Watches in Caribbean? Anyone have any experience?

Have decided to go on a 14-night southern Caribbean cruise on the Constellation in January.

Was thinking of looking for a half-decent watch while on the trip. It stops in St. Maarten and also in Curacao, which I think are probably the two places to look. (No St. Thomas on this itinerary).

Does anyone have any experience shopping for watches in either of these two places? How are the prices? Can the jewelers be trusted?

I am not looking for anything super high end, like a Patek Phillipe or anything. Maybe just a Tag or Breitling or something like that. How much cheaper would they be than in the US or Canada.

Any tips or suggestions?

Thanks.

Yes... buy the watch at home. Your price will be the same or less if you look around. Also many of the watch or jewelry stores in the Caribbean are not authorized dealers so if something goes wrong with your watch the warranty is invalid.

B.

Yep, Buy at home. I got a Breitling fake in St. Maartin a couple of years ago. Works fine. Appears to be Breitling Case, Face, and Band. Works are obviously Chinese or Korean. Watch is fine and cost $95 US. But ain't the real thing.

I usually buy a couple from the on board $10 Watch Sales to get me through the next year.

Hmmm. Certainly don't want a fake. Would only buy from a reputable authorized dealer. Surely there must be some of those, no? People have told me there are good deals down there, especially in St. Maarten. Are they wrong?

My only attempt to do some serious watch shopping was in St. Maartin and I found the prices to be nothing special. I shop regularly online for intro level luxury watches (Oris, Tag, B&M) and I find much better prices from dealers that I would consider more reputable than those you'll find in a port stop.

Yep, Buy at home. I got a Breitling fake in St. Maartin a couple of years ago. Works fine. Appears to be Breitling Case, Face, and Band. Works are obviously Chinese or Korean. Watch is fine and cost $95 US. But ain't the real thing.

 

I usually buy a couple from the on board $10 Watch Sales to get me through the next year.

$95 dollars for a Breitling??? And you're shocked it's a fake??? Sorry to be sarcastic but you gotta be kidding if you think you can get a genuine breathing for $95 anywhere in the world!!!!

I just got a last season Tag Heur Aquaracer in Cozumel for $1600 instead of approx 26-2800 in the US but because it was from the pervious year.

The current year's watches were 2200-2400 Dollars instead of 2600-2800 in the US. Tag now explicitly tells them they can only reduce upto 15% off the MSRP (+ the difference in tax).

You need to go with an authorized dealer to be sure for the warranty.

The naysayers are out tonight. LOL, There are plenty of authorized dealers in the Caribbean, make sure you shop at one. If you are in Aruba go to Kay's Fine Jewelers(not the USA mall chain). I bought a Hamilton there, (great value for the money)and they have much higher end stuff also. I got a great price on mine but it was worked into a package deal with a diamond for my wife.

On major brands you generally won't save over much more than 10 -20 percent. What you will save is the sales tax. Assuming you buy a 3k watch and your local tax is 8% you would save $240. That'll buy a couple of drinks.

For every bad experience story you read about on jewelry in the Caribbean there's probably 100 positive ones you're not hearing about.

The best thing would be to do your research in your home city before you buy in the Caribbean. First learn the best price (tax incl) in Toronto. There may be places that discount the watch you want.

We have bought watches in Little Switzerland and Columbian Emeralds (Breitling) many years ago. No problem. The watches can be serviced at authorized dealers at home.

My family buys jewellery and watches (Phillip Stein) in the Caribbean all the time... I would only purchase things like this in a cruise ship recommend store. A friend of ours did not do this and bought what she was told was a designer watch, something broke on it , she took it in to a local jeweller at home to be fixed and she was told it was worth no more than those $10 watches you get at the mall. We have had things happen to things bought at a ship recommended store and they took care of it all! That would be my advice...know your prices too..unlike home, you can usually get the salesperson to go down on the price with some bartering. I agree with ORV, Kays is great! they have locations on a few islands..another great place is Diamonds International and they are everywhere down there!

My husband and I have both bought Movados in St Maarten for about 30% less than what we could have bought them for at home. We did our research first and knew the prices ahead of time.

Have decided to go on a 14-night southern Caribbean cruise on the Constellation in January.

 

Was thinking of looking for a half-decent watch while on the trip. It stops in St. Maarten and also in Curacao, which I think are probably the two places to look. (No St. Thomas on this itinerary).

 

Does anyone have any experience shopping for watches in either of these two places? How are the prices? Can the jewelers be trusted?

 

I am not looking for anything super high end, like a Patek Phillipe or anything. Maybe just a Tag or Breitling or something like that. How much cheaper would they be than in the US or Canada.

 

Any tips or suggestions? Thanks.

Maybe just a Breitling? Are you kidding me? I tried on a $100,000.00 Limited Edition diamond encrusted Breitling watch when I was in St. Maarten a few years ago! It was just incredible! These are VERY exclusive, high end, chronograph automatic watches! Wow, you should really be reading some of the watch magazines to get an idea what models and prices are available! I purchased an automatic, hand made Swiss watch for about $3500 and I saw the exact same watch in a high end jewellery shop back in California for $6600. a month later! Wow, was I ever happy! So yes, watches can be a good deal cheaper if you do your homework and shop wisely! Automatic watches are not for everyone as you need to wind them every day or use a watch winder but they are timeless and elegant! There are sooooooo many shops to buy from in St. Maarten so take your time and purchase wisely! :)

LOL. Well, I certainly wasn't talking about one of those Breitlings :). Seriously out of my league. More like one of the 5K kind.

