First every REP arrived and.... the cyclops is crooked. Now what?

[jon154]

Hi all, after much deliberation, a wonderful sales experience from my TD, and then a couple weeks waiting, my beautiful Sea-Dweller REP arrived in the mail earlier this week. I am so impressed with this magnificent piece, with one exception - the cyclops is crooked. See attached. I reached out to my TD who has kindly offered to send me a new sapphire or I can return the watch (at my cost) and he will correct it. I absolutely love this watch. I guess my question is what should I do?

• send the watch back and have it corrected (and be without it for maybe 4 weeks)?
• have the TD send me a new sapphire and find a local watch shop to replace it for me?

If I have it repaired locally, are there any risks in them reporting this watch as a REP? And how much is this correction likely to cost here in Australia?

Hoping this newbie can get some sage advice.

 

[jon154]

And here's the image:

 

[domiffm]

• send the watch back and have it corrected (and be without it for maybe 4 weeks)?

That would be more like 4-7 months. Don’t send back to China, as advised everywhere here on the forum.

Find a watchsmith and get the crystal corrected. Or install the replacement crystal.

If you really love the watch as you say, I’d get a Gen crystal and get it installed. Huge improvement.

 

[Dave2302]

If you read the Noobie stickies and searched the forum you would know NEVER SEND A WATCH BACK TO CHINA !!

Advice as per @domiffm 's post above.

My question is what / who TD let that past QC, did you approve a QC ........... WTF ?

I'm no gambler but I'm almost willing to bet that didn't come from an RWI TD

 

[asusundevils1971]

I am surprised you and the TD didn't notice the crooked cyclops in QC as most people getting their first rep really analyse it compared to a gen and are not happy if the crown at 12 isn't perfectly aligned. VSF does make beautiful watches especially the Subs and your SD43 but sometimes little things happen. Thank goodness yours is a very easy fix.

I would take the offer of getting a new crystal shipped and have a local watchsmith switch it out for you as domiffm said. If you do opt to get a gen crystal it would firstly be quite hard to acquire and would be the same price if not more for what you paid for the watch plus install.

I wouldn't be concerned about the watchsmith reporting to to authorities that your watch is a rep and maybe @DiggerOfWatches can help you find one in Australia.

You have a beautiful watch with that one little exception and thank goodness it's a very easy fix. Also very glad you didn't open this thread to crap on the TD. Hope you get this fixed very soon so you can enjoy your SD43 even more.

 

[p0pperini]

Have you checked the position of the etched crown on the crystal?

My guess is it will be a little off to the right of 6, which will confirm that the cyclops isn't incorrectly mounted on the crystal, but rather, the crystal is slightly rotated. In which case there would be no point getting a replacement crystal. Just get a watchsmith to remove the bezel assembly and rotate the crystal a few degrees to fix the issue.

 

[RepPossessed]

are there any risks in them reporting this watch as a REP?

Come on...

 

[jon154]

Come on...

Unhelpful?

 

[tennman]

Have you checked the position of the etched crown on the crystal?

My guess is it will be a little off to the right of 6, which will confirm that the cyclops isn't incorrectly mounted on the crystal, but rather, the crystal is slightly rotated. In which case there would be no point getting a replacement crystal. Just get a watchsmith to remove the bezel assembly and rotate the crystal a few degrees to fix the issue.

Looks to me that if you did rotate it down the date would still be off center of the cyclops.

 

[TESLA760]

Buy a gen crystal and problem solved !

 

[Dave2302]

Buy a gen crystal and problem solved !

Well, one of the problems

 

[jon154]

Thanks to all respondents. Looks like having this (hopefully minor) issue repaired locally is the best way forward.
Unfortunately the genuine crystal is out of my budget - by an order of magnitude.

So: does this mean the watch repairer straightens the existing cyclops OR, do I have my TD send over the new cyclops so it can be replaced altogether by the local repair shop?

If anyone can recommend a REP repair agent in Canberra, Australia I'd really appreciate it.

 

[TheSilentSinger]

Thanks to all respondents. Looks like having this (hopefully minor) issue repaired locally is the best way forward.
Unfortunately the genuine crystal is out of my budget - by an order of magnitude.

So: does this mean the watch repairer straightens the existing cyclops OR, do I have my TD send over the new cyclops so it can be replaced altogether by the local repair shop?

If anyone can recommend a REP repair agent in Canberra, Australia I'd really appreciate it.

Not Canberra but if you don't mind sending it to one of the member here who is a watchmaker/modder based in Australia, look up tongsui. I'm sure he is more than happy to fix it.

 

[Chroniker]

Thanks to all respondents. Looks like having this (hopefully minor) issue repaired locally is the best way forward.
Unfortunately the genuine crystal is out of my budget - by an order of magnitude.

So: does this mean the watch repairer straightens the existing cyclops OR, do I have my TD send over the new cyclops so it can be replaced altogether by the local repair shop?

If anyone can recommend a REP repair agent in Canberra, Australia I'd really appreciate it.

Ok. Here is my tutorial( again, I know) so you can remove the cyclop yourself for little to no money and then glue it back on straight. Thank me later…

first try it like this:


if that doesn’t work, this will:


you see, easy peasy and read for you to glue it back on straight:

 

[shyreplover]

My question is what / who TD let that past QC, did you approve a QC ........... WTF ?

I'm no gambler but I'm almost willing to bet that didn't come from an RWI TD

In some instances TDs don't even see the watch, they call their go-to guy and have that guy do all the leg work, send QC photos, and ship it out.

When OP received the QC pics, is the cyclop straight? because it is so obviously crooked.
If it was crooked on the QC pic, then it is OP's fault, just accept TD's offer of replacement crystal and go to a watchsmith.
If it wasn't crooked on the QC pic, then OP should complain to TD because what was received is not the same watch.

 

[jon154]

Yeah I did approve the QC photos a little too hastily in hindsight. This is my first REP remember. Looking at them now I can spot the issue, but it was not as obvious or evident during QC. Looks like I will be accepting TD's replacement crystal and getting it fixed locally.
I friggin love the watch.

 

[Dave2302]

just accept TD's offer of replacement crystal and go to a watchsmith.

100% This /\ /\ /\

OK, now I've took the piss in my above posts, (which is just craic ya know), I'll be serious for 30 seconds .............

Forget moaning at TD's they'll only ask you to send it back for refund / replacement, if you go that route it will likely never arrive, and even if it does, the refund may not !!

Even if a refund does eventually hit your payment source there will be BIG currency fees, so best possible outcome is if you do somehow, against all odds, successfully manage to return a watch you will end up with no watch and less money !!

 

[Dave2302]

Ok. Here is my tutorial( again, I know) so you can remove the cyclop yourself for little to no money and then glue it back on straight. Thank me later…

first try it like this:


if that doesn’t work, this will:


you see, easy peasy and read for you to glue it back on straight:

It was at this point that @Chroniker realised that the watch he just used for this demo was in fact his newly purchased Gen, and not the dead old AAA 1:1 DHG replica that he bought 6 months ago

 

[Chroniker]

It was at this point that @Chroniker realised that the watch he just used for this demo was in fact his newly purchased Gen, and not the dead old AAA 1:1 DHG replica that he bought 6 months ago

You know what Dave, this is in fact an old Gen. No kidding!

 

[Nono92]

Did you receive QC pics before ? A gen crystal is a good idea, or a deep crystal