few 1950s/60s watches at the moment, and see quite a large number of realtively low priced watches from Japan and Israel.
It got me wondering, why these two relatively small countries? Are these legit little watch hubs with lots of supply? Or there something more sinister, is there a booming trade in fakes in JP/IL?
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Chris
Enjoys; wild places, small details, engineering and design.
London
Member since
Last active: 4 hrs ago
6.50” / 16.51 cm
I've often been tempted by those from Japan, but import tax completely kills it for us in the UK unfortunately 😥
I've often been tempted by those from Japan, but import tax completely kills it for us in the UK unfortunately 😥
Yeah, I'm having to factor in 20% VAT and the £100 shipping - which definitely brings the values closer to UK prices. There just seems to be more/better from JP.
Yeah, I'm having to factor in 20% VAT and the £100 shipping - which definitely brings the values closer to UK prices. There just seems to be more/better from JP.
I agree, they certainly seem to look after things better & have better choices.
Like yourself I keep looking & mulling over whenever to take the leap.
Very tempting, hopefully someone who has purchased from Japan will chime in soon with some advice 🤞🏻
Japan may not be huge geographically but they have a very urban dense population
Call me stereotyping but imo urban populations where people don't have to e.g. buy cars to get around, I think spend more on jewelry and watches. Hence a large population of watches in Japan.
Israel has a lot of jewelry and associated industry due to historical restrictions on the type of work Jews were allowed to do in medieval Europe which even though it's generations later, still continues to this day. NY, Miami also large hubs for jewelry and watches for example
So... I pulled the trigger on a vintage watch from Japan - Quite exciting!
It was considerably cheaper than similar items in the UK market (at least half price). So I'll have easily covered the import tax and shipping costs. It's certainly not the finest example, but as an experiment this should be fun!
So the watch arrived safely. The seller was super responsive and honest (the dial has been gently restored but this was well reflected in the price), flexible in pricing, and posted the piece within minutes of payment being confirmed. The watch arrived safely and all in all it was a very good purchasing experience. This could well be circumstantial - it was a very good seller.
It was shipped via Japan Post Tracked and took about 5 business days to arrive in the UK, where it was handed to the RoyalMail/Parcelforce - who were super slow and POSTED ME A LETTER to tell me the shipment had arrived and needed customs duty payment. I was tracking the item and didn't wait for a stupid letter. I contacted them as soon as I saw it was held for customs payment and I paid and collected the watch before their daft letter arrived the next day. (Why they don't use SMS or email to alert their customers is beyond me...)
Import charges: I was charged 20% VAT (Expected) and .2% Duty (on a £300 watch it was £60 tax and £0.60 duty).
There was also a charge of £12 for 'handling' which I guess is for the customs import declaration work by the royal mail. This charge is usually included in the cost of shipping by express couriers, but is often added on top at the point of import by postal services.
So all in all:
£300 watch
£60.6 tax/duties
£12 post office handling fee
TOTAL = £372.6 for a watch I couldn't get in the UK for less than £1000-1500
There was a bit of luck involved, and it's difficult to directly compare vintage pieces like for like. But I think purchasing from JP likely saved me at least 30-40% on a local purchase.