Tag Aquaracer - Broken dial (apparently!)
Discussion
So, sent wifes 6 year old TAG Aquaracer back to TAG via high street retailer. Its the one with diamonds and a mother of pearl face. She loves it (cant see why!). Anyway, since she owned it she has now had three new batteries, the last one in September 2013. In December last year it started losing time at a rate of around 10 minutes every few days. We thought that it would probably need a service so back to TAG it goes.
Got a call from the shop to say that TAG report that the dial is broken and to replace it and service the watch will cost £1089. FFS! I bought the watch at a 30% discount (paid about £1400) and therefore couldn't conceive in paying such a sum to repair it. Frankly it hasn't even been a great watch as three new batteries seems just ridiculous, especially as they keep the watch for 6 weeks each time and it costs north of £60.
Anyway, do the watch community think that there is value in the existing watch (allegedly with a broken dial)? The trouble is that we have no recollection of doing anything to the watch which could cause such damage. All TAG say is that the mother of pearl dial is 'fragile'.
Wifey loves the look of the watch and is not really interested in the Rolex route (which I am happy to do if she could agree) as it wont have diamonds on it (she has a thing about diamonds as I do about watches!). That would be fine but if I get another then perhaps the same would happen. Anyone out there know a good indedendent who may look at the watch to establish if TAG are talking bollo?
JM
Got a call from the shop to say that TAG report that the dial is broken and to replace it and service the watch will cost £1089. FFS! I bought the watch at a 30% discount (paid about £1400) and therefore couldn't conceive in paying such a sum to repair it. Frankly it hasn't even been a great watch as three new batteries seems just ridiculous, especially as they keep the watch for 6 weeks each time and it costs north of £60.
Anyway, do the watch community think that there is value in the existing watch (allegedly with a broken dial)? The trouble is that we have no recollection of doing anything to the watch which could cause such damage. All TAG say is that the mother of pearl dial is 'fragile'.
Wifey loves the look of the watch and is not really interested in the Rolex route (which I am happy to do if she could agree) as it wont have diamonds on it (she has a thing about diamonds as I do about watches!). That would be fine but if I get another then perhaps the same would happen. Anyone out there know a good indedendent who may look at the watch to establish if TAG are talking bollo?
JM
Sorry, was just going by what you posted about wanting to go the Rolex route but your wife not agreeing due to the lack of diamonds.
Going back to your tag, did the service centre actually state WHAT the damage was? a chip? hairline crack? Did you notice anything amiss before you handed it in? Did you take pics? Am thinking, if nothing was amiss on handover, could the damage have happened at the service centre itself? It's not unheard of. Can you get them to send pics / more info on the damage?
Going back to your tag, did the service centre actually state WHAT the damage was? a chip? hairline crack? Did you notice anything amiss before you handed it in? Did you take pics? Am thinking, if nothing was amiss on handover, could the damage have happened at the service centre itself? It's not unheard of. Can you get them to send pics / more info on the damage?
Fas1975 said:
Sorry, was just going by what you posted about wanting to go the Rolex route but your wife not agreeing due to the lack of diamonds.
Going back to your tag, did the service centre actually state WHAT the damage was? a chip? hairline crack? Did you notice anything amiss before you handed it in? Did you take pics? Am thinking, if nothing was amiss on handover, could the damage have happened at the service centre itself? It's not unheard of. Can you get them to send pics / more info on the damage?
Exactly my thoughts and exactly what was suggested to the retailer who called to tell us that the repair would cost over £1k. Apparently there is an hairline crack almost invisible to the eye. (of course there is!! Going back to your tag, did the service centre actually state WHAT the damage was? a chip? hairline crack? Did you notice anything amiss before you handed it in? Did you take pics? Am thinking, if nothing was amiss on handover, could the damage have happened at the service centre itself? It's not unheard of. Can you get them to send pics / more info on the damage?
) We got the watch back from the retailer after (another) new battery last September. The watch started losing time in December. I think it would be difficult to prove who caused the crack. Anyhoo, I think a watch which is, effectively, suitable for (shallowish) diving, should be able to withstand a knock or two!You were quite right to post the rolex ptions and to be honest I had considered that but the cost is a fair leap! Actually, keep these pics away from my wife as she may get ideas (I just ordered a Dornbluth and she was very supportive so it might be technically difficult for me to justify doling out a decent wedge for a new watch for her! hehehe.). I am just considering doing a part exchange with a reputable second hand watch dealer with their own workshops so that a decent repair can be made and the watch sold on.
