Buying Watches in Hong Kong
Wed, 2004-03-24 14:01 — mrb
If you are visiting Hong Kong from Australia, you may be able to fund the trip on the money you'd save by buying a watch here.
It wouldn't work for me, as my trusty black-plastic Swatch doesn't cost much anywhere. But when you move into the fancy watches, there are big savings to be made.
I've bought a couple of different watches for a colleague in our Sydney office, who is a watch-geek and loves the latest diving watches. This week's purchase is a Tag model, which he says would cost around AUD5,200 in Sydney. Here the list price is less than AUD3,400 !
You'll usually be offered an automatic 30% discount from list price without even trying, and I ended up getting a slightly better price for cash at Elegant Watch & Jewellery in Ocean Terminal, TST. So that AUD5,200 watch will cost him less than AUD2,200.
MrB.
Re:Buying Watches in Hong Kong
Thanks for the tip MrB!
Watches in HK vs. Canada
Does anyone know how the prices in HK for nice watches compare to the prices in Canada? Are they also significantly lowr in comparison?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
HK prices vs Canada
Dear Green Apple,
I'm not in the market for high-end watches, but I recently bought a new watch "for work" after smashing my old one to bits (a boom on a sail boat and me not paying attention).
I bought a Seiko watch in a shop in Mong Kok for HK$585 (CDN$92 at today's rate), which would have cost $250 to $300 in Montreal, before GST and PST. The shop was in a building on Nathan Road, which is full of watch shops (not posh ones, just ordinary). If you walk in the front door and keep going straight you will find this particular shop (forgot the name). If you don't speak Cantonese, then bring a local friend with you.
Actually I've gone back to Canada a couple of times since moving here, and found that if you know how to shop in Hong Kong, most things are cheaper here. Exceptions might be men's leather shoes, leather jackets (which I don't wear...), English magazines (or French, which are just not available here!), and some food items such as home-cooked pates and terrines.
Depending on how long you will be in Hong Kong (ie. if you are living here), you will want to get to know what I call the "specialist streets." There are whole streets in Hong Kong dedicated to various types of shops -- sports shoes street, aquarium and fish street, fabric streets, fishing and sports gear street -- pretty amazing.
I suggest that you get a copy of Milk while you are here - cheap and available at any newsagent. The magazine is in Chinese, but just look at the photos and prices, and when you find something you fancy, have the hotel concierge write down the address for you, or tell you how to get there by MTR.
Happy shopping!
David
on the subject of watches
I am due to fly out to HkKnext week, and have been asked to buy an Omega Seamaster for a friend, can anyone advise me as to the best place to shop for one, and a rough price. All my watches have cost in the lower lower lower end of the market, and Im curious as to how much this will cost before I go and feel dizzy in the store.
Re:Buying Watches in Hong Kong
I suggest you get your friend to give you clear number for the maximum price they want to pay. Then when you are in HK ask at two or three shops (see suggestions above). You'll typically get shown the list price (which should be the same everywhere) then a discount. If you are getting discounts in the 25-35% range, that is about the norm.
Once you get a price in that range that is better than your friend's price, go ahead and buy it. Unless you want to spend all your visit to HK walking around watch shops!
Happy shopping,
MrB
Re:Buying Watches in Hong Kong
MrB manmy thanks, pity my maths isn't up to it....But thats where the girlfriend comes in...Thank you for your time and help.
Daz