Its a nice shop to browse but, at their prices, I suspect only the Russians buy!
So, I found a steel Sub Date and a steel GMT Master 2 black bezel in the window of an AD in Tenerife today... been a while since I saw that, so I popped in and spent some time with the Sub, did some numbers... and beat a hasty retreat.
€7850, plus card charges, plus import charges...
I will defer to those with a greater understanding but with my rudimentary grasp on duties and mathematics I make that approx £8600
Admittedly, I did know the €7850 price tag but didn't expect to find one so hadn't calculated the full cost.
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Its a nice shop to browse but, at their prices, I suspect only the Russians buy!
Would you have to pay import charges if it's from Tenerife?
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don't let anyone on here catch you saying that haha
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There are some sad self-appointed VAT police on this forum who get fairly frothed up about the subject. Forum equivalent of tutting, net-curtain twitchers.
Take the chance, don't take the chance, it's personal choice and liability. Get caught, you'll pay for it. Don't get caught then there's no actual comeback...
Love that
Border Force took c. £1,500 off an inbound passenger in possession of an undeclared Rolex at LHR last week. I'm not trying to scaremonger, it's a fact and before you ask no, I won't divulge any further information of what or how I know.
I have my own view which I choose not to share, it's a can of worms and 33JS' assessment is correct.
^ Perfectly clear to me, sounds like they wanted crazy money without customs even coming into the equation - it's a mad world!
Do they/you hog the outside lane at 70 to 'police' other drivers? Report illegal parking? Check that others pay their income tax? Pay their council tax?
My point is people can take the risk if they want, but the forum police don't actually work for HMRC so they're just being sad busy-bodies!
I pay my tax and vat, but it's not my job to police/check/snitch on others...
Can`t understand why people have to get so worked up over this. I have my own views on the practice of bringing watches into the UK without declaring them at customs, and it'll remain exactly that......my own view.
This issue always polarises opinions, and there's absolutely no point in stating a strongly held view either way. You're not going to convince anyone to change their position and you're certainly not going to impress most people.
Some folks will sneak the odd watch through customs and save a few £££ if they can, some won`t.
Paul
Given that death and taxes are considered to be two of the most undesirable certainties in life, lm a great admirer of anyone who can pull off cheating or delaying either...
...Having incredibly thick, armoured and asbestos-filled skin, lm already smirking at the over-reaction that will inevitably follow this post.
Not approving of criminal activity is a bit more than a simple matter of personal preference. That way lies a disintegrating society. Call it 'pompous' or whatever, but it's just basic decency. Taxes pay for the things we share as a society ...boring stuff like hospitals and roads. When people cheat, everyone else has to cover that loss.
As others have said, you don't change minds....but you can still call it what it is, sleazy criminality.
Amazing to see the level of polarization above.
I would say, in reality, people that buy a watch abroad or in an airport duty free, then bring it home unchallenged and then contact HMRC to pay the duty is a very slim minority.
I also think that anyone that does this (i.e. - fail to pay duty on a watch) has pretty much committed the smallest crime I could possibly imagine in my estimation and I say fair play to them.
Last edited by TimeThoughts; 23rd April 2018 at 20:04.
I know thIs sort of thing goes on and I know people who have done this. However, I do fall in to the category of those who would not risk it.
VAT on an average Rolex will be in excess of £1,000 so can hardly be classed as “the smallest crime”?? Should we class defrauding or robbing £1000 off someone a small crime? How about if a member of the forum sold a worthless fake watch on sc for £1000. Small crime then??
That's some comparison. You compare the theft of £1000 from a person or the selling of counterfeit goods equal with not declaring VAT on a duty free purchase ?
Anyway, here's the reality...
In my LHR browsings, I notice that the watch + subsequent appropriate duty is more expensive to buy in the airport than the 'normal' AD high street purchase.
The airport boutiques know the crack. The only reason to buy in an airport is to try and avoid duty. Unless of course you are exceedingly wealthy and buy watches when you are bored which is not a real client base for the likes of WOS to pay for renting a boutique space in LHR etc.
Do those fortunate enough to travel by private jet bother with such issues?
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
No, I didn't know that, I won't make that mistake again!
I didn't buy anything, I probably didn't make it too clear in the post but the figure of approx £8600 included ex rates, VAT, duty etc...
What I tried to convey was firstly it was unusual for me to see these watches in steel and secondly, after the initial surprise and working the true full cost it was that after finding one it was still working out approx 2 grand over uk list, no cheaper than I could get one back in the uk.
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