Cheers
If she really likes the watch and it's a crack that you can't really see then get it to an indie and ask their advice. The chances are that the dial is NOT scrap unless you really can't bear the sight of this crack that you hadn't noticed before.
Having it serviced outside the Tag system will be a lot cheaper, quite possibly more effective, and won't carry ridiculous requirements like "we have to replace that dial because there's an invisible crack".
3 batteries in 6 years is probably about right if you mean this is the third one being fitted now. The typical life of a decent battery in most watches is around 2 years so, if it had a fresh one at point of sale, you'd be roughly due the third now.
Having said that, a new battery in Sept and losing time by December does suggest a mechanical fault, which could be as simple as the oil starting to dry out. The circuits are designed so that they increase the driving power (and battery drain) in response to increased mechanical resistance, so dried oil will tend to shorten battery life until it's sorted.
Having it serviced outside the Tag system will be a lot cheaper, quite possibly more effective, and won't carry ridiculous requirements like "we have to replace that dial because there's an invisible crack".
3 batteries in 6 years is probably about right if you mean this is the third one being fitted now. The typical life of a decent battery in most watches is around 2 years so, if it had a fresh one at point of sale, you'd be roughly due the third now.
Having said that, a new battery in Sept and losing time by December does suggest a mechanical fault, which could be as simple as the oil starting to dry out. The circuits are designed so that they increase the driving power (and battery drain) in response to increased mechanical resistance, so dried oil will tend to shorten battery life until it's sorted.
Vario, that's exactly what I will be doing. I have asked 'the retailer'm to return the watch without doing the work. I shall trawl PH to find a good lad or lassie who would check out the watch to see if TAG are being honest. They are effectively saying that the crack is causing the loss of time. Now, I see that this could be possible if the dial is skewed and is stopping the hands from moving around smoothly but this is assuming that there is lots of space for the dial to move around in so that it is not 'level', if you see what I mean, but that cannot be the case can it?!
I am yet to get the watch back so will need to see what this crack looks like it but the lady in the store said it was a very small crack almost invisible. Go figure!
Any likely candidates to do an independant check on the watch please feel free to post here. All applicants considered (so long as they have a watch related webbie and they don't work for TAG!!)
Thanks
I am yet to get the watch back so will need to see what this crack looks like it but the lady in the store said it was a very small crack almost invisible. Go figure!
Any likely candidates to do an independant check on the watch please feel free to post here. All applicants considered (so long as they have a watch related webbie and they don't work for TAG!!)
Thanks
The dial could be causing the loss but:
(a) it would have to be obviously loose - which an invisible hairline wouldn't cause. You also would have noticed it shifting around.
(b) Even if it was, it's always possible to re-attach a dial even if the feet are snapped off. To be fair, you wouldn't expect the manufacturer to do so because it wouldn't be to "factory spec" but it's a well established repair going back almost as long as watches have existed.
Afaik the movements in these are now Ronda harley, but 6 years ago they may have still been using ETA in them. Either way, well within the capabilities of any reasonable indie.
Check my profile for a link to a very crappy website with several happy customers on here
(a) it would have to be obviously loose - which an invisible hairline wouldn't cause. You also would have noticed it shifting around.
(b) Even if it was, it's always possible to re-attach a dial even if the feet are snapped off. To be fair, you wouldn't expect the manufacturer to do so because it wouldn't be to "factory spec" but it's a well established repair going back almost as long as watches have existed.
Afaik the movements in these are now Ronda harley, but 6 years ago they may have still been using ETA in them. Either way, well within the capabilities of any reasonable indie.
Check my profile for a link to a very crappy website with several happy customers on here
highly recommended on here and he did a great job on fixing my watch for very little moneyOn a slightly related topic Joe, is refixing dial feet relatively straightforward and durable? I presume that removing them is relatively straightforward too?
I have recently seen some generic replacement feet made by Bergeon and the same supplier also offered a double sided fixing pad for securing the dial without feet. The latter did have me wondering about durability.
I have recently seen some generic replacement feet made by Bergeon and the same supplier also offered a double sided fixing pad for securing the dial without feet. The latter did have me wondering about durability.
Gassing Station | Watches | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff