The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Greetings all -- I'm very impressed with the thoroughness of this forum (and the fact that there are so many Breitling owners who are passionate enough to be active online!).
Despite some of the ..ahem..lack of appreciation, if you will, for the skeletal face of the B04 GMT and B06 Bentleys (introduced last year), I was quite pleased with how they looked on the wrist when I tried them on at the Breitling Boutique in Paris. So, I'll be purchasing [my first Breitling!] in the next few months, but wanted to browse the forum in hopes of some buying advice.

Is there any kind of general, consolidated "buying guide" available on the forum? For instance, I've gathered from various threads that 20-25% off of sticker is a decent buy, but am also starting to think about things like sales tax, paying cash, buying overseas, etc. I gather that it's poor etiquette to reference specific AD's and where to procure the best discounts, but I'm trying to figure out where to start. Anyway, if there are any threads that might be especially helpful here (or any advice!), it would be much appreciated.

Looking forward to joining the forum.

Cheers

Welcome to BreitlingSource.

Kind of difficult to give specific advice on where to buy without a clue where you are located If you are based in France I'm not sure that there is much forum experience with French ADs (but see below for UK) - I wouldn't buy from a boutique because they don't discount at all.

General rule on discounts, in most markets 25% is a pipe dream these days, 20% is unlikely on popular models (so you might be alright )

There are UK and US based forum sponsors advertised on every page - Andrew Michaels in the UK and Govberg in the US are frequent recommendations. Buying overseas likely won't help much as you will need to pay import duty / sales tax in your local market when you bring it home - unless you are prepared to break the law of your country by not declaring. Within EU you might be OK but pricing is going to be fairly similar from country to country.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Split my time between Windsor, Ontario and New York. Travel lots, so willing to buy from an out-of-state AD as well.
We have an AD in Windsor, but my concerns are 13% HST plus what I'm presuming is a higher sticker price in Canada. Will certainly give him the chance to quote, but will be checking in Michigan as well.

Any thoughts on buying from AK or DE (both of which are tax-free states with ADs)?

Better off buying from Govbergs in PA and having them ship out of state.

Canadian and US pricing are still fairly close in nominal dollars right now, but with the weakening C$ over the last few weeks US pricing is looking less attractive (before you factor tax in).

I should point out that if you are a Canadian resident for tax purposes you will be expected to declare a US sourced watch at the border and pay both HST and 5% import duty. What you actually do is of course completely up to you.