Thanks for some of the tips/advice everyone. Certainly an interesting topic. I will definitely price a bit before I go. I have a pretty good idea about many. Problem with watches is that there are so many models, it makes it very hard to compare. Kind of like buying matresses, huh?

But I have a pretty good idea of range on most makes.

Just curious about potential savings and reputable merchants.

Great advice. Thanks.

We have bought watches in both St Thomas and Barbados. Just make sure you go to a reputable dealer. The best price we got for a Tag was actually in the ship gift shop and we bought it.

Compared prices online with St Thomas and the ship gift shop. The prices on the ship were just as good as on the islands. My DW bought me a Tag Aquaracer on the ship at the same price as St Thomas. On the ship they give you a 30 day price guarantee, they will match a cheaper price. I am guessing but think the watches on the ship my be fresher because they don't keep as many as the stores onshore.

find the watch you want here and check prices on line. take a print out with you i found prices were best in St Martin. Larry

Curacao - Freeport

Aruba - Shivas

St Martin - Art of time

All the above have excellent reputations. I have used all three and they are Authorized Dealers for the brands they sell.

I had an excellent experience buying a watch in the Caribbean. I, too, am from Toronto, so I looked around here for a watch I wanted, and had the jeweller write down the model and the price for me on one of their cards (in my case it was a Concorde at Birks). When I looked around the various ports I only went to authorized Concord dealers, and negotiated until I got the price I wanted, which was more than 50% off the Birk's price. Having the card with the Birk's cost on hand really helped as some of the store's beginning prices were actually higher. Also, be prepared to walk out if you're not getting the price you want; most Caribbean jewellers realize they are not the only game in town and will come down more.

Once you get home I would recommend getting the watch valued from a reputable appraiser like Gem Scan.

Good luck and have a great vacation!

Bought my breitling at a Little Switzerland on St. Thomas. Great price and watch.;)

Just back from a East Carib. cruise and picked up a Breitling at St Thomas's Little Switzerland. Great price. Shopped at other islands but best price was at the Havensee Mall right at the port. Beats stateside pricing easily.

Another "Do your research reply" Excellent prices and reputable dealers in St Maarten, DH got a beautiful Tag( yes, genuine) for2/3 of price as in Canada. We are going again in February to do more shopping.

We bought my Tag last year at Little Switzerland in Curacao... only place that had the style I wanted...

If we do high end jewelry we only buy at Little Switzerland

Priced it back home and we saved $700 :p

CC

PS hubby has Brietling but couldn't find a ladies one I liked (in my price range)

You can save 15% and sales tax on watches in the Caribbean. For me that's 21% which is a decent chunk of change on a 5k watch. Duh, over 1k if my quick math is right (it is).

For 5k check out the Breitling Super Ocean Heritage with sharkskin (metal) band. Awesome looking watch. Should be about $4400.00 I think.

The best thing to do is go to Breitling's website and see where the authorized dealers are.

I ended up buying a Michele watch for my wife at Jewels in St John. It ended up being $1400.00. It was about $250.00 cheaper than in the states plus no sales tax.

For me I got a Tag Heurer Aquaracer 'Caribbean' on Freedom of the Seas. It turned out to be $50.00 less on the ship than on Cozumel.

Remember just because a jewelry store says it is an authorized dealer or has a sign that says so does not mean it is true. Many times part of being an authorized dealer means that the price the store charges is regulated by the manufacturer. I would check with the manufacturer before you buy the watch to see if they say the store is an authorized dealer.

For example Breitling has only 6 authorized dealers in St Maarten.

http://www.breitling.com/en/index.php#/retailers/central-america/

B.

I've purchased a Rolex in St. Thomas and a Breitling in St. Maarten. Little Switzerland and Colombian Emeralds would be a good recommendation. I've even purchased Swatch automatics there when I couldn't get them in the US to add to my swatch collection. Now my recommendation is for a Rolex as it hasn't given me a bit of trouble in over twenty years and now is my every day watch. (It is the Explorer II white face) . The original Old Navitimer Breitling Chronometer on the other hand looks great, keeps good time, but I have had it repaired three times now and I baby it.

Something that most people don't realize is that when high end watches need to have maintence service (as they all do) it will cost the owner upwards of $400 just to open it up and clean and lubricate it. The recommended frequency for maintanence is evey two or three years. Repairs on the other hand by authorized repairmen will cost you even more!

I will always look at watches but it takes something special to get my attention.

Also you will need an electric winder box ($100-$200) that alternates direction every so often so when the automatic watch is off the wrist the winder doesn't let it run down.

Well, for people from Ontario, Canada, a 15% discount plus no tax would be the equivalent of 30%. And you are right: on a $5K watch, that is a serious chunk of change.

Thanks for the post to the Breitling authorized dealers. If Breitling authorizes them on its website, you can bet they are legit. I will also check out Tag and a couple of the other brands, put together a rough price and do some comparison shopping.

I think the people that are automatically writing off buying a watch down there may be missing out on some very good buys. But we'll see.

Definitely caveat emptor when it comes to this stuff.