What watch do you wear?

[Deleted User 298457]

£205 customs fee to pay to FedEx for the Stowa

Looks liek this will be the last expensive watch I buy outside of the UK no thanks to those of you who voted leave.

Is that VAT that wasn't collected by Stowa? (+service charge) or a mistake?

 

[Surveyor]

Is that VAT that wasn't collected by Stowa? (+service charge) or a mistake?

You have to pay the import VAT yourself if you import goods with a value of more than £135. Cutoms duty may also be payable.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

You have to pay the import VAT yourself if you import goods with a value of more than £135. Cutoms duty may also be payable.

For some reason I had it in my head that if it was more than 135 then the seller would take the onus of collecting the VAT. Need to remind myself!

 

[lsg1r]

For some reason I had it in my head that if it was more than 135 then the seller would take the onus of collecting the VAT. Need to remind myself!

At least one very large online store that we all know of (and I think the auction site too) includes an estimated cost of importing items from their eu store, if it's more they pay it, if it's less we get a refund so at least in some cases it is dealt with by the seller.

Personally I don't have an issue with paying the VAT on arrival in the UK, what I do have an issue is the rip off 'admin fees' by delivery companies like fedex, personally feel this should be legally capped (the admin time is basically no different for a £200 item or a £10000 item) and should not include delivery cost which is often included in the charges.

 

[mrk]

The Stowa price listed on the website is €1310 which also is shown as "INC VAT"whilst the amount invoiced and the amount I paid was €1124 with no mention of VAT. The FedEx invoice simply states a £12 handling fee with the £190 odd import duty.

I have not paid this yet as am trying to contact them first, appears the delivery will take place and I'll just be invoiced by FedEx as the notification of the fee came via text and the tracking website mentions no fee etc and that delivery will take place on Tuesday. The text message states that because the item was imported from outside the EU (exact words) that it is subject to import duty. Now I'm pretty sure Germany is not outside the EU Hence my confusion as to whether the £205 is a system error because that I could expect if it came from the USA.

Will see what happens...

Watched this earlier and found it really interesting with a lot learned about some brands. Who knew that Squale made cases for the very first Blancpain dive watches back in the early 50s?! Also love that new Damasko 3 hander and the fact that they threw the middle finger at ETA and went and made their own movement based off the 2824-2 but with all the flaws in ETA's design fixed and then some. I can see a watch from both of these brands in the future in my box

 

[Surveyor]

The Stowa price listed on the website is €1310 which also is shown as "INC VAT"whilst the amount invoiced and the amount I paid was €1124 with no mention of VAT. The FedEx invoice simply states a £12 handling fee with the £190 odd import duty.

I have not paid this yet as am trying to contact them first, appears the delivery will take place and I'll just be invoiced by FedEx as the notification of the fee came via text and the tracking website mentions no fee etc and that delivery will take place on Tuesday. The text message states that because the item was imported from outside the EU (exact words) that it is subject to import duty. Now I'm pretty sure Germany is not outside the EU Hence my confusion as to whether the £205 is a system error because that I could expect if it came from the USA.

€1124 is about £977. Import VAT @ 20% is £195.40. I don't think there's a percentage duty but importing from outside the UK is subject to a third country duty of 20p.

Add on a bit for the courier admin fee and £205 seems right.

Pre brexit you'd have paid €1334 (inc. shipping) which is £1,160.

Now you're paying £977 (€1124) plus £205, total £1,182.

 

[mrk]

Yeah their figure does seem sound all things considered. It was just a surprise to me given the recent winning streak of no fee and no VAT on the last few items from France/Germany since Brexit

 

[lsg1r]

The Stowa price listed on the website is €1310 which also is shown as "INC VAT"whilst the amount invoiced and the amount I paid was €1124 with no mention of VAT. The FedEx invoice simply states a £12 handling fee with the £190 odd import duty.

I have not paid this yet as am trying to contact them first, appears the delivery will take place and I'll just be invoiced by FedEx as the notification of the fee came via text and the tracking website mentions no fee etc and that delivery will take place on Tuesday. The text message states that because the item was imported from outside the EU (exact words) that it is subject to import duty. Now I'm pretty sure Germany is not outside the EU Hence my confusion as to whether the £205 is a system error because that I could expect if it came from the USA.

EDIT: Ignore me, long day, maths failed lol

 

[mrk]

For those who like the Hamilton W10 re-issue but don't want to pay £700+ and don't like the unreliability of the CWC W10 at under £500, there seems to be a "W10" going on Aliexpress for a bit over £120 using an NH35 movement, sapphire sapphire crystal with no AR. The lume looks cool but the watch is a massive 14mm thick, so given the 36mm case width and 42mm lug to lug, it will feel like wearing a flattened rock I'd imagine

Still, it is here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...earchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

 

[Parsley]

The thickness of that completely ruins the design to my eyes. I don't really have a problem with thicker watches (unless it's silly) but they usually at least try to shape it to look and wear a bit thinner. You could brain someone with that!

