Hi,
Be careful. I have just returned from the Canary Islands and experienced some difficulties with a dealer there. See my thread if you like:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=49949In the end, I decided that the cost saving of buying from an authorised dealer abroad and being a watch smuggler could not be justified against buying the same product from a REPUTABLE cut price seller in the UK.
IF you get the dealer abroad to do a dodgy deal on the shipping, the usual one is to have them send you the watch as a repair return, you can dodge the taxes and save yourself a good few quid. But of course if you get caught or if you do it legitimately then HMRC will: take the price you paid for the watch, add to this the cost you paid for shipping to arrive at the landed value. They will then add at least the 20% VAT (sales tax) to this combined figure. The chances are that your shipping agent (UPS or whoever) will also charge you a bunch of fees for handling this clearance for you. If you compare this landed cost to the full retail in the UK, you might have saved a little. But if you shop around, especially using the recommendations from the esteemed members on this forum, you will be able to source your watch with all taxes and duties legitimately paid (and if they weren't its not your problem) within the UK. Also, in the UK and EU we have great consumer protection laws that stop vendors from voiding warranties just because you didn't buy from Authorised Dealers.