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Will US Tariffs affect Japanese secondary watch market

J
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Hi - just wondering whether neo vintage Omega prices in Japan will go up or down. Thinking of picking up a 2254.50 from Japan when I go there in the Spring next year. Will the US tariffs on Swiss imports mean that more US citizens will want to buy from Japan because of their lower import tariffs. This presumably would drive up prices?
 
Dan S
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I don't see why tariffs on Switzerland would affect second hand prices from Japan at all. Overall, the increased tariffs on Japan, and the weak USD, are making purchases from abroad less appealing. Assuming you are in the US, buying from within the US should probably be plan A, especially for a common pre-owned commodity watch.
 
Porteroso
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J Jeremy1415
Hi - just wondering whether neo vintage Omega prices in Japan will go up or down. Thinking of picking up a 2254.50 from Japan when I go there in the Spring next year. Will the US tariffs on Swiss imports mean that more US citizens will want to buy from Japan because of their lower import tariffs. This presumably would drive up prices?
This is not the final rate for the Swiss. Just wait a few weeks. I don't think there will end up being such big differences, that you'd go from wanting an Omega, to a Seiko.
 
J
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Yes I am sure you’re right on that. I’m a UK citizen and just wondering generally how these tariff increases will affect purchasing neo vintage Swiss watches from Europe and Japan. The Swiss watch industry itself will take a significant hit as US is its biggest export market. Presumably US citizens would pay less import duty on Swiss watches purchased from outside Switzerland? Will this drive up prices or will Swiss manufacturers seek to flood European and Asian markets to fill the gap and thereby drive down prices?
 
Evitzee
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It's premature to make any guesses as to what will be the final outcome of all of this tariff drama. Most likely they'll end up around 10%, which means maybe 5% on the retail price. How much of that gets eaten by manufacturer, importer, dealers along the way is unknown, but maybe 1-2% increase in the retail price in the end, if that. Not a big deal in the scheme of things. No need to panic. Used watches won't be affected by this unless they are coming from Switzerland on the secondary market.
 
watchyouwant
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Next Spring ?? So , 8-10 MONTHS (!) from now ???? Many would like to know the answer to this for important , big Investments ... As long as TACO needs to be on top of the News Cycle 24/7 every single Day for the next 3.5 Years , Tariffs could be 200% or Zero. That's what Idiots do. Just ignore that value question for your Watch from Japan. Buy it when you want it.
 
masteroftime
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Evitzee Evitzee
Used watches won't be affected by this unless they are coming from Switzerland on the secondary market.
I’m fairly certain tariffs apply in relation to the item’s Country of origin. So it doesn’t matter where you buy a used swiss watch for US customs purposes.
 
la_lusigne
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Joining in on this discussion - I might be misunderstanding how this works, but from what I’ve read, the country from where the watch is shipped doesn’t matter. What counts is the watch’s country of origin.
So regardless of where the watch is purchased or imported from, if it’s originally a Swiss product, the tariffs applied will follow the Swiss regulations.

Or am I completely wrong 🤔
 
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