Watch Shopping in the Caribbean

So I recently returned from a trip down to the islands and wanted to share my experiences with everyone. If you're heading down there this winter and you want to look at buying a watch, there are numerous options.

Forget about Puerto Rico, it's not duty free and the tax was 10%.

Next up St. Thomas. Duty free and tax free so some good deals to be had there. IMO the best shop was Diamonds International Watch boutique. I spent about an hour there talking with Zak and Joseph who is the head of the watch division. It makes a big difference when you are familiar with watches and the brands. They said it was nice to talk with someone who knew something which isn't most tourists I suspect. No high pressure sales, just shop talk and trying on few beauties. If you are there and want to buy a watch, go see them. The only real quick talking guy was at the Patek store who told me I needed a $40k watch and blah blah

Antiqua. The only thing of mention was the sales guy who was so desperate to get me to try on a Ulysse Nardin piece that he whipped out the box and to everyone's horror, the watch went flying out towards me and crashed onto the glass case. I'll pass on that one.

Sint Maarten. Lots of great shops here. Everything from Seiko to Patek. Checked out the Zenith boutique. If you like the Rolling Stones, they had the special edition chronograph there. Not my thing but the manager showed me a special book that came with it that came from Zenith. My favorite shop was Jewels by Love which carried Patek, Vacheron A. Lange & Sohne and a few others. Very friendly and again, once they realize you know a little about watches, they spend time talking to you showing you pieces etc. The saleswoman gave me a Patek catalog just for coming in along with a couple of others. Next door is Shiva's which had some nice pieces from Oris, Blancpain Glashutte. Again, very friendly, a few more catalogs.

For the Omega fans, they're on every island down there. Probably good deals since they all haggle on price. By far the best island for shopping is Sint Maarten. More high end brands for sure. It was still damaged from the hurricane in 2017 but rebuilding quickly.

It's interesting to note that most of the jewelry and watch stores are owned or run by people of Indian descent. I learned that they are descendents of indentured servants brought to the islands by the British, Dutch and French when they were colonies. They tell you a lot about the islands when you visit but never the un-glamourous part of their history.

Just got back myself and went to several Diamond Internationals. No worthy staff found, if there were any around at all. I could have screamed bloody murder in one shop and no one would have come. Perhaps its the time of year...but I think you got lucky to find someone who actually knew what they were talking about.

The 2 guys in St Thomas were awesome but I agree most staff haven’t any clue

Had an experience with DIs in Cozumel. Don’t buy without bargaining, I got good discount there.

these are all very helpful.

Wondering what some of the best discounts I can expect are?

Depends on a brand.
I got arount 17% for my tag carerra caliber 5 plus had tax return 9%. I have not seen rolex in DIs.

I had a few shops try to push brands they no longer dealt with but still had stock. Better discounts than usual so look around and be aggressive in negotiating. They’re all eager for sales