Send a broken replica watch back to gen factory for repair?

[DefiantVitreous]

Hey guys. Hoping for some direction here. Purchased a Louis Vuitton Tambour LV277. Dropped it. The band is attached to a piece of metal which is attached to the face. It must have hit the floor at the exact perfect angle for the metal to break off from the face. It is a perfectly clean break. Smooth on both sides. Couldn't have been cleaner.

I know a local jewelry store owner and they have an in-house repair dude. Showed him the watch and said he couldn't fix it. He said that his outsourced "watch guy" is coming into the store the next day and he would show it to him. He said he couldn't fix it and the only place that possibly may be able to do it is Louis Vuitton.

Took pictures of the break and emailed them to two online repair outfits that claim they are authorized LV repair "specialists". They both emailed me back and said I needed to send it to LV.

So here I am. I have a replica and it seems like the only hope of fixing it is to send it to LV. To make matters worse, the watch is discontinued so I can't even buy another one unless I wait months or years for someone to put one up for sale.

So what should I do? If I sent it to LV, what would happen if they figured out it was a replica? Will they figure it out? Is there some special watch repair guru within the community that I can speak with?

Help wanted. Thanks for your comments!

- DV

 

[Specter1000]

Do not send it back to the gen dealer, they won't touch it. Best thing is post some pics here and see if someone on the forum can help you.

 

[Rx4Time]

Pictures? You probably can reattach it with two part epoxy depending on how it snapped.

 

[DefiantVitreous]

 

[Rx4Time]

I'd epoxy it back in place with a high quality two part one like jb weld. No other real option.

 

[DefiantVitreous]

Where do you find such a product (do you have a link?) and how do you do it properly?

 

[DefiantVitreous]

Is this what you are talking about? https://www.jbweld.com/products/j-b-weld-twin-tube

 

[DefiantVitreous]

I have purchased it. Hope it works. Thanks for the advice.

 

[wes911]

Scuff up both mating surfaces to give the epoxy something to grab. If you leave the watch case smooth and shiny it probably wont last long.

 

[Captainunderpants]

Are you relying on just that tab to hold it in place or can you use the whole surface area round it ???
If there is a gap once you slide it back in , it could act as a lever to snap it off again as it will never be as strong as a weld in my opinion .
The more grab you can get ,the better the fix will be . I would scuff and scrape as you have nothing to lose if nobody will touch it .

 

[Captainunderpants]

Im guessing that by joining by tab its meant to look like its floating against the watch face which is why it is such a clean break ...the glue may dry light so you can mix the epoxy with black paint so it doesn't show ..

 

[mydnytrydr]

Louis Vuitton products are some of the most counterfeited items in the world .. They have an entire department in their corporate offices devoted to fighting and prosecuting counterfeiters …. If sent to Louis Vuitton, your watch would end up in the trash … They wouldn't even dignify it by scraping and recycling it.

 

[DefiantVitreous]

I forgot to post back here and update. The JB Weld worked perfectly. Can't even tell it ever snapped off. Been wearing it about 2 times per week for the last 2 years without a problem. Thanks for the advice. Maybe this would help someone else as well.

 

[p0pperini]

You could always use the leftover JB Weld to reproduce one of these:



Just cover in epoxy and sprinkle on a small sack of cubic zirconia.