Shipping a watch internationally.

Shipping a watch internationally.

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Discussion

GCH

Original Poster:

4,000 posts

203 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
Any recommendations?
Need to ship a vintage Breitling from Uk to Italy.
Royal mail dont offer airsure to Italy- only international signed for (which is basically useless as only trackable until it leaves the Uk), and parcel force want £30- but watches are excluded from their cover for damage...most useful.Not.

Any suggestions?
Just want it there via a trackable method, in one piece, and insured- doesnt matter if it takes a few days, its not really urgent or anything.


lowdrag

12,917 posts

214 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
DHL, Fedex, or suchlike? I reckon that would be the only alternative.

grandmasterflash

248 posts

199 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
Don't use TNT though. v v bad service

tricky 100

954 posts

243 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
www.interparcel.com are pretty good, like a broker for delivery companies .

Dominic H

3,275 posts

233 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
lowdrag said:
DHL, Fedex, or suchlike? I reckon that would be the only alternative.
+1 for Fedex, IIRC the FEDEX box offers $50,000 insurance cover. It cost me about £50 to send a £2000 Rolex to Europe.
Hope this helps.

toohuge

3,434 posts

217 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
I know this sounds insane but with cheap air travel, you could fly yourself there and back in a day and ensure that the time piece arrives safely.

Dominic H

3,275 posts

233 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
toohuge said:
I know this sounds insane but with cheap air travel, you could fly yourself there and back in a day and ensure that the time piece arrives safely.
shoutSinner!

Carbon footprints and all that......

GCH

Original Poster:

4,000 posts

203 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
My carbon footprint from all my travelling is bad enough already.... 112,000 miles flown in 2007..... I have done crazier journeys than flying to Italy for a day believe me.
Fedex is pricing up at just under £50 which is fine. Was expecting it to be a LOT more than that.


Edited by GCH on Monday 28th April 21:59


Edited by GCH on Monday 28th April 22:00

tertius

6,859 posts

231 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
Dominic H said:
lowdrag said:
DHL, Fedex, or suchlike? I reckon that would be the only alternative.
+1 for Fedex, IIRC the FEDEX box offers $50,000 insurance cover. It cost me about £50 to send a £2000 Rolex to Europe.
Hope this helps.
I thought FedEx had a ridiculously low limit for watches and similar? In fact I think just about all couriers do - they are too easy to steal/sell on.

A quick search on the FedEx site found:

"Specific items such as artwork, film, antiques, glassware, jewellery, furs, watches, etc. are limited to a maximum declared value for carriage of US$500 per shipment or US$9.07 per US pound, whichever is greater. Liability of claims requires notice of claims within strict time limits. FedEx's liability is subject to strict and detailed terms and conditions."

Dominic H

3,275 posts

233 months

Monday 28th April 2008
quotequote all
tertius said:
Dominic H said:
lowdrag said:
DHL, Fedex, or suchlike? I reckon that would be the only alternative.
+1 for Fedex, IIRC the FEDEX box offers $50,000 insurance cover. It cost me about £50 to send a £2000 Rolex to Europe.
Hope this helps.
I thought FedEx had a ridiculously low limit for watches and similar? In fact I think just about all couriers do - they are too easy to steal/sell on.

A quick search on the FedEx site found:

"Specific items such as artwork, film, antiques, glassware, jewellery, furs, watches, etc. are limited to a maximum declared value for carriage of US$500 per shipment or US$9.07 per US pound, whichever is greater. Liability of claims requires notice of claims within strict time limits. FedEx's liability is subject to strict and detailed terms and conditions."
Evening Tertius,
I was using the advice given to me by the guys at FEDEX near the office. I had to declare the goods on the inventory and it's value (presumably to make it easier to stealevil)....No problems, but I'll check the small print, that or take toohuge's advice and fly them out.....D

Watch-Collector

256 posts

196 months

Tuesday 29th April 2008
quotequote all
Its a grey area . From what I have been let to believe as long as its not precious metal or stones then Fedex will insure it!!
But it depends who you speak to. Obviously you need to get it from the Horses mouth and not from some Eager customer service Girlie who doesnt know herA** from her Elbow!!
Get it in writing from the underwriters before shipping anything is my advice!
Watch-Collector

JAGS

753 posts

209 months

Friday 2nd May 2008
quotequote all
use DHL
Friend picked up a Rado for me (a present for the Mrs) from Dubai and it turned out to be the wrong one. He then contacted the retailer in Dubai from the UK to organise an exchange and used DHL to do it. Sent the watch from London via DHL on a 3 day service to Dubai. Retailer confirmed watch was delivered and gave the same courier the correct watch to be sent back to him in London. Was all done within 10 days and the watch (wrong and correct one) was insured/covered by DHL at all times while in their 'hands'. Total cost was just over £100.

Hope this helps in any way

GCH

Original Poster:

4,000 posts

203 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
quotequote all

After some extensive research plenty of phone calls (ive phoned each company several times to double check) and web browsing, here is the story:
DHL- wont transport watches. They are classed as 'negotiable' whatever that means.
Fedex- standard limit- $100. Can pay extra tp increase to $500, but watches have a $500 MAX cover limit.
UPS- Identical policy to fedex.
Parcelforce- watches not covered.

Unbelievable state of affairs. So be careful when shipping watches, as they probably arent covered. makes me wonder if any of my pieces being shipped from my AD to manufacturer to get serviced are insured in transit....


I shipped it fedex- underinsured- in the end as basically had no other choice. Bombproof packaging though!