Swiss watches

u812 said:
Just before I bought the TSAR I was thinking about the Luminox Modern Mariner but right about that time my sons Luminox Steel Colormark minute hand fell off (seems to be common with them these days). I called Luminox and they said it would be close to 100.00 to repair it. Told them no and it would be the last I bought unless I got a great deal on one. Had a local Jeweler fix it. He charged 15.00 and said they would not come off again and that it should have been done right from the factory. Their warranty is worthless. He only had this watch for 2 or 3 months before the hand fell off.
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That charge is a bit nuts for a new hand especially on a young watch that should have been fixed for free.

I had a problem with my several years old GSAR, the bezel ratchet broke so it spun in both directions. While communication was pretty bad throughout and it did take literally months of ignored e-mails, non returned calls and an eventual "no, I need to talk to someone now" from me to even get the ball rolling. They charged me about $100 including postage for the new bezel and I had it back from them in about 6 weeks. When they returned the watch it was actually a new watch with my old case back on it. I would have prefered my entire old watch back with a new bezel but you can't fault them at all for that. (the tritium markers are actually rather annoyingly slightly off on the new watch face though).
Marathon really need to sort out communication as whoever you need to talk to always seem to be away, busy or just some how overlooked your e-mail. That got boring very quickly. I'm sure things are better if you are on the same land mass, but I must have spent more than $100 on the numerous international phone calls I had to make to them after all attempts at e-mailing them badly failed.

All in all I'm not particularly amused by the whole experience and probably wouldn't buy another Marathon, but they did good as far as standing by their products and I'll give them props for that. :)
 
Just get a nice Swatch watch, lots to choose from and pretty reliable.
They are the largest watch manufacturer out there for a reason.
M2C
 
Reading these posts that talk about poor customer service and poor quality product just reinforce my thinking that I have no business buying another "fine" watch or even another mechanical one unless it is a great deal. I don't want the hassle of poor warranty or the disappointment of a new watch that doesn't meet the grade.

As far as saving money with a mechanical, that is a no-brainer for me. I bought an inexpensive watch repair set and a case closing clamp from the South American Jungle site and bought batteries from the Bay. The watch tool set was $14 delivered, the clamp was $8 delivered, and the batteries come out to about thirty cents each for ni-cads, and about eighty cents each for silver oxide. When I sat down and did ten watches in one evening, it was easy and fun. Battery replacements around here runs about $12 to $15 a watch depending on the battery and type of case, so 10 for $8 works for me.

That being said, for some strange reason I would like to have another mechanical watch. Not real sure why...

Robert
 
Spiggles said:
Just get a nice Swatch watch, lots to choose from and pretty reliable.
They are the largest watch manufacturer out there for a reason.
M2C
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Contemporary Omegas are nice Swatch watches.

I won't own one of the contemporary models.
 
I dig the swiss army watches and wenger. They seem of good quality and there is a wide range of the models to choose from that also vary in price substantially.
 
Thanks for the ideas and cautions. I got my Seiko out and decided to start wearing it over the weekend as a test to se if it still ran fast, expectations were not high. The time is almost right on the money! Since I bought the watch, it has been running too fast. Over the weekend I accidentally dropped it into the dirt, from a height of about four feet. No idea why, but it is running within a minute of the time on my phone or computer now, consistently. The seconds hand still looks like it is going way too fast, but if the actual time is accurate to around a minute, I am happier than I was before. I have already accidentally banged it into walls etc, but it takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Because it is an automatic, I have been constantly wearing it, only taking it off when I go to bed. I am still going to purchase a brand of Swiss watch.
 
I have 4 or 5 Seikos with the 7s26 movement and all of them run great and are fairly accurate when worn. Chances are, your watch was dropped or magnetized. I've never had an issue with a Seiko watch running poorly, they have all been rock solid and I do not baby them. I'm constantly hammering on steel at work and just generally rough work, none of them have skipped a beat.

The only time I've heard of a Seiko automatic getting messed up is when you drop them on the floor from a height. That can mess up the mainspring inside. Perhaps when you dropped your watch it got knocked back into working order? Who knows.
 
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New Rubbertech band for the Wenger. Summer/sweatproof!

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For an affordable Swiss watch which you will wear in an office environment, you could look at brands like Tissot or Certina and maybe even Longines (depending on your budget).

Tissot has the nice PR50 line, consisting of both quartz watches and automatics. Here's my automatic PR50.



There are also a lot of older Omega's which aren't too expensive, but nice. I had this quartz Omega De Ville for a few years, second hand and for around 100 euros in a local shop.

 
Kohai999 said:
Their warranty program and qc has gone to crap in the last few years....I cannot recommend the new stuff, or the current owners of the brand!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Care to explain? The two I have were purchased about a year ago and have served me well so far.
 
Kohai999 said:
Their warranty program and qc has gone to crap in the last few years....I cannot recommend the new stuff, or the current owners of the brand!

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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I'll second that! Bought two,one for my Son and one for me,they both broke in less than 2 years. I've had $20 watch's last way longer.
 
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