Horological Meandering

I like the Breitling 765 re-edition announced yesterday, but... price Swiss Francs 7900 and price US dollars 8600 for steel. if one converts swiss francs to us dollars, 7900=8026.76, which is nearly $600 less than US price. moreover, swiss franc price inc... 

The assumption seems that people just buy locally and don’t compare prices. From a business perspective they can easily justify the extra cost in the form of transportation and duties. Bottom line who knows but the elasticity of demand will come into play... 

I never looked into this systematically so I'm just speaking by first-hand experience, but most high-end clothing/jewelry brands do indeed charge a crazy markup here in the US, from LV to Hermes (where my girlfriend buys much more than me ), down to my fa... 

I have bought several watches in Europe. With the exchange rate and the VAT refund, they ended up cheaper than buying in the US.

probably it is also based on the the relative purchasing power in each and every zones around the world... Looks like US is richer compared to EU or at least they are more willing to spend $$$ on watches ...

Here in the Netherlands we pay huge tax. 19%. Petrol price here is crazy, so a V8 is cash for the country. US citizens pay a bit less money for a luxury watch, than here in the Netherlands.

At least officially a Rolex should cost the same in every country and the recommended retail price is even compensated for sales tax/VAT. That is one of the reasons that buying a Rolex for export with VAT refund makes Norway a very attractive country for ...