Used premium watches from Japan

[105.4]

Whilst browsing Chrono24, WatchFinder, eBay etc, I’ve noticed that there quite a lot of premium brand watches listed for sale from Japan that are significantly cheaper than similar items listed for sale in the U.K., EU and the USA.

Does anyone know what the deal is here? Are these legit watches? Is it a grey market thing? Or are these just very high quality replicas from the Asian market being passed off as factory originals?

The sheer number of these type of watches originating from Japan makes me slightly suspicious.

[T6 vanman]

I've bought x2 from Japan via Chrono 24, A New/Unused Omega and a second hand watch, The New Omega was spot on, the second hand was better than described.

[gregs656]

105.4 said:

Whilst browsing Chrono24, WatchFinder, eBay etc, I’ve noticed that there quite a lot of premium brand watches listed for sale from Japan that are significantly cheaper than similar items listed for sale in the U.K., EU and the USA.

Does anyone know what the deal is here? Are these legit watches? Is it a grey market thing? Or are these just very high quality replicas from the Asian market being passed off as factory originals?

The sheer number of these type of watches originating from Japan makes me slightly suspicious.

Used luxury goods in general are much cheaper in Japan than anywhere else. There is very low demand for them domestically. They price them very competitively to attract international buyers who will (most likely) need to pay to import them.

[popeyewhite]

As above. Also:

The Japanese are very much more careful with luxury items than we, and something sold as A1/excellent etc will be as brand new/unworn. They are meticulous. Even an item described as fair will be what we would describe as very good.The Japanese tend not to hold onto luxury items as we do, so turnover is quite high. Japanese manufacture watches ie Grand Seiko offer tremendous value for money, regardless of VAT when the item is imported. In fact the best deals in general on Chrono24 will be from Japan. I have recently purchased from there myself. Saw the ad on Chrono 24, and followed the trail to Ginza Rasin an international watch seller in Tokyo. The watch was even cheaper there, then I went on to negotiate a discount. I'm very, very happy with the watch, which arrived four days after payment through C24.
Do your due diligence, I researched for about 4 weeks and made 4 or 5 offers (chancing my arm a bit) before deciding on this watch and paying a tiny bit more, but within budget.

[105.4]

Thanks all for your replies and your insight.

I’m after a 30mm Chopard Happy Sport with the pink face and five floating diamonds. £5500 U.K. rrp seemed a bit steep to me, especially for a quartz movement, (until recently I always assumed that they were automatic movements).

WatchFinder / Chrono24 / eBay shows some Japanese examples in very lightly used condition for around £1500 which is much more palatable. What made me cautious was the noticeable reduction in price compared to U.K. / EU sold models.

[Quags]

Does C24 sort the VAT?

Otherwise can't these watches get held under ransom until you pay the duty?

[Sporky]

Quags said:

Does C24 sort the VAT?

Otherwise can't these watches get held under ransom until you pay the duty?

No - all the ones I've bought have come Fedex; they send you an email with a link, and you have to pay the customs costs before they'll deliver.

They have all been fair though; the VAT and a fee to process it (about £10 from memory). And they send the email a bit early so if you pay straight away there's no delay.

[Jayho]

Sporky said:

Quags said:

Does C24 sort the VAT?

Otherwise can't these watches get held under ransom until you pay the duty?

No - all the ones I've bought have come Fedex; they send you an email with a link, and you have to pay the customs costs before they'll deliver.

They have all been fair though; the VAT and a fee to process it (about £10 from memory). And they send the email a bit early so if you pay straight away there's no delay.

So any price seen on Chrono24 which you've bought the watch for, add 20% to understand the real value once it comes to you? I really regret not being forward thinking a few years ago when I was travelling in Japan. If I had the forward thinking I would have definitely had a bit more money in the pot to buy a watch or 2. There were a lot to choose from and at a much cheaper price than previously seen.

[DKL]

Jayho said:

Sporky said:

Quags said:

Does C24 sort the VAT?

Otherwise can't these watches get held under ransom until you pay the duty?

No - all the ones I've bought have come Fedex; they send you an email with a link, and you have to pay the customs costs before they'll deliver.

They have all been fair though; the VAT and a fee to process it (about £10 from memory). And they send the email a bit early so if you pay straight away there's no delay.

So any price seen on Chrono24 which you've bought the watch for, add 20% to understand the real value once it comes to you? I really regret not being forward thinking a few years ago when I was travelling in Japan. If I had the forward thinking I would have definitely had a bit more money in the pot to buy a watch or 2. There were a lot to choose from and at a much cheaper price than previously seen.

Exactly. I looked at that and the deal suddenly wasn't as good. Worse still was that there seemed now way of recovering the sales tax at source either. I queried with the vendor what the item would cost direct from their shop in person and was told the same price which included, in this case Austrian, VAT.
I couldn't find a way of avoiding tax twice. Cheaper to actually go and get it.

[Sporky]

Jayho said:

So any price seen on Chrono24 which you've bought the watch for, add 20% to understand the real value once it comes to you?

Yup. Plus £10ish for fees. The Yen is a bit weak at the mo, so there are some good deals still.

[Dan_1981]

When I was looking for a Breitling superocean heritage Japan was often coming up very cheap.

Ended up sourcing in the UK luckily but I was close to pulling the trigger.


For some reason however IWC don't seem to see the same reduction.... which is sad as i'm now looking for an IW388103

[Jayho]

DKL said:

Jayho said:

Sporky said:

Quags said:

Does C24 sort the VAT?

Otherwise can't these watches get held under ransom until you pay the duty?

No - all the ones I've bought have come Fedex; they send you an email with a link, and you have to pay the customs costs before they'll deliver.

They have all been fair though; the VAT and a fee to process it (about £10 from memory). And they send the email a bit early so if you pay straight away there's no delay.

So any price seen on Chrono24 which you've bought the watch for, add 20% to understand the real value once it comes to you? I really regret not being forward thinking a few years ago when I was travelling in Japan. If I had the forward thinking I would have definitely had a bit more money in the pot to buy a watch or 2. There were a lot to choose from and at a much cheaper price than previously seen.

Exactly. I looked at that and the deal suddenly wasn't as good. Worse still was that there seemed now way of recovering the sales tax at source either. I queried with the vendor what the item would cost direct from their shop in person and was told the same price which included, in this case Austrian, VAT.
I couldn't find a way of avoiding tax twice. Cheaper to actually go and get it.

I am thinking next time I'm over in Asia is to see if I can take a long weekend across there and have a wander about for pre owned watches. If I can pick up a lovely Springdrive GMT for half the price I can get it here then that's a trip well worth it. Thing which surprised me most when I was there was how affordable used Omegas were. Seamasters and Speedmasters seemed to be a good 40% cheaper than buying used here.

[GCH]

I'm negotiating with a Japanese seller for a very small numbered Japanese market only edition and it's significantly cheaper than the one example currently available in the US/UK, and also others that I have seen in the past, although if I get walloped for import duty it takes the saving down a tad.
Condition appears to be as new, and they have been very upfront about everything. Taking into account inflation, the price is actually less than the brand new price over a decade ago.
Hope I can pull this off as is such a limited number they rarely come up for sale as it is.