St Barts - Buying Jewelry

A fairly frequent discussion on the forum is whether you can get a better deal buying jewelry and watches on St Barts.

Here are some of the responses that have been posted in the forum:

You will find just about all the name brands in Gustavia, Cartier, Chopard, Corum, Roger Dubuis, IWC, Jaeger-Le Coultre, Frank Muller, Panerai, Tag, and Rolex just to name a few. I picked up a Rolex Submariner at Goldfinger next to Select near the quay. Prices much better than in the states and no sales tax. On my last trip I went to Kornerupine Diamond Genesis. Sophie was super nice, remembered my name and ended up selling me a wonderful JLC Master Moon. Yes you can haggle a little bit but be tasteful about it.

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Have bought some Ebel watches at Oro del Sol. (Beluga, beautiful watches) Can expect maybe 20% or so discount off MSRP. Cartier will offer 5% off their watches. You won't be able to do better in the States...Cartier never discounts and plus you save tax. I suppose if you buy some really high price jewelry or watch you maybe able to do better. Priced the same piece of jewelry we bought in SBH Cartier last Feb. and was $500 dollars more at the Cartier shop on Michigan Ave in Chicago. Chicago had updated their pricing while SBH hadn't, so saved more than 5% off suggested price plus tax

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Most of our pieces have come from Carat and we deal with Alex. She's wonderful. Or the owner Domenique. They are very reputable. We bought a gold Breitling at Carat and saved 40% from the cost at home (we're Canadian). Previously we bought a Gerard Gentra for about half. I have bought a Chaumet and two Cartiers and saved 50% on my gold Cartier and about 20% on the Chaumet.

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And finally, remember all prices are negotiable. If you offer to wire cash instead of paying by credit card you can also enjoy additional savings.