 

[mrk]

Yeah it's thicker than most dive watches which is mind boggling as to their thought process behind making it so chunky.

 

[{SAS}TB]

I've exclusively worn my Fenix for the last year or so but after digging my watch box out the other day I popped in my Steinhart and enjoyed the look of it, even slobbing round the house

Panerai homage today

 

[JasonM]

My advice on watches.

If your not spending much money, then purchase inexpensive Seiko (say below £300 mark). Seiko make great watches for the money, and Seiko are really well respected watches.

If you are however going to spend a lot of money, avoid shopping mall watches. Personally I would be looking at Tudor, or some of the Omega's on the pre-owned market. Rolex of course but prices have unfortunately gone bonkers. Other brands such as Tag are ok, however get them at pre-owned prices after they loose new value.

Also my other advice is don't have huge collections of less expensive watches. Put your money towards quality that will last.

Me personally I have Rolex Sub (that i've owned since 2000), Rolex Explorer II 42mm, Seiko Kinetic Divers, and a vintage Tissot divers quartz from the 80's. Those 4 watches are plenty, yes I would like Rolex GMT next but I don't need it.

Most people if they had one more expensive watch (Tudor, Omega, Rolex), then say a Seiko Divers for other times. Those 2 watches would cover 100% of everything you need.

* Extra bonus advice! Ignore most of the You Tube watch channels. Most are being paid to sell you watches, plus they exist to make money from views. The products they promote are not necessary to help you, but to help them generate more revenue.

* More bonus advice! If you are spending quite of money on a second hand watch, always buy from somewhere you can trust. Often a local high street dealer is best, you know the watch is not stolen, it's authentic plus you can also walk back in store if there is an issue. On some of the Rolex Facebook groups there are horror stories of people dealing on-line and loosing great sums of money.

 

[mrk]

Why should someone look at Tudor etc if they want to spend money on a watch though? Value is a personal spec really, for example to me these days Rolex/Tudor/Omega etc in general do nothing for me and I wouldn't glance twice at the average reference and they are now so diluted with variation after variation and the prices just keep going up and up without a seemingly legit reason. On the other hand a smaller brand or a lesser known brand that has been around since the beginning putting out unique watches, some of which are hand made but still cheaper than the big well known brands appeals to me more now especially when you factor in their one to one approach to customer service, something you do not get with Rolex, Tudor etc unless you are an influencer and make it into their preferred customer list...

Just buy what you like if it meets your budget. It does not get any simpler than that.

EDIT: Ignore me, long day, maths failed lol

Maths correction time then

Now the website price from Stowa is €1310 inc VAT which is £1136. But as I paid €1124 (£975) at checkout since the VAT was taken off due to the source country not getting the VAT now but instead the UK, it was added back on by FedEx as part of their customs duty invoice to me.

So instead of paying £1136, I have paid a total of £1181 including import duty when factoring in the £205 invoice from FedEx.so all in all the customs fees alone amount to a mere £45. It was just the initial surprise of seeing £205 import duty without a breakdown showing exactly what is what lol.

Understanding this now makes things much more acceptable. Ok in the past I got away with no VAT or import duty but now it's essentially like buying locally but with the addition of the small import fee for high value items. Panic over.

 

[lsg1r]

snip

To make you feel a little better some of that £45 will be down to the difference of 19% vat on stowa site and our 20% as well (about €11)

I'm also like you, rolex doesn't really do much for me and omega to me seems too common... I don't think the have that good a value proposition personally (I can see past the 'brand' inflation) and in all honesty when I see collections with them in I'm like.... oh look another rolex/omega, how original.

Now I'm not saying they're bad watches or anything, in fact I don't actually dislike (think they're overpriced still) the speedy (prefer the bi-compaq though) and explorer 2, and at the end of the day it's a personal choice, but to me I'd rather buy something 'more original' or less common.

Tudor's a bit of a weird one, I like the blackbay and the chrono but at the same time I think they're pushing up into the (before inflation) rolex price ranges where I'm not sure the extra cost for a Tudor over say a decent branded 1-2k watch is worth it.

