The purpose of QC pictures

[trailboss99]

Yes Mendota, that's a good reason to post the timeographer pic.
Anything that reasonably needs clarification is just fine. For example "Guys, I spotted the fact the 6 o'clock marker looks crooked, is it or is just the angle of the pic, I can't be sure."
Or "Is that a scratch or a smudge, should I ask for new pics?"

What is NOT acceptable is "Buying this, point out the tells to me" or "is this the best model?" By the time you have QC pics, it's too late for that.

.

 

[Mendota]

Yes Mendota, that's a good reason to post the timeographer pic.
Anything that reasonably needs clarification is just fine. For example "Guys, I spotted the fact the 6 o'clock marker looks crooked, is it or is just the angle of the pic, I can't be sure."
Or "Is that a scratch or a smudge, should I ask for new pics?"

What is NOT acceptable is "Buying this, point out the tells to me" or "is this the best model?" By the time you have QC pics, it's too late for that.

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Thank you, Trailboss. I think this really clears the air for a lot of us. This is exactly what I understood the intent to be. Lately there have been so many members here who are taking the stance that anyone who posts a QC pic is either a noob or is too lazy to do the research to figure out for themselves if there is a manufacturing defect or not. We are all in this hobby together, and sometimes you just need a second opinion if something doesn't look quite right. Being directed to "search" or "figure it out for yourself" is not helpful and is too similar to the attitude over on some of the "holier than thou" gen forums - you know the ones I am implying.

I appreciate your response, as it pretty much ends the discussion from this point forward. It doesn't get any clearer than what you just wrote.

 

[trailboss99]

It's not to ask if there's a defect, people should not be asked to QC your watch but if you have some doubt over whether it should be rejected or not because of something you have spotted it's fine to ask. Don't expect people to do the looking for you however. If the watch is acceptable to you that's what matters.

 

[JC7]

Thank you, Trailboss. I think this really clears the air for a lot of us. This is exactly what I understood the intent to be. Lately there have been so many members here who are taking the stance that anyone who posts a QC pic is either a noob or is too lazy to do the research to figure out for themselves if there is a manufacturing defect or not. We are all in this hobby together, and sometimes you just need a second opinion if something doesn't look quite right. Being directed to "search" or "figure it out for yourself" is not helpful and is too similar to the attitude over on some of the "holier than thou" gen forums - you know the ones I am implying.

I appreciate your response, as it pretty much ends the discussion from this point forward. It doesn't get any clearer than what you just wrote.

Read Col's last post and THIS ENTIRE THREAD.. that shouldn't make it any clearer. ..as for the passive aggressive snarky remarks...

 

[Mendota]

Read Col's last post and THIS ENTIRE THREAD.. that shouldn't make it any clearer. ..as for the passive aggressive snarky remarks...

Very classy gesture. Nobody was referring to you directly. There have been a ton of threads over on this board recently about this subject. Funny, because this doesn't seem to be an issue on the other boards so I am not sure why there are members over here who are having such a problem with the notion of helping each other out...

I am not a passive aggressive guy. That wastes my time and yours. If I think you are being harsh, I'll tell you to your face, like I did in the other thread. Yes, you were being harsh to that guy recently and I told you so. It didn't get any clearer than that and there wasn't an ounce of passive aggressiveness in that. It was crystal clear. I disagreed with you and I told you so. That is not passive aggressive. This particular thread had nothing to do with you...

 

[JC7]

Don't insult my intelligence. I'm done talking to you about this.

This thread being a sticky along with all the moderator, admin, dealer and well respected member comments in support of has put this to rest for me and should you decide to read it will undoubtedly put it to rest for you...

...unless you'd like to post a thread asking if someone would like to read this thread for you and let you know what they think of it.

 

[crossbones]

 

[Showa321]

I didnt even know the QC pics were the exact watch. I just assumed they were stock pictures of previous watches. I mean they cant differ that much from the same supply.

 

[sauuce]

this is DEFINITELY a good set of guidelines for QC
and even with this, the line between what is acceptable behavior and what is not is still kinda blurry.

 

[tictac0566]

I´d like to add quite a difficult example.

As you can see by my posting number, I´m mostly a lurker, reading lots of stuff,
being thankful for rules, tutorials and helpful hints how to handle issues with TD´s.

When it comes to QC pictures, I actually never ever posted anything in any forum.

This time, I feel different, I want to share an example which proves one thing: The
QC pictures you get from your TD are helpful to some extent, but they cannot and
will not cover the whole range of problems.

When my last order arrived, I was shocked that my new Noob 292 was broken.
The case is cracked, it´s a total damage.

Only if you see that watch in person, you could have found the flaw on the QC picture.

This watch should never ever have been sent to a customer, but returned to
the factory.

In my case, I am 100% sure the QC person must have seen the crack, but he or
she was working too fast, thinking the hairline was only dust or something.

Unaltered QC picture:

Picture made B&W and added brightness:

Anybody would have discovered the crack? I am not so sure.
Red circle highlights the thin hair lines on unaltered pictures:

After I received the watch and discovered the crack, I made close-up shots:

Conclusion: If you order a watch which has ceramic parts, you might want to ask
for QC pictures in good light conditions to see possible cracks.

