I had never made a purchase through Steve before, but had seen some of his posts on comparing models across different factories and decided to make a purchase with him.
Communicating with Steve is a pleasure. He is very responsive, helpful and friendly. I had inquired about a few models that he informed me were no longer being made before I decided to order the PAM438 off a stock list he sent me. Here was the timeline: placed order and made payment on 8/3, received QC pics the very next day on 8/4, watch was shipped on 8/7, and arrived in the US on 9/1.
The watch was well packaged and arrived looking brand new. However, when I wound the watch nothing happened. I wound it at least 50 times, and adjusted the time/date and cycled the stem in and out, but the watch was not running. I mentioned this to him and he replied back to give it a bump on my palm and when I did that, it started running. I had never seen that before on any of my numerous mechanical watches, but Steve informed me that can be normal when a watch hasn't run in a while. I was happy with it since it seemed to be running fine. However, then next day while the watch was on my wrist and had been running normally for more than 6 hours, I looked at it and noticed the watch had stopped about an hour an a half ago. I looked at the power reserve indicator on the movement and it showed half-red half-black, although I'm not sure that is even intended to work on the rep. I wound the watch about another 50-60 times (although being on my wrist it shouldn't have needed it), but the watch still did not run. I again bumped the watch against the palm of my hand and the watch started running again.
I reached out again to Steve to let him know and told him I felt like the watch was defective. He asked me again to wind it, and I informed him I had but still had to bump it to get it going. He asked me to send a video if it happened again and I told him I would.
Since then it has been more than a week and I've had no other issues with the watch. I've worn it a lot, and I even took it off and let it wind down and then wound it up again. It now seems to be running fine and keeping good time. I'm not sure what the issue was or if it will rear its head again someday, but I did appreciate the assistance and solid communication from Steve. I know the TDs do not build the watches and quality issues are on the factories. I am also confident that he did a good QC on the watch and sent me a photo of solid time grapher results for it. I am also confident that Steve would have done a good job with coordinating a return/replacement had it been necessary.
Overall, despite the hiccup with the watch, I am very happy with the entire experience purchasing from Steve and will purchase again from him in the future.
P.S. the watch came with a nice leather strap which I actually prefer to the ceramic bracelet.
Communicating with Steve is a pleasure. He is very responsive, helpful and friendly. I had inquired about a few models that he informed me were no longer being made before I decided to order the PAM438 off a stock list he sent me. Here was the timeline: placed order and made payment on 8/3, received QC pics the very next day on 8/4, watch was shipped on 8/7, and arrived in the US on 9/1.
The watch was well packaged and arrived looking brand new. However, when I wound the watch nothing happened. I wound it at least 50 times, and adjusted the time/date and cycled the stem in and out, but the watch was not running. I mentioned this to him and he replied back to give it a bump on my palm and when I did that, it started running. I had never seen that before on any of my numerous mechanical watches, but Steve informed me that can be normal when a watch hasn't run in a while. I was happy with it since it seemed to be running fine. However, then next day while the watch was on my wrist and had been running normally for more than 6 hours, I looked at it and noticed the watch had stopped about an hour an a half ago. I looked at the power reserve indicator on the movement and it showed half-red half-black, although I'm not sure that is even intended to work on the rep. I wound the watch about another 50-60 times (although being on my wrist it shouldn't have needed it), but the watch still did not run. I again bumped the watch against the palm of my hand and the watch started running again.
I reached out again to Steve to let him know and told him I felt like the watch was defective. He asked me again to wind it, and I informed him I had but still had to bump it to get it going. He asked me to send a video if it happened again and I told him I would.
Since then it has been more than a week and I've had no other issues with the watch. I've worn it a lot, and I even took it off and let it wind down and then wound it up again. It now seems to be running fine and keeping good time. I'm not sure what the issue was or if it will rear its head again someday, but I did appreciate the assistance and solid communication from Steve. I know the TDs do not build the watches and quality issues are on the factories. I am also confident that he did a good QC on the watch and sent me a photo of solid time grapher results for it. I am also confident that Steve would have done a good job with coordinating a return/replacement had it been necessary.
Overall, despite the hiccup with the watch, I am very happy with the entire experience purchasing from Steve and will purchase again from him in the future.
P.S. the watch came with a nice leather strap which I actually prefer to the ceramic bracelet.
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