i doubt you will find bargains quite honestly....look at the high end shops in gaysorn plaza, paragon mall and other high end places....

watch out for international guarantees....quite honestly i would be very careful about what i buy as fakes are prevelent in thailand....

michael and james might have good suggestions for you....

Pendulum is a good place to look. They've got shops in Gaysorn, Penninsula, Emporium and a few other locations. I purchased a Breitling from them several years ago. Warranty was honored in the USA with no problems whatsoever.

Hour Glass is a regional chain with shops in Gaysorn and Paragon.

But what is said above is correct. You won't find any bargains in Bangkok. There's a fairly hefty luxury tax on imported jewelry, including watches, which keeps them more expensive than in other countries.

There's a watch show that floats around the shopping centers in Bangkok. You might have a look out to see if one is on while you're here. The discounts can be quite hefty, but the usually only put the price down to something approaching US or Singapore prices.

Hi

What kind of watch brand are you looking for? I bought a TAGHeuer when I went to Bangkok the last time and I saved a lot of money compared to what I would have paid for the same watch at home. So I think the main thing is to know what you are looking for and know what the prices are like at home.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Hi Gard

It is actually a Tag I am looking for. Where did you get yours?

MichaelBKK,

Your comments re luxury tax are noted. Does this also apply at the airport e.g. in "duty free"?

Hi

Hehe...there is quite a lot of discussion on various watch forums if TAG can be called a high end watch

I bought a beautiful TAGHeuer Link Automatic in a TAGHeuer store. I think it was the TAGHeuer store in the MBK center but there was also TAG stores in other shopping malls.

Here is a Thailand trip report by the way: http://gardkarlsen.com/thailand2002.htm

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

there used to be a huge duty free shop in the former world trade center....it may still be there....maybe that would be a place to shop...??

I find that in larger US cities in US with a number of jewelery shops you can get 15%+/- off a Tag if you know full retail and offer 20% less and settle on 15%. Cannot do that with Tiffany, Carier, Patek, etc. though. So buy in US but Pendulum was about 10% less as I remember on Tag and Rado and Omega higher end . But with a 30% drop in value of the USD to the Baht in 2 years I am not sure there are many bargains on genuine watches.

The duty free shop can be quite competitively priced, and you can sign up for a membership that can get you an added 10% off and other perks.

The old downtown shops, including the one at Central World, have been closed. The duty free operator now has their own mega-mall near the Victory Monument. Take the Skytrain to the Victory Monument station, exit the south end of the station through a small mall (Major Hollywood, I think it is) and walk down the small side-street on the south side of the mall. It's just a block or so, but if you don't want to walk, the Duty Free shop (King Power) operates a stretch tuk-tuk service from the mall. Get on near the Makro Office store.

If you're looking for something specific, like a certain TAG watch, then I highly recommend going to the mall rather than waiting until you get to the airport. They have a bigger variety of stuff at the mall.

Note that you must pay for the goods at the mall, but in most cases, you can't take your purchases with you. You have to pick them up at the airport on your way home.

I was fortunate enough to be at Pendulum when they were having a 30% off sale. Saved me $800 over what I would have paid at home.

Last time I looked at Duty Free prices at the airport, they were the same as in the city.

But, you have to declare over $1400 when returning to US or take chance of being examined (remote) and then duty and small fine if just i item.

Thanks for all the guidance & info. I bought a TagHeuer in the Tag shop in Gaysorn Plaza after a little negotiation I obtained a discout of 25%and saved myself £600 ($1100 US) on the price here in London(which admittedly is probably one of the most expensive places in the world to buy anything!