 

[Fenris]

Lets see. Learn first, buy layer.
Thats why I'm here. To learn from you guys. I do know a little bit about timepieces, but not as much as I'd like. I know jack shit about replicas though, which is why I'm here.

I did however expect nothing less than having to make my own deals, and to take responsibility for them.

I also fully expect there to be some learning money involved.
To me, even the most poorly written review beats seing someones QC shots, so ... good thread.

 

[acharria]

QC pictures are for braging!!!

 

[markctrumpet]

I am currently in the situation where the pics are actually of a watch I did not order so I am grateful for them as a resource. It is allowing the vendor the opportunity to preemptivly correct the situation. However, I also completely agree that this sort of reference should be the use of said photos and not, in fact, a critical free for all.

 

[Devedander]

It's not to ask if there's a defect, people should not be asked to QC your watch but if you have some doubt over whether it should be rejected or not because of something you have spotted it's fine to ask. Don't expect people to do the looking for you however. If the watch is acceptable to you that's what matters.

Personally I absolutely agree QC pics should not accompany a request for help with tells...

But I do think the fact we have a large community of people, some of whom have much better eyes for detail and experience that they can share means that posting and just asking if anyone run a second set of eyes over their QC pics doesn't hurt anyone...

I mean we all understand the TDs aren't exactly full staffed department stores so it's not reasonable they catch every detail on every watch... but that's where we can help out as a community... with thousands of paris of eyes avaialble, if only a few glances at a QC pic they may catch some detail other eyes missed...

We have all experience that before right? You spend an hour examining something and someone glances and says "hey whats that thing" you missed?


In fact I think it's a boon to TDs because think how much time and money they will save when the problem is ID'd whiel it's still on that side of the ocean?

Crooked hand? Dust on the dial? Slightly crooked indecy? All these are a few minutes and a few bucks for one of the zillions of watch shop guys I am sure they see every day.

But once it's shipped... now they need to refund the buyer the cost of going to a real repair shop over here... often much more expensive and more time consuming. Especially considering the TDs probably deal with these guys on a daily basis and your average joe here probably has to spend minutes or hours searching and finding a guy who will work on reps and then who knows what quality or cost involved.

I firmly believe there are peopel who ENJOY scrutinizing QC pics like a puzzle or challenge...

So I think realistically posting a QC pic and asking for input shouldn't be frowned upon. You aren't forcing anyone else to do anything for you (they dno't have to) and those who do help might enjoy the process.

At the end of the day it can very easily be a benefit for everyone involved, buyer (who gets extra eyes on his potential purchase) the dealer (who has an opportunity to fix the problem before shipping while it's still easy and cheap to do) and anyone who helps out as they may enjoy the process and it's a learning experience for everyone who does...

I know seeing comments on QC posts has helped me think to look for things I wouldn't have before... the Tag Carrera DayDate with minute indexes mis matched... that is now somehting I will know to look for. And even better the dealer noted that's how the batch is coming out - so now we know somethign else about this model that may well save the dealer countless numbers of returns or unhappy customers down the road just like knowing the V2 Skylands had bad lume dots meant people buying were ok with the imprefection beasue they went in knowing.

I dunno... I have learned how to spot a lot of tells by threads wehre pepole ask how accurate a certain model is and similarly with the QC posts.

We all want everyone to get better at the process and learn to do it themselves, but I think actually these "Help with my QC" posts help people do exactly that.

I know that after looking at a few dozen such posts and the replies I am MUCH better prepaired and maybe even coulod help someone else out when it's their turn to ask for help.

Basically:

Approriate responces to a QC pic request-
Manufacturing defects and imperfections
Things that suggest the model is not correct (ie person says they are told they are getting a V2 skyland but picture shows tells of it being a V3)

Innapropriate responses-
Correctly manufactured but unacurate to gen tells and differences

 

[lloydbee]

Well written I think with some very good points, but as someone new to it all and trying to do my own due diligence I think hey, if I can't spot the difference or a cosmetic problem then who will while it is on my wrist swinging in the breeze. It's not as if I will head into the Gen shop and pretend I'm rolling a Gen.
And for the prices of them, if you like it, buy it.

At the end of the day though aren't these reps perfect 1:1 ha ha

 

[Devedander]

Well written I think with some very good points, but as someone new to it all and trying to do my own due diligence I think hey, if I can't spot the difference or a cosmetic problem then who will while it is on my wrist swinging in the breeze. It's not as if I will head into the Gen shop and pretend I'm rolling a Gen.
And for the prices of them, if you like it, buy it.

At the end of the day though aren't these reps perfect 1:1 ha ha

It certainly depends person to person but sometimes you would be surprised what you miss on first inspection but then jumps out at you every time you see it one you notice it...

Honestly I don't buy watches for others to see... no one I know knows any brand other than rolex and when they do notice one of my nicer watches it's usually just a color thing or they like roman numerals.

I buy watches for me... I look at my watch a lot so for me a flaw is gonna be like a scratch on your car... you will wrinkle your nose every time you see it and you will always see it once you have first seen it.

 

[LangAmil]

True.. Great post..

 

[honitel]

Correct! This is what everyone should keep on mind.

 

[honitel]

You have some good points in here.

 

[JellyJoe]