Jamie and her husband are traveling to Switzerland in December for a ski vacation. But hitting the slopes isn’t the only motivator: The couple say they are also trying to sidestep steep U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods.
They intend to buy a luxury watch — a Patek Philippe Nautilus — from the watchmaker in Geneva, Jamie said, as a present for her husband’s birthday.
Their budget for the watch: $50,000 to $75,000.
If successful, buying abroad may save them many thousands of dollars relative to purchasing an imported Swiss timepiece. The Trump administration on Aug. 7 imposed a 39% tariff on Switzerland, among the highest rates in the world.
The couple say they had been thinking of a ski getaway in the Swiss mountains for some time. But the possibility of scoring a Patek watch at a hefty tax discount “was a motivator and added bonus,” said Jamie, a 42-year-old New Yorker. (She asked to use only her first name for privacy reasons.)
Interest among the affluent to travel for tariff-busting shopping sprees has spiked in recent weeks, said Erica Jackowitz, a travel advisor to wealthy clientele.
Switzerland — which is home to other high-end watchmakers like Rolex, Piaget and Audemars Piguet — is the top destination, she said.
Other European nations like France and Italy, where renowned fashion brands like Hermès and Prada are based, have also emerged as hot spots, Jackowitz said.
“Every dollar counts when you’re getting these kinds of tariffs,” Ezon said.
The value of buying overseas
Travel agents and customs experts say there are still merits to buying European luxury goods overseas, even if they are slapped with tariffs upon reentry to the U.S.
Largely, that’s because of refunds that American travelers can get on the area’s value-added tax.
The upshot for travelers: That VAT refund can be hefty, often more than 15%.
Getting a VAT refund yields a double benefit, Sharad said: Americans get a discount courtesy of that refund, and also reduce any customs-related tax bills (because the tax would be owed on a lower declared value).
Additionally, the base rate for merchandise is often cheaper overseas, Ezon said.
Travelers should be aware that there are certain steps to take to claim a VAT refund, experts said.
From a financial standpoint, potential savings — whether on the VAT or tariffs — would need to outweigh the overall cost of a trip to justify it.
But travel advisors are also planning experiences around the shopping.
Jackowitz, for example, is putting together a shopping-focused trip to Paris for a client and bundling a visit to La Galerie Dior into the itinerary.
For the New York couple traveling to Geneva, getting an appointment at Patek Philippe to try on different watches — along with the ski vacation — was part of the allure.
“The ability to be able to get the watch that we want at a significant discount to what it’d cost us in the U.S., and have the experience of the trip and the day of getting the watch — the combination of those things is what pushed us over the edge,” said Jamie.
“I imagine it’ll be a lot of fun.”
