Are Swiss watches in Switzerland any less expensive?
Over the years I've been privy to having the occasional work trip to Switzerland. But - until very recently - I have been completely satisfied with just my Casio so never thought of purchasing a more expensive Swiss watch. But now I've caught the bug. Note: this is all your fault!
I live in the USA, so there's the undeniable cachet of being able to say "Oh this? Yeah I picked this up during my last visit to Switzerland." But does anyone know if there is a cost advantage to purchasing a Swiss watch in Switzerland?
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Brian
Welcome to my WatchCrunch profile.
San Diego, CA, USA
Member since
Last active: 20 hrs ago
7.00” / 17.78 cm
I believe you can get the sales tax back if you're a tourist from certain other countries.
Life is very expensive there and the currency is high: do not expect much unfortunately, even if you take it tax free.
You don't have to buy a watch on a trip to Switzerland to tell people you bought a watch on a trip to Switzerland.
There are no deals on Swiss watches in Switzerland. The currency is strong so everything is expensive and tourism is also popular so shops in tourist areas do not budge from full retail. It’s a beautiful, well-run country with spectacular scenery and delicious food so you will have a good time and plenty of stories when you get home.
There’s nothing wrong with buying a watch there, but you will pay about the same as you would pay at home.
There are no deals on Swiss watches in Switzerland. The currency is strong so everything is expensive and tourism is also popular so shops in tourist areas do not budge from full retail. It’s a beautiful, well-run country with spectacular scenery and delicious food so you will have a good time and plenty of stories when you get home.
There’s nothing wrong with buying a watch there, but you will pay about the same as you would pay at home.
Makes sense! One reason I was wondering was when pricing out a ~$1000 watch on the Christopher Ward site they give you the total price with duties and taxes. Shipping to either the US or the UK adds $200-250 while shipping to a Swiss address does not. So I thought I’d ask.
Makes sense! One reason I was wondering was when pricing out a ~$1000 watch on the Christopher Ward site they give you the total price with duties and taxes. Shipping to either the US or the UK adds $200-250 while shipping to a Swiss address does not. So I thought I’d ask.
Interesting. My comments didn’t take shipping into account, so in the case of a CW or similar watch that will be couriered individually, it may well be cheaper to buy it in its country of manufacture. For watches shipped in bulk to North American distributors, shipping costs are amortized over many units.