Inside the main store, you will find a wide selection of watches from Burberry to Gucci to Vulcain…read more
In the back room, you will find antiques and higher-end names like Cartier, Patek Philippe, Omega and this is not even counting the rings, bracelets, brooches, and other vintage treasures
I spotted a lovely Patek Philippe mystery watch, at a very good offering price - about on par with what I have found elsewhere. At first they advised me the watch was from the 1930s but I knew it was a later piece....and after they pulled out the certificate, formally authenticated by Patek Philippe, turned out it was from 1965 - which was fine. It was a lovely piece & they had the certificate to prove it was authentic.
There are no negotiations / no offer of a "best price" but they will take a few 100 CHF off for wire transfer or cash. Credit cards require full asking price.
The watchband was unfortunately too small and although they could have had a local jeweler add links to the gold band, we ended up passing on the purchase, mainly for the fact we did not appreciate the VAT / export conditions
If you purchase a watch from the front of the store, they offer a VAT refund. In the back room, we were initially advised these items did not qualify, since they were secondhand items - but this is totally bogus since I currently had paperwork in my hands from Sotheby's ( i.e., a secondhand item ) - so we called them on this.
Then they tried telling us that Patek Philippe had an arrangement where watches don't qualify for VAT - also bogus
Then the owner stepped in and advised all the items in the vintage room / back room were from private acquisitions / local sales and therefore did not qualify for VAT refunds because he did not pay taxes on them when he acquired them......he then tried to reason that places like Sotheby's import items to sell and places like Rolex are big companies, who must charge taxes, so that was why they could offer VAT refunds.... but as his inventory came from private, local transactions, he could not.
So does this mean you are not paying taxes to sell this inventory through your business?? Would have I been charged VAT if I purchased the watch from you? Would I buy something out of your shop but consider it a private sale?? Aren't you charged taxes on your business' inventory? I surely am no expert in Swiss law but something did not seem right....
And with these inconsistencies, we parted ways.
So overall impression is the shop's wide variety and good price points are well worth a visit but know what you are getting into, going in