What watch are you wearing today???

On a sultry summer morning...

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Seiko SKX007JI
 
Where can I buy nice seiko watches online in India? I want to gift a premium one for my dad. He loves and praises seiko but never oned one because they are costly. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Don't buy from within India the AD have shit pricing. Get it through Creation Watches or Long Island it would be cheaper even with Customs compared to the Indian Pricing. You can also opt for Singapore Post and watch will be sent without box and there is a slight chance that you may avoid duty. Best option ask someone to get one for you from USA or Singapore.
 
Don't buy from within India the AD have shit pricing. Get it through Creation Watches or Long Island it would be cheaper even with Customs compared to the Indian Pricing. You can also opt for Singapore Post and watch will be sent without box and there is a slight chance that you may avoid duty. Best option ask someone to get one for you from USA or Singapore.

Thanks. Will do!
 
This is the riseman, it has AB, altitude, barometer, temperature. How do you find the baromter for predicting weather ? only good if worn outside and gets it wrong if its indoors most of the time ?

Yea, the Riseman. Barometer is good when outside ya. Inside it gets confused.
 
Hello folks,

I recently ordered a watch from CreationWatches (CW) Singapore and thought I would leave my experience here...

On the 30th of June 2019 I ordered an Orient Bambino from CW and paid through my Citibank Credit Card. The method of shipping I chose before payment was:

Registered Airmail (Without Watch Box, With Watch Pouch, 10-14 Days worldwide).

The payment (Rs.8546/- after using a 5% Coupon) went through and the watch subsequently was shipped a couple of days letter. I got an email from CW providing me with the Singapore Post tracking number as well. I started tracking the shipment first on Singapore Post's official website and then on India Post from the 6th of July. On the 10th of July the parcel landed in India and was immediately transferred to Kolkata Foreign LCAO for clearance process. On the 11th of July it got updated with the status:

Retention Reason: Awaiting Presentation to Customs Commissioner

The above status is pretty common with every shipment coming into Kolkata from abroad and almost always appears before a shipment is cleared at the Customs. For the ones who use AliExpress and or import items from elsewhere, we are completely used to this update with every shipment we order. At this point I knew one of 2 things would occur, the shipment would either slip through and clear Customs without getting hammered by Duty or it would get slammed. I was actually ready with the duty amount (in my mind I had thought 50% of what I paid) because I knew 80% chances it would fall prey to Customs.

From the 11th of July to the 15th there were absolutely no updates and all I could do was wait, pateiently WAIT. On the 16th I received an update and it was the following:

Retention Reason: CN22/23 Missing or Inappropriate

Of-course when this popped up on my monitor I knew that the shipment had failed to clear Customs and most likely it would get hit with a meaty slice of Duty. I was not exactly sure of what I needed to do next. The CN22 form from what I read and gathered online is a form which has to be pasted on the shipment's packaging because it mentions all the monetary and content details of the shipment on it. A crucial component and this form actually initiates a proper, clean Customs Clearance. The CN 22 is for shipment's under 300 SDR (Special Drawing Rights) and the CN 23 is for shipments having contents worth more than 300 SDR. One thing I knew was that CreationWatches had surely not sent the shipment without a CN22 form but our Customs Authority was not entirely satisfied with the value declaration, so I understood it was more than likely a case of Inappropriate CN22 form.


And so, I waited for the next 3 days and unfortunately saw no updates in tracking. This was very dampening. I then proceeded to contact @tech.addict and @nimod who I knew from the AliExpress threads and asked them about what my next steps should be. Both were of the opinion that I should send my actual Invoice to the Customs instead of waiting endlessly and shooting in the dark. @nimod in particular was extremely helpful and answered all my queries in detail because he had also dealt with something similar while importing his 3D printer a while back. A big thank-you to him! I owe you a beer my friend.

Having taken their advice, I proceeded to not wait further and dug up the email of Kolkata Customs. With the email found, I sent them the following documents:

1. A cover letter (with the Parcel Tracking Number) requesting them to kindly clear my parcel at the earliest after perusing the attached documents.

2. The Invoice I had received from CreationWatches in my email after placing my order (I converted this invoice to PDF format).

3. A JPEG image of my Credit Card statement showing the exact transaction details in INR from CreationWatches (other areas greyed out).

4. A screenshot of the Shipment's Tracking status from the India Post website.


I sent the above email to the Kolkata Customs at: pad-kolcusport@gov.in on the 19th of July.

The results were almost immediate! On the 23rd of July I received an update and the status then read:

Retention Reason: Other

This, I knew from my reading the AliExpress thread and which Nimod also confirmed meant the shipment was up for clearing! The next day it got cleared and finally on the 25th early afternoon I received the parcel!!

As I had expected the parcel was hit with Duty. The amount of levied was Rs.3656/- which is approximately 42% of the Invoice Price (for Imported watches duty is almost always 42% of value now IIRC). I checked that CW also declared the same amount I paid ($169 SGD), no under valuing. This was actually for the better because it matched the Invoice and Credit card statement I had emailed the Kolkata Customs as well. I paid the duty to my local Postman when he came to deliver the shipment and the duty slip was pasted on the backside of the parcel's package (images attached at the end of the post).

Overall, except for that week of wait in-between where I was left a little clueless it was not too bad really. I am glad that I got pointed in the right direction by fellow mates on TE here (huge Blessing!) and even though I did end up paying Duty it still actually wasn't too bad of a deal considering I paid a total of Rs.12, 202/- including the Customs Duty as opposed to getting one from Orient India for 18.9k. Plus on Orient India the Bambino's are mostly out of stock, at least the color I wanted almost always is.

I'm leaving a few images here:


India Post Tracking Status


India Post Tracking Status - Detailed


Registered Airmail packaging - As can be seen the CN22 form is clearly there with details.


The Customs Duty Slip that was attached on the other side of the package. The postal guys have also written the words "DUTY" with a blue marker pen just so the guys at my local PO don't mess up I think, LoL!

I am leaving my experience and the steps I took to clear my shipment from Customs here so that anyone else who faces such an issue can perhaps do the same as I did and get his watch cleared sooner rather than having to wait endlessly. Not knowing what to do can be quite agonizing, specially when you have ordered the watch you so desired and it being held up by the Customs.

P.S. I will attach the watch photographs tomorrow!

Cheers guys :)
 
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