20 percent off in London

[boxster9]

Went to have a look at a few watches in london, mainly IWC, JLC. Some of the dealers were offering 20% off RRP. I was initially thinking about buying at the Mappin and Webb duty free store in terminal 4, but this seems a better deal...am I mising something here?

[shadowninja]

Maybe they sense the incoming recession potential. Which shops? I quite fancy a nice watch.

[boxster9]

Armour Winston in the Burlington arcade, not sure if they are an authorised dealer as they mainly sell second hand watches, but a few others i popped into said they could get 20% off.

[TonySim]

I've been looking into dealer margins recently and came across a site saying many dealers buy at 55% of the RRP so a 20% discount still leaves them with a healthy margin.

Having said that, try and get a discount off a Rolex AD...good luck....

[digger_R]

Interesting topic, I've been talking to my German watch dealer about prices in various places and he mentioned a Uk specific 'luxury tax' as he put it.
He thought that the Uk had a specific levy on luxury items such as watches and possibly jewellery.
It certainly the case that most Uk proces are way over the odds compared to most EU watch shops I've come accross.

Can anyone comment on this lux tax or is my esteemed German friend somewhat confused?

[TonySim]

Just found this post on the Watchuseek forum from Hartmut Richter....interesting:

"I just want to let you guys out there know about the truth about watch prices and solve about the prices questions you guys have. Most of the information below are from by uncle who own a watch retail shops in Taiwan, the Philippines and California, USA. And some information are from my friends who work in Duty free Shop and a friend who is Regional sales for a Swiss watch company. So here the facts:

1) Markup for most watches are between 64% to 122%. Rolex is 31% is the lowest markup of all. Patek Philippe is the most markup at 142%.
2) Retail shop does not do the markup. The watch manufactures do the markup for the Retail
shops on their MSRP (Manufacture Suggestion Retail Price). For example, the MSRP for "GP vintage 1945 with large date and moon phase" is US $ 14,950. But, it only cost to the retail shop to
buy it from GP at US $ 6,831. The MSRP already include Retail Markup. Suggestion price is only a Suggestion so you need to learn how to bargain.
3) Some retail shops change the MSRP without telling the manufacture. That is legal as long as it
is stated in their contract (agreement) between the two. So before you shop watches, know the true
MSRP.
4) Watches MSRP are the same in all country; It only changes as the value for EUO currency vs
local currency increase or decrease. The only big different is the maximum discount retail shop can give to customer depending where they buy as stated in their contract. For example, if you are in Asia region (excluding Japan) then you can get the same watch as in Europe or USA more cheaper because the retail shop is willing to give you more discount as stated in their contract. This is justify because per capital income in Asian countries are less then the western countries. Therefore, to gain more market share, watch manufactures are will to give more discount to low income nations.
5) There are three reasons why retail shop will not give a lot of discounts.
a)The expenses of maintaining the shop (work force, electric and etc.)
b) The agreement (contract) between the retail shop and watch manufactures.
c) Profit driven retail shop.
6) It is illegal to sell the watch below what is stated in the contract. It is because if the retail shop sell lower that what is stated in the contract, then all others retail shops that sell the same watches will complain. If the manufacture found you guilty then they will stop selling you their watches & other retail shops that was effect by your huge discounts can file losses on the court.
7) Therefore to get a better discount, retail shop will ask customer if they can pay in Cash. It is because by paying in Cash there will be no record in how much the retail shop sold you the watch. And also it eliminates the retail shops to pay taxes. Therefore if some retail shops complain them, they can say that they sold the watch to employee or the boss of the retail shop buy it for mother's day and the boss mother doesn't like it therefore, she sold it to another person……That why by paying Cash you will get you more discount.
8) Here's the Avgerage price process of a typical Swiss watch manufactures:
ETA 7750 Cal. $ 119 (this price if you buy at least 5,000 pc.)
Additional add on for Cal. (extra ruby, change hair spring and etc) $ 47 depend on change
Case (depend if it is steel, WG, YG or Platinum) steel = $ 29
Crystal (36 mm) = $ 8 if the back side is crystal too then the total cost is $ 16
Dial, crown and hands (depend on material use and style (some have to be hand made)) range from $ 9 to $ 200+
Strap (depend on many things like steel, WG, leather and etc.) steel = $53 Gold 18K = $ 700+ depend on their contract with the source. COSC testing = around $ 80
Labor Cost (varied from manufacture to manufacture) Frank Muller = Max of all, Swatch = Min of all.
For example, Omega Sea Master total cost for manufacture = $ 317. Manufacture sells to Retail shop at $ 662. Retail shops sell to customer on MSRP $1200+"


Hartmut Richter

[Jolley]

I bought my first Tag at cost price through a friend that worked at LVMH. It was a Kirium retailing at around £1000 which I paid £370 for!!

[tomtom]

Watches of Switzerland on Threadneedle St laughed at me when I said I wanted money off an IWC...

[Number 7]

tomtom said:

Watches of Switzerland on Threadneedle St laughed at me when I said I wanted money off an IWC...

Funniliy enough I went there a couple of months back, and the best I could get was 10% off a £4K JLC, so I walked. No business for them, and I got a much better deal from Dominic H on here.

7.

[Pesty]

tomtom said:

Watches of Switzerland on Threadneedle St laughed at me when I said I wanted money off an IWC...

I hope you looked elsewhere?

[tomtom]

Of course. I got a good deal and even better treatment from another authorised dealer.

I guess WoS, especially the one at Royal Exchange, get plenty of passing (ignorant) traffic, so they don't need to discount. In fact, he claimed to sell most new IWCs over list...

[jas xjr]

TonySim said:

I've been looking into dealer margins recently and came across a site saying many dealers buy at 55% of the RRP so a 20% discount still leaves them with a healthy margin.

Having said that, try and get a discount off a Rolex AD...good luck....

i was told exactly this by a jeweller a few years ago

[5 wh]

For Rolex it is always better to buy from a 'specialist' rather than an actual Rolex main dealer.As an example I have just bought Mrs 5WH a brand new Rolex for xmas at just under 30% off from a London based specialist dealer who I have bought many watches off over the years and has always looked after me.

Edited by 5 wh on Tuesday 27th November 01:05

[uktrailmonster]

It's all dependant on demand and supply too. If a watch is in short supply for whatever reason, you're less likely to get a good discount.

If I'm buying a new watch now, I usually e-mail all the official dealers in the UK asking for a quote (making it clear I'm definitely going to buy immediately) and then just play off the lowest quote against the second lowest. But I don't take the piss and keep going round in circles. Most dealers will cut their margins to get a quick and hassle free sale.

[phelix]

TonySim said:

Watches MSRP are the same in all country; It only changes as the value for EUO currency vs local currency increase or decrease.

Surely that can't be right. In Switzerland VAT is less than 9% and in Belgium it's 21% and in the US it varies between 0 and about 9% yet prices are all over the shop (pardon the pun) with no correlation to the VAT/sales tax rate. In each country's pricing there's a strong element of supply and demand and what it's perceived the market will bear.

TonySim said:

6) It is illegal to sell the watch below what is stated in the contract. It is because if the retail shop sell lower that what is stated in the contract, then all others retail shops that sell the same watches will complain. If the manufacture found you guilty then they will stop selling you their watches & other retail shops that was effect by your huge discounts can file losses on the court.

That's called price fixing and is illegal in the EU and the US and probably many other parts of the world as well. But proving it with objective evidence is difficult. The supplier can just make your deliveries take ages etc etc and the retailer will get the "hint".

Edited by phelix on Tuesday 27th November 12:44