I'm afraid you're going to have to do your own check - reality is that the market shifts quite rapidly (in my experience even 3-6 months is a long time) and my own research is out of date.  

The point is it shouldn't take you long.  It'll take you max a half day (4 hours) to get a dozen quotes from different areas, and if you've budgetted a $50k+ purchase I would personally consider that a worthwhile investment, expecting a saving of up to $5k for your time.  I mean an additional 5-10% saving over and above the average discount you can expect as a walk-in who is obviously from out of town.  

But if $5k isn't worth a few hours of your time (that's small change to some of the bros, not worth their opportunity cost!), or you're in a hurry and can't be bothered, in that case I am recommending Harbour City.  When I was shopping for myself and my friends some years ago, I consistently found that the smaller shops in places like TST, Mong Kok, Prince Edward (I'm thorough) failed to go as low, and never had the range of choice I wanted.  

The bigger places go for volume, and know they can attract big buyers by giving other buyers a fair deal.  

Also, just because it's in a nice well-run mall, it doesn't mean they're paying more on rent.  Landlords let big spaces for a BIG discount compared to small units, and it's very likely that a big place in Harbour City is paying less rent (for the area) than a road-front store on Nathan Rd.


Sorry I've not researched that ... supply and demand matters and the answer will change month by month ...

My comments above apply, so if you can get a discount anywhere my belief is it'll be in the bigger places.  You should manage your time based on the effort it'll take you to find that extra few % discount and how much that matters to you.  Or how much you enjoy the negotiation game

thanks. it is interesting to know that the cost of watches in harbour city would be roughly the same as nathan rd. i always thought there maybe higher chance to get fake watches from shops on nathan rd unless you go to famous brand shops.

so which is a good store to check out in  harbour city?
do they each specialize in a certain brand? or do they all have the same stock?

go and check it out. The Tag shop sells TAG only etc but there may be others that sell a variety. Just go have a look around.


There is a higher chance to get fake watches from shops on nathan rd unless you go to the well known, well established shops, the shop near the Holiday Inn seems OK, as do the shops in the Sheraton nd the Peninsula. You really need to check it out for yourself..

i will once i make it to HK.
trying to do some research right now.

Hong Kong is unique in that it's easy to get quality Asian brands fairly easily.  SeaGull (Chinese) and some high end East Asian Seiko models are a lot easier to find in HK than anywhere else.

chunking mansion! They seriously got lots of "cool" watches

There is a guy in HK looking for omega and finds that he can only get %5 off.
Do you need to go to unauthorized dealers to get %30-40 off?

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f20 ... ne-wild-452802.html

but then your warrantly would not be valid and you would not know if it is real of fake.

it is true that if you get watches in hk it is cheaper
however iunno why they call it "water goods"
maybe its without warranty or something like that
i bought a seiko watch there for around 100 cad less

Water goods mean parallel imports and if you are referring to Seiko there would be no international warranty but only a warranty in the country where the watch was imported from. In the case of Seiko, this would be Japan. I don't know who will buy a Seiko watch in the first place though.

whats water goods?  

almost all watches have serial # on it which can backtrack where the watch was made to import to.

Water goods is the literal direct translation of the cantonese "sui for" 水貨.  As mentioned by geoduck, they are parallel imports where the "importer" brings in the good without declaration of tax (for some goods which are taxable) nor partake in any advertisement of the said goods (leave it to the official distributor to do it) - hence the 30-40% discount on the watches.  Warranty-wise, it sucks as the official distributor (and in-country warranty provider) will not recognize nor repair such watches (or charge a high sum of money to do so).  It may not be too much of a problem if you intend to take it out of country anyways; but do be aware that some of these goods may be AAA-grade fakes, refurbished or worst, stolen.

are the good fakes also mechanical?
or are they quartz disguised with a mechanical look?

Bro, haven't you bought a watch yet??? Holy sh*t!

OK, you can get fakes BOTH quartz and mechanical. However you are better off buying quartz. A quartz movement from Japan is dead cheap and very accurate. Under these circumstances you will get a more reliable time piece.

Mechanical movements take some expertise and also sterile conditions to assemble properly so far more likely you will have a problem with fake mechanical.

If you were buying REAL different story but for fake, I suggest quartz as safest solution.

been disappointed so far with the prices in HK.
I had a relative check and All the stores are selling rolex and omega at list price.
I wind up buying an omega at home in the U.S. for 30% off with no tax.
(you can avoid tax by buying out of state and shipping it.)

I will be in HK soon.
any suggestions on which shops to hit for rolex with some kind of discount?

Many watch shops in HK offer discounts of 20-30% off the listed price. You have to really force them into it though. Show you are a serious buyer who will walk out any second if you feel you are getting ripped off. Show that you know your shit and that you are no tourist.

The high list price is to trap the Mainlanders from China. Many have no idea how much things cost, nor do they care. Watch and jewelry shops work that angle the best.

for Roles watched, it depends on the model you want ...
sometimes hot models would sell for a premium over the list price
but generally don't expect to get more then 10% off on list price for Rolex unless
you want an older model.

The day of inexpensive Rolexs in HK is over. With the advent of mainland tourist and their insatiable appetite for Rolex watches, many places are no longer offering discounts. Best place to buy is in Germany where it works out to be a lot cheaper after you get back the 19% VAT refund.You can also get some hot Rolex models in Germany. The Milguss 116400V Limited Edition with Green Sapphire Glass is about HK$45,000 in Germany vs HK$54,000 in HK. I even managed to get the Rolex submariner green face and green bezel, Ref 16610LV, which now in HK is very difficult to find at the normal list price if you can find it at all.

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 10-2-2011 12:24 ]

i am looking for the stainless steel ceramic sub 116610 or the explorer II.
I have a feeling i will be coming back empty handed.

For the green sub (green face and bezel), there is a waiting list but you may find it for about HK$70,000 - HK$80,000 at some shops which is a hefty premium. As for the Exploere II, you could easily find this model, black face mainly at about HK$44,000 - HK$48,000. This model's been around for nearly two decades and not as popular as before.

The green sub is lovely. Been looking for this one for the past two months and finally bought one in Singapore recently.

Good Luck!

[ Last edited by  geoduck at 11-2-2011 09:19 ]