This watch brand became the Bayern star’s undoing

Photo: Instagram

HIS PHOTO GIVES IT AWAY!

This photo reveals which watch Bouna Sarr had with him at the customs check.

Munich – First he had trouble with customs, now with the public prosecutor’s office.

The investigates against Bayern star Bouna Sarr (31) for insult and attempted coercion. Also tax evasion is in the room. All this because Sarr is said to have failed to pay duty on a luxury watch when entering Munich airport.

But which watch was it exactly? The authorities are not disclosing that because of tax secrecy. Curious: Sarr himself showed which brand of watch it was!

During the inspection in October 2022, Sarr got upset with the customs officers. He photographed two of them with his phone, pasted clown emojis over their faces and uploaded the photo to Instagram.

Also visible in the photo: the watch case. And the bill!

Bouna Sarr may have had a lot of trouble at the border, but his photo on Instagram revealed even more. It shows the case and the bill for his luxury watch, which caused problems at the customs check at Munich airport.

BILD showed the case to Munich watch expert Hubertus Reygers, who was able to clearly identify the brand: “This can only be from Patek Philippe.” This is confirmed by the invoice, on which the logo of the highly exclusive watch manufacture from Switzerland is clearly visible.

The brand from Geneva is considered the most exclusive watch brand in the world. According to Patek Philippe Germany, the most expensive watch in the normal range is available for 2.6 million euros. In March, a “Sky Moon Tourbillon” was auctioned in Hong Kong for 5.8 million euros – a world record for an online auction.

Not surprisingly, a watch of this brand caught the eye of investigators during customs checks at Munich Airport. The value of the watch is crucial for the import turnover tax that one has to pay when entering a country outside the EU. In the case of Patek Philippe, the value is inherently high. According to the company, the cheapest model is the ladies’ watch “Twenty-4” for 15,702 euros. The cheapest men’s watch is the Calatrava 6119 in white gold for 31,404 euros.

So Bouna Sarr might have to pay quite a large amount of import VAT. For the Patek Philippe Aquanaut, which costs around 88,000 euros according to Watchcharts.com, that would still be almost 17,000 euros. But as a player for FC Bayern Munich, he will certainly be able to afford that.

But what does that mean now for Bayern star Bouna Sarr? Due to tax secrecy, the authorities cannot reveal how much tax Sarr would have had to pay to import the watch. However, it can be assumed that the watch is a very expensive model, as it is a Patek Philippe, which is considered the most exclusive watch brand in the world.

The highest import sales tax one has to pay for importing a luxury watch is 19 percent in Germany. This means that Sarr would have had to pay an additional 19,000 euros in taxes for a watch worth, say, 100,000 euros.

However, as a player for FC Bayern Munich, Bouna Sarr earns a very high salary and can easily afford such a watch. Nevertheless, he now has to answer for insult, attempted coercion and possible tax evasion. It remains to be seen what consequences these charges will have for him.

Once again, it turns out that a photo often reveals more than you realize. Bouna Sarr’s Instagram photo with the two customs officers ultimately proved his undoing and led to criminal charges. It remains to be seen whether he will learn from this incident and be more careful about which photos he shares on social media in the future.