Tony,
I myself bought a new-condition watch year ago from a dealer, but it came with a stamped AD warranty that had the purchase date of 2014 August. My brand's warranty covers 2 years, hence the August of this year.
mlcor,
thanks for the info! Now that I know brands like AP offered such warranty, it is a bit reassuring. I decided to just ask the brand directly to clear up any confusions, whether or not they cover a "free service" in their warranty, just in case. Going to use my undercover email to get the answer out of them secretively!
I'm not sure what you guys mean by "if that's going on with the OP", but since I heard from a brand representative that the warranty "covers everything except if the watch is dropped", and other people having experience of sending in their watch within the warranty period for a free service (didn't know AP would be an example though), I just assumed all brands could do that too. By this I didn't mean that all brands "formally offer" this, but rather that it is possible to "exploit this opportunity" with all brands. So no, I wasn't thinking of a warranty that is "officially offering a free maintenance" when I was starting the OP.
Still, knowing that a top brand like AP offering that is really, really reassuring. It seems that there might be a chance that my brand officially offered such opportunities after all - I will get back to you when I hear back from the brand.
Meanwhile, other people's experiences and their stories would be still helpful, so whoever is reading this, fire away if you got one!
The line between true self and feigned self is blurred on all sides.
― Gayle Forman,
Just One Day
First, as this has gone on for a while now, what make and model of watch are you specifically discussing with regard to your inquiries?
That would be among the most helpful pieces of information for you to have shared in your OP so that we can give you good feedback on what may or may not be necessary or worth doing. You seem to want good and actionable input, but you've made it hard for us to give it to you by forcing us to make assumptions about what's in play and forcing a broad based discussion of the matter. That you didn't share that info, that is the simultaneous ambiguity and vagueness and specificity found in the OP, made me uncertain as to whether you wanted specific input or wanted to have a general discussion. If the latter, I can only say that the specific example you cited, and that which mlcor cited, are exceptions to what I've observed as the "standard line" watch companies have published over the past ~40 years re: warranties and what they include and/or don't; it's just not historically what one can or should expect (barring special circumstances like a long standing relationship/rapport with a maker/seller/service person). Your brand may be an exception and were you to tell us what it is, someone here almost certainly will know what specific input to give you. (Alternatively, nobody will and you'll discover that as well and determine that you need to speak with your local seller, the manufacturer, or your "watch guy.")
As an aside, what be the relevance of pointing to such exceptions in a general discussion, while at the same time asking about and referring to one's specific watch that one has yet to identify is beyond me. That is but one of the things about which I lack certainty as goes this thread. (See the "blue" section below.)
I think for casual watch consumers and collectors, there's a thrill of sorts that comes with buying a long sought after watch or just getting a new one on impulse. More committed collectors experience the same thrill as well, but they, IMO, also consider factors that likely would diminish some of the emotional high a casual buyer feels were s/he to focus in part on them. The matter of warranty coverage and servicing is one such factor. It's surely more fun to just pop into a store, see a cool new watch and buy it than it is to only do so after thinking about how much repairs and service cost and how often or whether either will be needed.
If you haven't read this --
Forbes Welcome -- you may find it helpful, particularly the following paragraph:
Rolex isn't just increasing their watch warranty to five years, but is also extending a new "service interval recommendation" from three years to 10 years. This is an interesting development because it means that Rolex is saying their timepieces can be worn for 10 years before they should go in for a cleaning and servicing. Getting a watch serviced is not covered under warranty but is something that if done less often can save watch buyers money. Rolex, unfortunately, isn't paying for their watches to be serviced, but at least buyers can feel more confident that Rolex's mechanical movements have a lot of durability. The reality, through the experience of many Rolex owners that I've known, is that Rolex watches can often go much longer than 10 years between service needs.
With ever increasing watch prices, and thus ever growing profits (
not that the jewelry industry wants for high profit amounts and margins), combined with watch companies using very low cost tactics to force consumers to them and away from independent watchmakers for service, the watch industry (the whole of the jewelry industry really, but let's stick with watches going forward) has figured out that they need to offer something beyond the intangible cachet of status and "ooh, la, la" attributes like Geneva stripes and
perlage, viewed through presentation casebacks, for example.
The astute reader and avid collector will have noticed from the
Forbes article that Rolex bumped up its warranty to five years from the prior two years on all its watches; however, only a few of the watches have "new and improved" movements and the overall fabrication methods haven't really changed for any but their Rolex Day-Date models. Closely following and learning about watches or not, one doesn't need to be all that savvy to realize that the watch's "goodness" was no different when they had but a two year warranty than it is now that the warranty period has been lengthened, particularly for the 3000 series movements Rolex have been using for decades. Therefrom comes the reason I've so often written about using one's judgment and common sense when it comes to recurring maintenance of most watches. It's no different with Rolex than it is for most any other HEW, yet there are a few well known exceptions.
