Jewellery, precious metals & watches

A misdeclared line on a container of tinned tomatoes costs you lunch money. The same error rate on a case of watches or a parcel of set stones runs into five figures per shipment, and once the pattern is established it becomes a penalty question rather than a duty question. Precision here is not a virtue, it is the minimum.

A watch is entered in four pieces

The duty on a wristwatch is compound and itemised. There is an amount charged on the movement, a percentage on the case, a percentage on the strap, band or bracelet, and a percentage on the battery. That is one article and four values, and the entry has to carry all four separately.

Which means the invoice has to carry them too. A line reading “wristwatch, steel, 4,200 USD” cannot be filed correctly by anyone, however experienced. We give suppliers the breakout format up front, because asking for it after the goods are in the air turns a routine clearance into a week of email.

Above the breakout, the subheading depends on the movement type, mechanical against quartz or opto-electronic, the number of jewels in a mechanical movement, and whether the case is precious metal, clad or base. Those distinctions move the rate by real amounts.

The marking rule nobody expects

Chapter 91 carries its own marking requirement on top of ordinary country of origin marking. Watch movements and cases have to be marked with specified information, including the country of manufacture and, for movements, the jewel count, and the marking has to be cut into or die-sunk in the metal. An adhesive label does not satisfy it.

This is the requirement examiners on watch shipments actually look for, and it cannot be cured on the pier. If your supplier is new to the US market, we would rather look at photographs of the movement and case back before the goods ship than argue about re-export afterwards.

Stones, metal and the sanctions layer

Chapter 71 covers unwrought and semi-manufactured precious metal, worked and unworked stones, jewellery of precious metal and imitation jewellery, and the rates across those are not the same. Laboratory grown diamonds are classified as synthetic stones, and that distinction is where a good share of the misdeclaration in this trade sits.

Rough diamonds require a Kimberley Process certificate, a sealed shipping container and an importer report. Polished stones are outside the scheme, which importers sometimes read as meaning they are unregulated. They are not. Restrictions on Russian origin diamonds follow the country where the stone was mined rather than where it was cut or polished, so a certificate naming the cutting country does not answer the origin question. Russian gold is separately prohibited, and rubies and jade of Burmese origin have their own bar. We screen the seller and the origin chain before filing, not after.

The strap is the problem

More high value watch shipments are stopped by the strap than by anything on the watch. Alligator, crocodile and certain lizard leathers are listed under the wildlife convention. They need permits, a wildlife declaration, and entry through a port designated for wildlife with a licensed importer on file. Coral, tortoiseshell and any ivory in an antique piece bring their own documentation, and the outcome of getting them wrong is usually seizure rather than a fine.

The same applies to presentation boxes made of listed rosewood species. The box travels with the watch and it is part of the entry.

What we need from you

• Invoice with the watch value broken out into movement, case, strap and battery, plus movement type, jewel count and case metal.
• For jewellery: metal and fineness, weight, whether stones are set, natural or laboratory grown, and carat weight.
• Kimberley certificate for rough, and the supplier warranty statement plus origin evidence for polished.
• Wildlife permits and species identification for any strap, inlay or box containing animal or listed plant material.
• A valuation basis for anything that is not an arm’s length sale: consignment, memo, repair and return, or goods moving between related companies.
• Pickup and security instructions. For airport parcels moving the same day, see hand-carry clearance.