Best place to buy a Rolex: Hong Kong, Singapore or Switzerland?
Mr. Moo said that you could take the price of a real Rolex, fly to NYC stay in a nice hotel, watch a Broadway show, and pick one up in Battery Park Prices in Shenzen are better than Hong Kong but Shanghai market is probably cheaper as Shenzen raises its prices due to all the visitors. But seriously if you're buying a Rolex you don't ask about the price.But seriously if you're buying a Rolex you don't ask about the price.
Another expert said that the suggestion above is actually very good (if you want something real, but used and without warranty). If you're talking about a brand new authentic piece with international warranty then the difference in prices will actually be rather insignificant in most places. I have never been to Switzerland so I cannot speak to the prices there. However, the best prices for most luxury watches I've seen anywhere in the world so far would have to be Caribbean (possibly St. Maarten). The reason being that you're not paying taxes and the import duties most countries slap onto luxury items. Thus you can get an authentic piece with warranty often up to 20% -25% lower than MSRP.
Another guy named Mike Lowrey said that his brother-in-law's friend has been working in the watch industry for decades, and he told me that rolex has a pretty strict MSRP policy in Hong Kong as in the maximum discount you can give your customers is a 20% discount (or 25% I can't remember) of the MSRP. If you start selling them for anything less they'll stop supplying your shop with watches, so unless you know a retailer in Hong Kong very well it'll be hard to get a discount of more than 20 or 25%.But with other watches like Cartier, Bvlgari, etc. etc. sometimes you can get a huge discount of up to 40 to 45% if you're a regular customer.
Sums up, I should say that fake Rolex watches are almost flawless same goes for Panerai series. Only way to identify authenticity is to open up and inspect the mechanism (serial numbers on mechanism itself etc).So regarding Macau pawnshop only if you find/trust a reputable store or if you are an expert yourself go ahead. If you plan for future resell value Rolex wise, its best to get from an authorized dealer with relevant certification..