I've elsewhere on WUS written about service and its cost implications re: HEWs. At ~$1K/watch as a rough minimum, it can be no sum to "sneeze at" for folks who have a lot of pricey watches. Do "high volume" customers get breaks on the cost of service? Sure they do. Many are the times I've dropped in to see what's new at my favorite sellers and mentioned something about service and been told something to the effect of "Oh, just stop by with it and drop it off. We'll take a look at it and give it a "touch up" if it needs something, no charge. You've bought so many watches from us, that's the least we can do." Mind you, there's a limit, and I understand that. I sent my father to my local guy with his "dead" Rolex, but it was too far gone for them to fix it
gratis.
Now can I tell someone else that will be their experience with that shop? Not at all, nor would I for it sets the wrong expectations. At the end of the day, things like that, along with price concessions on purchases, come down to the relationship one has with the seller. Whereas I've bought four Rolexes from one retailer, I suspect that Rolex yet hasn't any idea I exist (beyond what is in their databases), but I'm certain my local retailer does. The same is so with at least one of my watchie friends. We met for tennis and then watch browsing a few years back, and the store manager was quite surprised to find us there together. "You two know each other? You're two of my best customers." In our chatting over the years, we'd figured that out, even though neither of us ever mentioned it to any store personnel. LOL.
The preceding provides some additional insight into the difficulty that arises in trying to answer the "where should I buy it" questions that appear on WUS. One can't very well attest to how negotiation and perqs process will pan out for folks about whom one knows nothing and who further share little to nothing about their watch buying/collecting goals. The relationship has a lot to do with getting concessions on price, both selling price and service price. Plus, there's just no way to here on WUS, or to casual acquaintances, say, "I usually get 25% to 40% off MSRP at 'such and such' a retailer" and legitimately expect they can accomplish the same thing going there for the first, and perhaps only, time over the following decade or more. Nobody -- not me, not the seller, and not the potentially disappointed other buyer whom neither I nor the seller know better than Adam's housecat -- has anything to gain from that sort of thing.
Another thing to be aware of is that for nearly all authorized dealers and many brand boutiques, the dealer/boutique is owned by someone other than the manufacturer. Even when the retail outlet is owned by the maker, it's often part of a different division than is the manufacturing and servicing unit(s) of the maker's company. In either case, if/when the retailer sends a watch to the maker, or maker's service center, the business event is handled like an external transaction. That is to say, the maker sells the service to the retailer, who in turn pays the maker. You and I as the retailer's customers then pay the retailer for the service. How much does the maker charge the retailer? You and I will never know. It could be a negligible sum; it could be a "one off" price agreed upon between the retailer and the service center/maker; it could be something else. About the only thing one can be sure of is that if the retailer is willing to "eat" the cost of the service to you and me, it's customers, it's not so much that it'll have a material negative impact on profits.
Blue and off topic:
At the start of this section, let me say that if I recall correctly, you are the member who mentioned that English isn't your first language. Assuming I'm correct, I respect and appreciate your having shared that info for it allows me to offer the following thoughts only as information, not as criticism. Even if you are a native speaker of English, the remarks are offered nonetheless just to point out the basis for the difficulty some readers may have in accurately understanding the nature and extent of the situation and events you've shared. We can all make reasoned inferences, but that's not the same as being certain.
"If that's going on with the OP" means the writer of that statement read what was written and feels insufficient and/or insufficient precise information has been presented for them to feel as though they fully understand the situation being discussed; therefore, they have had to make assumptions with regard to how they understand the matter, and they realize the assumptions they made may or may not "pan out" to be true. That's all that phrase ever means.
Take, for example, the remark you shared with me at the start of your post quoted herein (post #13). I take it to mean that you bought a pre-owned watch a year ago, and it is a watch that was originally sold by one of the brand's authorized dealers, and it has one year remaining on the manufacturer's warranty. Even as that's how I've interpreted your sentence, I'm not entirely sure that's what you meant. Why? Because:
- I have no definite idea what a "new condition" watch is, but I inferred it means "used watch in excellent condition." Had you written "used watch in excellent condition," I'd know exactly what that means.
- Given that we are talking about service, not warranty repairs, I don't know what import the "new condition" state of the watch has to do with anything for warranty work and service are, for the overwhelming majority of watchmakers not dealt with together under the auspice of a warranty; thus I'm uncertain why you mentioned it.
Also in post #13, you wrote about your "undercover email" and getting info "secretively." I have no idea what to make of that. Are you so famous that your "non undercover email" would make the seller or maker know who you are? If you are, use that fame to your advantage; odds are good that doing so you won't have to pay for service now or in the future. ;-)
All the best.
Haydon was more than his model, he was his inspiration, the torch-bearer of a certain kind of English calling which - for the very reason that it was vague and understated and elusive - had made sense of Guillam's life till now.
― John le Carré,
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy