What is the custom's tax for a Submariner bought in Europe?

[rom33]

Yesterday I flew into San Francisco from Germany walked up to a custom's officer at the airport and asked to pay the federal import tax on a watch.
He at first was a bit shocked as I was standing several feet from the exit but after I picked up my bag there were no signs as to where to pay the tax. In my readings I had read of a severe penalty for not paying the tax.

When I was finally asked to place my bags on the counter the officer started to say the tax is free for the first $800 and then 6.25% on the balance. She also confidently told me "they" knew how to find the cost of the watch.
The percentage she told me sounded incorrect as I had read on several threads it was about 3-4 %.

Today I went to the Federal customs website and it appears that a steel, automatic watch has a tax of 3.1%. A watch with diamonds or made of a precious material is 6.25%.


Can anyone confirm the correct tax percentage for a Rolex Steel Sub?

I repeatedly asked the agents for a final detailed account. They told me they would give me a copy at the end and all I received was a cash register type receipt for total taxes paid. This was a Rolex sub with date and they took a long time to I.D. the MSRP of the watch.

BTW the ordeal was not pleasant at all and I paid a tax of 6.25%. The officer also tore apart several wrapped packages and after they flipped through the luggage I was left to re-pack. Their "tone" if you will was because I could not produce a receipt I was trying to somehow deceive them.

I did not have the original receipt from the store as this was given to Global Blue to receive the VAT refund.