My new SS Explorer II from Norway

[jlovda]

Hello:
I haven't been on this forum in nine years. I just returned from a three week holiday in Norway and during the trip purchased an Explorer II in black in Bergen. I believe this dealer is the only official one in Norway and has stores in Oslo and Bergen. SS sport watches such as the Sub and GMT are back ordered for months and I think I bought the last SS sport model they had in stock. Their large selection of SS watches was limited to more formal styles such as the Date-Just.

For information and curiosity only, my watch had a list price of NOK 72200 which includes a 25% (!) sales tax. For an item of this cost, a non-Scandinavian can get an 18% refund when leaving the country bringing the cost down to NOK 59204. My CC's exchange rate was $1 = NOK 8.32 making by cost $7116. I put $7000 on my Customs declaration and had to pay $111 duty. My final cost was $7227. According to the Rolex USA website the US price (as of 8/2018) was $8100 plus any state sales tax. I saved about $1400 assuming I would have bought the watch in the US for list price and paid sales tax. Your results may vary. BTW, make sure you use a CC that does NOT charge a 3% foreign transaction fee.

The watch is beautiful but I must say, to me, the operation of the hands is screwy and backwards. The dealer set the time and only two weeks later at home did I attempt to play with it. I would have expected the "normal" hour hand to be set like a normal watch and the 24 hr hand to flip hour by hour for a second time zone. I am now reading other members' experiences on how to change the two different time zones as well as the date.

When I bought the watch, the dealer gave me a beautiful Rolex hard cover sales "catalog" that was about 1" thick showing all the current models. Definitely a nice addition.

John

[Devildog]

Great watch and sounds like you got a good deal too.

The hand setting makes perfect sense sense if you work on setting the 24 hour hand to home/zulu/gmt and the "normal" hands to local time wherever you happen to be.

[Old Geezer]

Congrats. Wear it in good health.

[schoolboy]

Congrats!


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[watchwatcher]

It's a great watch...congrats!

As far as the setting goes...it's actually pretty intuitive, not screwy at all, once you understand the concept of the 24 hr hand. Sounds like you may want to consult your owner's manual.

[Watchflair]

That's great - congratulations!

[RolexDad]

Congrats! I had similar experience—took me a minute to wrap my mind around the operation of the crown/hands when I first set the watch.. However, using it day to day it now makes perfect sense. Like someone said above, set the orange GMT hand to local time, flip the hour hand to new time zone when you travel. Its great!

[uniqueMR]

Congrats

[DoctorA]

Bergen is one of my most favorite cities! And you scored good my friend! Congratulations on your new watch and on a killer deal!!

[ciderman]

My Exp 2 Polar K serial was first purchased from Askeland A/S Urmaker in Kristiansand Norway and found its way to me here in Manchester UK.
Enjoy it its a really nice versatile watch.

[datejustrms]

Congrats! Great choice!

[Urosfan]

Congrats

[fdm79]

Originally Posted by DoctorA

Bergen is one of my most favorite cities! And you scored good my friend! Congratulations on your new watch and on a killer deal!!

Mine too !

Congrats, OP !!

[81sforlife]

Great watch! Here’s a pic of mine from last week.




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[214270Explorer]

Nice! Personally, I like black dial just a slight bit over the white dial, as the black dial model has the blacked-out hands' bases which (particularly under lume,) shows the hands as being free-floating and not connected to an axis. A really nice and clever effect.

[scombs263]

Congrats.....

[wingard_20]

Very nice! Conrgats!


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[af_schulten]

Originally Posted by jlovda

Hello:
I haven't been on this forum in nine years. I just returned from a three week holiday in Norway and during the trip purchased an Explorer II in black in Bergen. I believe this dealer is the only official one in Norway and has stores in Oslo and Bergen. SS sport watches such as the Sub and GMT are back ordered for months and I think I bought the last SS sport model they had in stock. Their large selection of SS watches was limited to more formal styles such as the Date-Just.

For information and curiosity only, my watch had a list price of NOK 72200 which includes a 25% (!) sales tax. For an item of this cost, a non-Scandinavian can get an 18% refund when leaving the country bringing the cost down to NOK 59204. My CC's exchange rate was $1 = NOK 8.32 making by cost $7116. I put $7000 on my Customs declaration and had to pay $111 duty. My final cost was $7227. According to the Rolex USA website the US price (as of 8/2018) was $8100 plus any state sales tax. I saved about $1400 assuming I would have bought the watch in the US for list price and paid sales tax. Your results may vary. BTW, make sure you use a CC that does NOT charge a 3% foreign transaction fee.

