Directory / Chapter 91
Chapter 91: Clocks and watches
Clocks and watches and their parts, covering wrist, pocket and other personal watches as well as clocks and time-recording apparatus.
The 3 codes this site holds in chapter 91
| Code | What it covers | Markets priced | Duty range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 910111 | Wristwatches of precious metal, electric, analogue display | 6 of 7 | 0% to 5% plus 4 charged per unit |
| 910211 | Wristwatches, battery or quartz, mechanical display | 7 of 7 | 0% to 5% plus 4 charged per unit |
| 910221 | Wristwatches, automatic winding | 6 of 7 | 0% to 5% plus 4 charged per unit |
Where this chapter ends
Case material and the type of movement both split these headings, and the tariff uses "mechanical" to describe the display rather than the movement, which is a genuine trap: a watch described as having a mechanical display is electrically operated. Watches worn on the wrist are classified here rather than with telecommunications apparatus, whatever else they can do.
The guides in chapter 91 name one code outside it that goods reach when they turn out not to belong here.
- 851713 (chapter 85): Devices whose principal function is telephony rather than timekeeping
What the notes to section XVIII say
Chapter 91 sits in section XVIII, optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; clocks and watches; musical instruments; parts and accessories thereof, which runs from chapter 90 to chapter 92. A section note governs every chapter in its section, so it stands one layer above the note to chapter 91 below and applies before it.
The nomenclature publishes no note to section XVIII at all. That is the published position rather than a gap on this page: the section groups its chapters and leaves the rules to them, so the note to chapter 91 below is the highest one that governs this chapter.
Read from the section notes published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/18, on 2026-09-08, and read a second time from the chapter endpoint quoted below, which carries the same section note and has to agree with it. Like the chapter and heading notes, a section note is part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so it decides classification and never a rate.
What the nomenclature excludes
The sentence above is this site's summary. This one is not. Note 1 to chapter 91 sets out what this chapter does not cover, and these are its 7 items as published, with the heading each one sends the goods to. Where a note names a chapter this site also covers, the chapter number is a link.
- (a) clock or watch glasses or weights (classified according to their constituent material)
- (b) watch chains (heading 7113 or 7117, as the case may be)
- (c) parts of general use defined in note 2 to Section XV, of base metal (Section XV), or similar goods of plastics (Chapter 39) or of precious metal or metal clad with precious metal (generally heading 7115); clock or watch springs are, however, to be classified as clock or watch parts (heading 9114)
- (d) bearing balls (heading 7326 or 8482, as the case may be)
- (e) articles of heading 8412 constructed to work without an escapement
- (f) ball bearings (heading 8482)
- (g) articles of Chapter 85, not yet assembled together or with other components into watch or clock movements or into articles suitable for use solely or principally as parts of such movements (Chapter 85) see chapter 85
Read from the chapter notes published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/91, on 2026-09-07. The first six digits of that nomenclature are the Harmonized System itself and the notes to a chapter are part of its international text, so this is the same note whichever of this site's destinations a shipment is going to. It decides classification and never a rate.
What the notes say about each heading
The note above governs chapter 91 as a whole. Underneath it the same published notes speak about individual four digit headings, and that is the layer a classification usually turns on. This site holds codes under 2 headings in this chapter. One of them is the subject of a numbered note.
| Heading | What the nomenclature calls it | Codes here | What the notes say about it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9101 | Wristwatches, pocket-watches and other watches, including stopwatches, with case of precious metal or of metal clad with precious metal | 910111 | Subject of note 2 |
| 9102 | Wristwatches, pocket-watches and other watches, including stopwatches, other than those of heading 9101 | 910211 , 910221 | Named in passing by note 2 |
How each of those notes opens, in the words the nomenclature uses. The note in full is on every code page under the heading it governs, which is where a reader deciding a classification is standing.
Note 2 to chapter 91, which takes heading 9101 as its subject
Opening, as published
Heading 9101 covers only watches with case wholly of precious metal or of metal clad with precious metal, or of the same...
Note 2 in full on 910111 , and on every other code this site holds under that heading.
One heading is named by a note whose subject is something else, which is a cross reference rather than a rule about the heading: 9102 (note 2) . The sentence that names each one is quoted on the code pages under it.
Read from the same chapter notes quoted above, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/91, on 2026-09-07, with each heading title read from its own endpoint. The Harmonized System publishes no separate heading notes: its legal text is section notes, chapter notes and subheading notes, and what governs a heading is a chapter note whose subject clause names it. The section notes are quoted at the top of this page, which is the layer above.
What chapter 91 costs to import
The dearest line this site holds in chapter 91 is 910111, wristwatches of precious metal, electric, analogue display, at 5% into Canada. 4 of the 7 rates charged on value in this chapter are zero. The widest gap between destinations is on 910111, wristwatches of precious metal, electric, analogue display, which runs from 0% to 5% depending on where it lands. 12 rates in this chapter are charged per unit rather than on value, so they are left out of every range above.
A destination that prices part of a chapter answers for part of it, so this is how much of chapter 91 each one covers, out of 3 codes.
| Destination | Codes priced | Duty range in this chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 3 of 3 | 0% |
| Canada | 3 of 3 | 5% |
| Germany | 3 of 3 | Charged per unit, not on value |
| Portugal | 3 of 3 | Charged per unit, not on value |
| United Kingdom | 3 of 3 | Charged per unit, not on value |
| United States | 3 of 3 | Charged per unit, not on value |
| Switzerland | 1 of 3 | 0% |
Third country rates, which is what applies with no trade agreement claimed. Destination tax is charged on top. Each code page carries the reading behind its own figures and the day they were read.