Watches

sadly I am the gardener. I'd consider getting one though if he could/would service Mrs S and save me the mither.
enrique-iglesias.gif
 

I showed the missus this..


She actually said its really nice!! 😮



And that I can buy one if I want!! 😲😲😲


She must feel guilty about something... :lol:

Now taking bets... She wants something herself, which she'll spring on you after you get the watch.
 
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I wouldn't touch Christopher Ward with a barge pole.
And that's from experience: I bought one. Only £900 I wanted a mechanical watch.

Initially the 'ticking' was eratic: each minute the 'tick' would gradually fade and then pick up. Metronomically.
It transpired that the second hand was brushing against another as it swept around. It became less precise and eventually stopped.
It took Christopher Ward 12 weeks to fix under warranty.

Within 6 months, another fault.
This time the watch stopped when it was upside down, yet worked when upright and not worn. I understand that has something to do with the balance spring or something (pivot or jewel or other).
It cost me £250 to repair at Timpsons.
My advice is buy quality or, as I do now, buy a £25 Lorus or £10 Casio. Both available at Argos and fabulous.
 

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I wouldn't touch Christopher Ward with a barge pole.
And that's from experience: I bought one. Only £900 I wanted a mechanical watch.

Initially the 'ticking' was eratic: each minute the 'tick' would gradually fade and then pick up. Metronomically.
It transpired that the second hand was brushing against another as it swept around. It became less precise and eventually stopped.
It took Christopher Ward 12 weeks to fix under warranty.

Within 6 months, another fault.
This time the watch stopped when it was upside down, yet worked when upright and not worn. I understand that has something to do with the balance spring or something (pivot or jewel or other).
It cost me £250 to repair at Timpsons.
My advice is buy quality or, as I do now, buy a £25 Lorus or £10 Casio. Both available at Argos and fabulous.

@verreauxi

What say you, having a CW yourself? Just sounds like one of those 1 in 10,000 experiences to me. While unfortunate, they do happen...no matter the manufacturer.
 

Back in the olden days (say 10 years ago), Christopher Ward had a stellar reputation for their customer service. I guess part of being a small brand that relies heavily on word of mouth within the watch community is the real need to focus on making the customer happy.

Over the years though, I've heard more and more stories of people not being quite so happy with Christopher Ward quality control and customer services.

Issues will occur in any watch (and a mechanical watch has much more that can go wrong than a quartz one), but as arch stanton says, it's how quickly and easily they resolve any issues that are important.
I have a CW (and have owned maybe 7-8 in the past). Personally I've never had any issues, so I'd still be comfortable buying another.
 
I wouldn't touch Christopher Ward with a barge pole.
And that's from experience: I bought one. Only £900 I wanted a mechanical watch.

Initially the 'ticking' was eratic: each minute the 'tick' would gradually fade and then pick up. Metronomically.
It transpired that the second hand was brushing against another as it swept around. It became less precise and eventually stopped.
It took Christopher Ward 12 weeks to fix under warranty.

Within 6 months, another fault.
This time the watch stopped when it was upside down, yet worked when upright and not worn. I understand that has something to do with the balance spring or something (pivot or jewel or other).
It cost me £250 to repair at Timpsons.
My advice is buy quality or, as I do now, buy a £25 Lorus or £10 Casio. Both available at Argos and fabulous.
Was there no return/refund option? Under warranty and that..
 
@verreauxi

What say you, having a CW yourself? Just sounds like one of those 1 in 10,000 experiences to me. While unfortunate, they do happen...no matter the manufacturer.

Yeah, sounds like one of those horror stories of buying a lemon. I don't know if the OP bought their watch new or used; if new, then it is obviously a major lapse in quality control, and if used then it sounds like it was dinged quite hard to misalign the hands.

For every watch company, including Rolex, you can always find one of these horror stories. Mercifully never happened to me, and my CW has been running well and keep great time and gets a lot of wrist time. If I recall, CWs waranty is one of the better ones in the industry.
 

@verreauxi

What say you, having a CW yourself? Just sounds like one of those 1 in 10,000 experiences to me. While unfortunate, they do happen...no matter the manufacturer.

Yeah, sounds like one of those horror stories of buying a lemon. I don't know if the OP bought their watch new or used; if new, then it is obviously a major lapse in quality control, and if used then it sounds like it was dinged quite hard to misalign the hands.

For every watch company, including Rolex, you can always find one of these horror stories. Mercifully never happened to me, and my CW has been running well and keep great time and gets a lot of wrist time. If I recall, CWs waranty is one of the better ones in the industry.

It was bought new.
With a claimed quality of precision higher than 'normal'.

I did report the second fault but no response received rom customer service. And well within their warranty period.

I have no confidence in this brand. Therefore It was repaired by Timpsons and is sitting in my bedside drawers.

It was an honest posting.

Research shows that their second hand values aren't fabulous.
Hence my suggestion that they buy a good quality brand that will hold it's value better.

Perhaps I was just unlucky. But once bitten....

Seriously. If it's a good brand then surely someone will want to make an offer for this watch?
 
It was bought new.
With a claimed quality of precision higher than 'normal'.

I did report the second fault but no response received rom customer service. And well within their warranty period.

I have no confidence in this brand. Therefore It was repaired by Timpsons and is sitting in my bedside drawers.

It was an honest posting.

Research shows that their second hand values aren't fabulous.
Hence my suggestion that they buy a good quality brand that will hold it's value better.

Perhaps I was just unlucky. But once bitten....

Seriously. If it's a good brand then surely someone will want to make an offer for this watch?

I certainly wasn't doubting you and I'm sorry you got a crap watch. I have no allegiance to CW (though I do like that one of the owners is a blue), and it's a shame they didn't follow up with better customer service.
 
It was bought new.
With a claimed quality of precision higher than 'normal'.

I did report the second fault but no response received rom customer service. And well within their warranty period.

I have no confidence in this brand. Therefore It was repaired by Timpsons and is sitting in my bedside drawers.

It was an honest posting.

1. Research shows that their second hand values aren't fabulous.
Hence my suggestion that they buy a good quality brand that will hold it's value better.

2. Perhaps I was just unlucky. But once bitten....

Seriously. If it's a good brand then surely someone will want to make an offer for this watch?

1. Neither are most other watches' value unless they get trendy (Seiko SKX007) and also had things like low production #'s and it's not like the SKX is fetching 1,000's. People lose thousands or tens of thousands on watches daily including major, well-known brands like Rolex, Breguet and IWC...just like with cars.

2. Unfortunately it seems so. It's why I'll never drop over 2-5k (chump change in the world of watches, unfortunately) on one and, if I did, that'd be via trading up somehow which you can eventually do if you have patience and knowledge of the used market. CW is a new name in the business and it'd be rare for them to have resale value above or near retail as their history is short and, therefore, have a short reliability record. They've seemingly knocked one out of the park and made a name for themselves in the market with the Bel Canto if its long-term reliability proves sound...IF.

It's a slippery slope, this time business.
 

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