As to buying watches (actually I do this with most things), it's really simple for me (not in order)....
1) Find a watch I like
2) Do the sums - ie can I afford it, is it really worth the money.
3) Don't put it on credit unless it's an incredible deal, but remember rule 2 lol
4) Do research and look for reviews (I literally have to travel over an hour to a store which might not even have it to look at...)
5) Think when and how often I'd wear it.... no point buying a watch you'll never wear

If they all check out.... buy it lol

I'd also disagree with the youtube comment, yes a fair few do get paid to review positively but there are some who are quite open about 'free watches to review' and the fact they'll be honest. Now some might have ulterior motives to get views etc but you can usually see past them and to be fair I don't really see youtube as any worse than a store salesman pushing the item with a bigger commission.

I really don't understand why seiko is so hugely regarded, every single time I've gone to buy a seiko I've found issues with them (usually on the dial too) and it's a well reported fact they seem to struggle lining up bezels etc.... I'd pick one before a mvmt or something but personally for under £300, I'd pick a citizen over a seiko (I have no issue with quartz), if I wanted an automatic I'd likely go orient (yes I know same group)

 

[JasonM]

I really don't understand why seiko is so hugely regarded,

Seiko make high quality reliable watches for the money.

My daily watch is a Seiko Kinetic Divers, cost me new £170 in 2011 never serviced. That watch has been worn in the swimming pool hundreds of times, plus it's been used well over hundred times in sauna, hot tub and steam room. Watch runs 2 seconds fast per year.

When I say hundreds of times, before Covid was a member of private pool / leisure centre near my house, and I would swim sometimes 6 times a week. So I'm talking 300 times a year into water, then x multiple years - not a single trace of damp in this watch.

You can read about the BFK on this thread, where someone boiled and froze the watch.

https://toughwatches.net/legendary-seiko-bfk-ska371/

 

[gitbags]

A former colleague of mine inherited a bfk from his father, beat to hell and still working reliably. Sadly, unlike his father, it survived the motorcycle accident.

 

[lsg1r]

Seiko make high quality reliable watches for the money.

My daily watch is a Seiko Kinetic Divers, cost me new £170 in 2011 never serviced. That watch has been worn in the swimming pool hundreds of times, plus it's been used well over hundred times in sauna, hot tub and steam room. Watch runs 2 seconds fast per year.

When I say hundreds of times, before Covid was a member of private pool / leisure centre near my house, and I would swim sometimes 6 times a week. So I'm talking 300 times a year into water, then x multiple years - not a single trace of damp in this watch.

You can read about the BFK on this thread, where someone boiled and froze the watch.

https://toughwatches.net/legendary-seiko-bfk-ska371/

From my perspective you've been lucky because as I said every single seiko I've looked at has had issues with qc...

Mind you it could just be about when it was made, I have a citizen watch from 1994 that is still going strong and that's been beaten around a fair bit. Also got another one from 2004ish that's still going like it was brand new.....neither have any qc control issues on the dial etc either.

 

[Surveyor]

Maths correction time then

Now the website price from Stowa is €1310 inc VAT which is £1136. But as I paid €1124 (£975) at checkout since the VAT was taken off due to the source country not getting the VAT now but instead the UK, it was added back on by FedEx as part of their customs duty invoice to me.

So instead of paying £1136, I have paid a total of £1181 including import duty when factoring in the £205 invoice from FedEx.so all in all the customs fees alone amount to a mere £45. It was just the initial surprise of seeing £205 import duty without a breakdown showing exactly what is what lol.

Understanding this now makes things much more acceptable. Ok in the past I got away with no VAT or import duty but now it's essentially like buying locally but with the addition of the small import fee for high value items. Panic over.

Maybe you missed me adding this to my post before. You've paid about £22 extra as you've not accounted for the €24 shipping.

€1124 is about £977. Import VAT @ 20% is £195.40. I don't think there's a percentage duty but importing from outside the UK is subject to a third country duty of 20p.

Add on a bit for the courier admin fee and £205 seems right.

Pre brexit you'd have paid €1334 (inc. shipping) which is £1,160.

Now you're paying £977 (€1124) plus £205, total £1,182.

 

[JasonM]

From my perspective you've been lucky because as I said every single seiko I've looked at has had issues with qc...

Mind you it could just be about when it was made, I have a citizen watch from 1994 that is still going strong and that's been beaten around a fair bit. Also got another one from 2004ish that's still going like it was brand new.....neither have any qc control issues on the dial etc either.

Actually I do kind of agree with you.

On the Seiko Facebook groups there are people with miss-aligned bezels, also some of the cheaper mechanical Seiko's not running correct, this is not that common however. The secret may be to buy the Japanese made Seikos as they appear to have less issues. Vast majority of people appear happy with the watches.

At the other end of scale, I like Grand Seiko, the downside is I hear Seiko servicing is not that great, because of this I would probably never buy a Grand Seiko. I still stand that the cheaper Seiko's are worth buying.