U.S. Tariffs

[Bob_Defly]

So, 31% on anything coming out of Switzerland going to the U.S., 24% on Japan. How do you think this will affect the watch market?

[Gastons_Revenge]

Hopefully once watch sales dry up in the US, the European market is flooded with excess stock and there'll be some discounts to be had

[Truckosaurus]

Also, how many of these 'Swiss Watches' actually come in via China, so would be hit by the Chinese tariff?

(I'm not an import tax expert, but the tariff isn't charged on the retail price of a single item is it, it is the cost price of the whole shipment, so there must be hefty mark-ups on most watches so the extra tax might not make a huge difference to the final retail cost?)

[akirk]

There seems to be a suggestion that it is not necessarily where it is made that triggers the tariff so with a watch it would be where the movement is made not the watch so even American made watches (with a Swiss / Japanese / Chinese movement) will be caught…

[Bob_Defly]

Truckosaurus said:

Also, how many of these 'Swiss Watches' actually come in via China, so would be hit by the Chinese tariff?

(I'm not an import tax expert, but the tariff isn't charged on the retail price of a single item is it, it is the cost price of the whole shipment, so there must be hefty mark-ups on most watches so the extra tax might not make a huge difference to the final retail cost?)

Yes it's the COGS that goes up, if you're an importer in the U.S. but that still has to get reflected in the price if you want your margins to stay the same.