EU VAT Question

EU-EU means no VAT.

Refund: perhaps but the procedure to do so may be a stretch

I didn't say that. VAT has to be paid anyway. The VAT to be paid is from the originating country.

In other words, if you see the vintage piece priced at 1 million Eur on the Italian site including VAT and shipping on an Italian website, and you ship it to Germany, you will not need to pay anything extra as it is an Intra-EU transaction.

Correct. In this case it would make sense to hire someone for you to reclaim the VAT if you export it. Of course this means that you will have to pay VAT (if required) when you import the watch into another country.... Reclaiming VAT for smaller amounts only make sense if you can outsource that to one of these commercial parties but that only works if the merchant is an affiliate of them.

And indeed prices in the EU are incl VAT.

It really depends on the price as to whether it is worth the hassle to reclaim the VAT. I will give my experience, buying by Speedmaster FOIS in Vienna. The VAT was high enough, I decided to do it. Got the form from the boutique, then it had to be stamped by customs when I exited the EU, then dropped in a box and I would be refunded in 4 to 6 weeks. Took nearly an hour to find the small office at the Vienna airport, showed them the forms and receipts, but they refused to stamp the form because I was transferring through London, so I was technically leaving the EU there (this was pre-Brexit). Didn’t have time to argue, so got on the plane and headed to Heathrow.

Found the VAT refund booth easier there, but they said it should have been stamped in Vienna. Finally convinced them to stamp it, dropped the form in the mail slot, then flew home and waited. Four months later, got a check in the mail (in Euros) with several fees deducted. Then I had to deposit in my US account, pay the currency conversion fees plus a non US currency check fee (American banks are great at fees). Probably ate away at least 100 Euros of my rebate.

my advise, if you want the watch and the only place you can get it it Italy, just pay the price and forget about getting the VAT refunded.