new delhi just when things had started running like clockwork indias fledgling luxury watch market is bracing for another jolt as customs duty has doubled to 20 on imported watches and clocks so if you have been saving up for that lovely model of seamaster from swiss watchmaker omega be prepared to shell out more for instance a seamaster which would have set you back by around rs 287 lakh will now cost you more than rs 3 lakh similarly a breguet worth rs 5 crore will now cost rs 30 lakh more after gst revision from 28 to 18 on watches india had become one of the cheapest destinations for luxury watches said anil madan proprietor of johnson watch clients who shopped abroad had started buying watches here but the honeymoon is over and we are back to square one the celebratory period lasted roughly twotothree months for domestic luxury watch retailers before the introduction of gst watches were taxed at around 125 the gst pushed up the tax rate to 28 before it was rolled back to 18 in november international watch companies said its a joke said the owner of a luxury watch boutique chain i mean there is no consistency on taxes first you decrease it then increase it then decrease it and increase it again customs duty on watches is incorporated in the cost price and gst is calculated over and above that several luxury watch boutiques that toi contacted said new prices would be effective april onwards unfortunately luxury is always at the receivingend in india said a manager at an ethos watch boutique before the customs duty hike the dualblow of demonetisation and gst weighed heavily on the luxury watch market because most transactions in the luxury segment were cashbased wealthy shoppers wary of the crackdown on black money had started to shop abroad retailers turned to offering heavy discounts to tackle tepid demand despite taking a hit on their margins things had just started to settle down for the luxury watch segment said dinaz madhukar executive vp at dlf luxury retail hospitality which operates luxury retail mall emporio make in india is a great initiative but the hike in customs duty is definitely going to impact the luxury watch market madhukar added by john sarkar tnn published on feb 5 2018 at 0753 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app luxury watches demonetisation breguet gst omega homenewshighend watches to cost more