My sad (epic) tale with Christopher Ward...

[Matvei]

To make a super long story short(er):

My parents bought me a C5 malvern for Christmas 2008, ordered in november and arrived in january: Christmas gift deception for them. (My thinking, ok, they are swamped with orders, no big deal, even though my parents were really disappointed).

I then notice it is around +15secs and would love to get it better adjusted, but again, it's not that big a deal. Later in March I order myself a C5 aviator. Watch comes in around june 2009. Same thing with the watch, it seems fast, this time +30...

Then I notice that it's not regulated at all! In fact, the little arm is all the way towards the minus sign. Which means it wasn't regulated at all (that's how they come from ETA I believe).

Then I notice my regular C5 is the same way!

Then I notice a screw is missing from the back plate.... on not one but both watches!!!!!!!!

Ok... one could be oversight from QC... but two, ordered months apart... and both unregulated???? Very very odd. I contact CW, they offer me to send them in or send me the screws and to get them regulated at a jeweler. I send them in (they payed shipping, but I paid for the box) Both come back... the regular C5 seems fine, regulated and with the back screw.

But the aviator is fine except it's covered in scratches!!!!!!!! Over the case, under the case and on the side of the case. The buckle was even scratched!!! My watch was mint when sent in and the packaging was perfect.

This is one of the many scratches found (you can see a railroad effect, probably from a tool slipping?):



What the hell!

I write back and they ask me to send it back in and that they could buff it out or send me a new one... I naturally opt for the new replacement... it comes back with a new back plate, but still with scratches on the side and front!!! The accompanying correspondence said that the "whole case" was replaced by CW himself. What the hey!!!!????

I write back, send it back in, they pay the shipping, thankfully.

It comes back... and now it seems fine except I have this cheap looking sellita movement that is decidedly not equivalent to the well finished ETA mvt (which I have on my regular C5 and used to have on the aviator this what replaces).

Decorated ETA (not my pic):



Basic Selitta:



One is not like the other and they certainly aren't "equivalent".

I am sad, dejected, and am seriously thinking CW is not all that and a bag of chips. I feel taken for a ride and ashamed for having believed all the hype. I was holding back writing about this for them to get a chance to make good on this... but it seems like a never-ending saga of disappointment.

There are way too many QC issues here to be back luck. I can understand a few errors slipping here and there, but two watches bought months apart, with similar and serious errors, and with the cascade of other issues and the apparent lies... I feel that this is too much.

To think I was thinking of getting another one just before I realized this unadorned Selitta crap...

Yes, their customer service is very friendly, but the company has deep issues for this to happen. It can't be a fluke. It just can't.

I have elected for a refund, it's the only sensible thing to do now.

I cannot recommend this brand anymore, sorry if I swayed any of you in buying one of their products. If you have a good one and are happy then great, I don't want this tale to spoil your enjoyment.

[novedl]

sorry to hear about the negative experiences.

[ulackfocus]

Wow, bad string of incidents. Funny that you mention a screw missing because I just purchased a pre-owned C5 and it too was missing a screw. I just chalked it up to being used, and had my watchmaker install one. A member of another forum had an issue with CW too, but not to do with the actual watch.

[Janne]

I m sorry about your negative experience. But, if I may say it, if you look on the C.W. website, you wil get the info that the watches are supplied with ETA or Selita movements.
Also, if you look closely on the pics, (use manifying option) you can see the movements are undecorated.

Indeed, I would think you still get a lot of watch for the money.

The Quality issues are not acceptable, of course.

The pic with the decorated movement, maybe it is a special order watch?

The pic is borrowed from the C.W. site, sorry about the size, it just happened this way!

[waruilewi]

Thank you very much for sharing your recent experiences. Hopefully they'll make things better soon, though the sour taste you've experienced probably will linger for quite some time.

[gdaniel]

Wow. That's just poor service all the way around. Sorry to hear that.

[Matvei]

They changed the pics _very_ recently when a couple of people complained. It used to be a pic of the decorated eta.

When I originally bought my aviator, they _all_ had decorated ETAs (my regular C5 has the pretty 2824) but many months afterward they added the "ETA or Selitta movement" fine print disclaimer. I think it became pot luck at that point.

Thing is, it would be fine if the selittas were equivalently decorated, but they are certainly not. There was also no communication about the change, as if it was ok to send a bare-bones movement instead of a beautifully decorated one. As a disappointed customer, I should have been especially told of the change.

As I understand from people who talked with Chris Ward, he's been on an 11 month backlog for eta movements and has been supplying SW200s instead. If only those would have been decorated, or if he communicated the change, all would be ok. But they chose to slip them in, hoping nobody would notice?

[stuffler,mike]

When I asked what the A/M of the CW 8 Pilot is I got an answer regarding water resistance:




"5atm



Regards



cw"

[Matvei]

I have to give it to them though, they do try to work with you to resolve issues in a friendly manner... it's the execution that's severely lacking.

They did offer to send me an ETA C5AWT in the end (who knows if it would be decorated?), saying they had "a few eta movements on hand", but I just don't trust them anymore and don't want to go through this anymore. I'm pretty certain something would be wrong with it.

[Arachnodactyly]

I would be inclined to skip the hassle (and potential further dissapointment) and ask for a refund, or just keep the one with the Selitta movement.. The unfortunate thing is that the finish of one with the ETA movement could presumably have just been restored with a little sanding and polishing, maybe cheaper for them to replace it than spend the time but it would have been better to just fix it IMO.