1st time purchase

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I've been looking around for ages. I finally decided to let Puretime make my day. I wasn't really decided on which watch I wanted. Have been looking around for a Vacheron for very long but I wasn't really able to find a properly made one. And then I guess there were just too many options of the others out there, so in the end I finally settled with a PP Caltrava.
I followed a guide from this forum and e-mailed the sales dep to make a personal contact. The forum-guide said it was the preferred way and I can understand that. Holding hands of customers have always been a winning stroke. In the end though, they left me make use of the website and declined all personal contact. I guess they are too busy with all the work they do. It was however confirmed that the watch I wanted was "available".

Anyway...

Order was placed 27th of March. Money was withdrawn from my mastercard immediately. I also got an e-mail with confirmation of order and also saying that the purchase itself = money transfer, would be confirmed withing a few days.
Payment confirmed 29th of March. All according to their own promises through this forum. Nice.
Sales admin: Marie, also kindly let me order an extra strap, but I fell on understanding her e-mail perfectly well so I will postpone that for next watch-order. Very nice of Marie though.
The watch I picked was available (probably meaning 'in stock') so I hope for a fast-ish delivery. If that even is possible.
Now waiting for QC material.

I really have no clue about what to expect. Nor do I understand what smart steps I can do or what unsmart steps I can avoid. So I am absolutely happy to receive some advice. I guess I now have the nervous feeling many other customers talk about. Just 500 quid poorer and hopefully dreaming of a pleasant ride.

Will try to keep this post updated as we go.

Cheers and thanks to all those souls contributing with knowledge to this website.
J

 

[puretime]

Thank you for choosing us, we won't disappoint you.

 

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Update,

Received a batch of QC photos 11th of April, but unfortunately it was with the wrong color on the strap, so they immediately re-ordered another with the correct color. I also found one tiny scratch which I guess won't exist on next one.

So today, only 2 weeks later, I had another batch of QC photos and they all looked fine as far as I was able to tell by just looking at the photos. The MTG-9900 watch tester showed slightly different values indicating that the complete watch was replaced and not just the strap. Bonus point for PureTime.

One thing I could wish for, in next order, would be that they use a slower hand move in the mp4 file they create, in order for me to better inspect the watch. For those wondering, the QC photos are not only photos, but also one mp4 file showing one hand holding the watch and rotating it back and forth. This takes a few seconds, but would probably make better if taken up to 10 seconds. Maybe also the photos could be of a bit higher quality, but I guess the filesize also has to be kept small enough to fit an e-mail.

Now patiently waiting again...

 

[puretime]

One thing I could wish for, in next order, would be that they use a slower hand move in the mp4 file they create, in order for me to better inspect the watch. For those wondering, the QC photos are not only photos, but also one mp4 file showing one hand holding the watch and rotating it back and forth. This takes a few seconds, but would probably make better if taken up to 10 seconds. Maybe also the photos could be of a bit higher quality, but I guess the filesize also has to be kept small enough to fit an e-mail.

Thanks for your advice. It's because that will be large for sending in the email and it takes longer to finish our work since there are many orders to process. If you have this sepcial need, you can feel free to request this to our QC department once you recieve our QC pictures. Thank you

 

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Update

While I was waiting I had no tracking number. No one sent me anything. Not until I e-mailed them and asked for it, I was given one. So I used it to see what was happening... and it seemed to have been shipped (by flight) and landed in my country several days ago. Looking at the stopdates in the tracker it seemed to be very fast, but now it was jumping from different transit states over here.

Interesting thing to notice was that I had payed extra to get it shipped via UK, then to my country. But the tracker said nothing about UK. It somehow got shipped directly.

I e-mailed and asked about it the 8th of May, but no one answered.

So yesterday, it finally arrived. The package was sent from Luxemburg, but still not apparent in the tracker. Oh well, I got my package after all, the watch looks nice.

Am I happy with the customer experience: No. I would've expected a bit better communication. Not a showstopper, since I got it after all, but I usually get more professionalism when I buy a pair of socks. Imagine if something went wrong and I needed to communicate with PT - I'd quickly loose my temper. Communication may be difficult, but in this case it's very easy to patch it.

Am I happy with the watch? Yes it looks nice, although... it's a bit small. But OK, I knew this. The strap however feels very low-quality. It's very hard and unflexible/rigid (feels like some kind of plastic rather than leather) and it's one of those things that cannot be checked before purchase. The watch (automatic movement) is awfully loud too. Not like other automatic watches. I wonder if this will "wear off" and run smoother after a while. Not that it bothers me, but rather because it's worryingly loud and I somehow suspect it to fail soon.

It took 8 weeks from online purchase until I had it in my hand. Expected that. Although, it arrived in my country only a few days after QC confirmation, so the long shipping time cannot be blamed on PT. Also, 2 weeks of these were taken up by the delay from PT having to reorder what I actually wanted. So if they didn't do this mistake - 6 weeks. Acceptable.

Would I buy another watch from PT: 2 minor things are worthy to note here... they completely haphazardly order the wrong watch at first. And they didn't communicate the tracking number. Those are easy things to solve in a small company and the fact that it hasn't been solved says that this behaviour probably will stick. This does not affect the end result anyhow, since the watch got delivered in the end. But as mentioned... this bahviour might lead to other mistakes and those have to be communicated and if communication doesn't work... imagine the hassle.

In total. I'm satisfied and I trust the few flaws will be patched somehow. I am now planning my next purchase.

I might update this thread a few months down the line, to update how it's working and such.

 

[puretime]

Would I buy another watch from PT: 2 minor things are worthy to note here... they completely haphazardly order the wrong watch at first. And they didn't communicate the tracking number. Those are easy things to solve in a small company and the fact that it hasn't been solved says that this behaviour probably will stick. This does not affect the end result anyhow, since the watch got delivered in the end. But as mentioned... this bahviour might lead to other mistakes and those have to be communicated and if communication doesn't work... imagine the hassle.

Thanks for your review. We did ordered the watch with correct strap but please understand factory usually delivers orders in bulks. They usually don't pay attention to the strap colours

As for the tracking number, it will be updated under your account once it's shipped out and system will email you automatically. Please check if you can find the tracking number under your order history from your account or if our system email went to your spams. Thank you

 

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OK, well then. Case closed. I guess that explains a few of my questions.

I looked further around in this forum and the internet generally and it seems the loud sounds are coming from the Miyota auto movement. So I guess that's not a bug, but rather a feature.

All-in-all, I am a pleasantly happy new watch owner and hope to have a good relationship with Puretime for future deals.

Thanks PT

 

[puretime]

Thank you. Hope to cooperate soon next time.

 

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And today it stopped working. The rotor inside, which turns up the watch's energy reserve, is stuck. Less than 5 months after buying it. So I will try to claim using the guarantee.


Didn't really expect this. :-(

 

[puretime]

Please email us your order number to [email protected] We will discuss this further, Thank you.