The watch is beautiful but I must say, to me, the operation of the hands is screwy and backwards. The dealer set the time and only two weeks later at home did I attempt to play with it. I would have expected the "normal" hour hand to be set like a normal watch and the 24 hr hand to flip hour by hour for a second time zone. I am now reading other members' experiences on how to change the two different time zones as well as the date.

When I bought the watch, the dealer gave me a beautiful Rolex hard cover sales "catalog" that was about 1" thick showing all the current models. Definitely a nice addition.

John

Hello John;

I'm travelling to Norway (Oslo & Lillehammer) mid-October for 3 weeks, and intend on purchasing a Rolex for the same reasons (I want one, and the VAT refund). I haven't decided which one to get yet (narrowed my search to a DaytonaC, SubC Hulk, or Yachtmaster 40mm). Any advice??

Thanks. Enjoy your watch!!
- G

[R!$]

Welcome back and congrats on a great watch
Glad you still have the "bug"

[Friar]

Congratulations! The Explorer II and GMT do handle the second time zone differently than an ETA 2897 movement where the GMT hand is independently adjustable. For travel, though, the Rolex (and Omega I believe) approach works much better if you want your watch to reflect local time. As you change zones, you just adjust the hour hand without stopping the watch.

[Brian Page]

Congratulations!

[jlovda]

Originally Posted by af_schulten

Hello John;

I'm travelling to Norway (Oslo & Lillehammer) mid-October for 3 weeks, and intend on purchasing a Rolex for the same reasons (I want one, and the VAT refund). I haven't decided which one to get yet (narrowed my search to a DaytonaC, SubC Hulk, or Yachtmaster 40mm). Any advice??

Thanks. Enjoy your watch!!
- G

The dealer I bought my watch from was Urmaker Bjerke in Bergen. I dealt with the store manager, Ms. Janicke Teigenes. At that store the only two sport watches on display were an Explorer II (that I bought) and a Milgauss. I will admit I was looking for a Sub or GMT. She told me they had no SS sport watches in stock but had a waiting list of several months for "regular customers." My HUGE gaff was that in my high anxiety of deciding whether to purchase the watch I did not even ask for any discount. At the end of my trip I was in Oslo and stopped in their store just to look around. Same situation, NO SS sport models on display or available (at least to me.) I should point out I was not interested in Daytonas or YachtMasters because they were way over my budget. I don't recall see any. In Oslo, I had a microsecond of joy seeing a Submariner in the display but it was white gold.

All the VAT refunds are handled through a company called Global Blue. They screwed me out of about $175 of refund. My CC gave me a very good rate of NOK 8.32 for purchases. For very large refunds, Global Blue requires the refund go back through your CC. However, they acted like a FOREX and converted my refund to dollars before sending it to me. Their rate was 8.98.

At US Customs I did not try to sneak the watch in and had no idea what the duty would be. I just crossed my fingers it wouldn't be more than $300. I paid $111. The agent handling duty payments was very courteous and showed my how complicated watch duties were. There were three separate spreadsheets for bands, precious metals, whatever, that had to be looked up and added together. When I handed my customs declaration card to the first agent checking passports his jaw dropped seeing my total at $7350. The $350 was for two wool sweaters. He thought I mean't $700. Apparently not many high end watches come through Chicago?

Again, I probably got my Exp II because it is the least desirable sport watch Rolex sells and maybe the last SS one they had. Absolutely no SS Subs, GMTs, Sea Dwellers, etc. of any variation on display at either Bergen or Oslo.

Good luck with your quest!

[Colin G]

One of my favourites.

[shedlock2000]

Maximum congrats on you purchase! Wear it in good health and with great pride!

I’m with the others: the moving hour hand is a boon to the traveller. My Bremont has an adjustable 24 hour hand, and it’s annoying when you travel because the date is connected to the hour hand (not the Gmt hand if you use it for local time). My 1675 is different again, with no hour adjustment; the second time time zone must be tracked with the bezel instead. The Master II is the king of travellers’ watches — but I only need to track local and another time zone, so I just have to suck up hacking the seconds while I adjust the local time.


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