Maurice Lacroix - defective watch - poor customer service

[A14RGS]

Evening all,

I'll try to summarise....

Early in 2020 I bought myself a Maurice Lacroix watch whilst on holiday in the Caribbean.
Since them, it has never kept accurate time, losing ~2 mins/week (the manufacturer's time keeping tolerance is -1 second - + 8 seconds per day). I have returned it to ML's UK Service Centre on at least five occasions during the intervening period and on each occasion it has been 'repaired', tested and returned to me as 'fixed', but the fault remains.
In September this year, after the latest ineffective repair, I contacted the UK Service Centre again, stating that the watch was not fit for purpose, requesting a new replacement. This was escalated to ML UK and then to ML in Switzerland, who requested that the watch be returned to them for inspection. Three months later, despite direct prompts from me to ML in Switzerland, they still have my watch and have only communicated (just once, last week) via their UK Service Centre.
ML have stated that they will repair the watch (billing their UK Service Centre), but I have declined this on the basis that there have been enough attempts at an effective repair, reiterating my request for a replacement.
I have threatened to 'make it public' via social media - but, in reality, am undecided what to do to achieve a satisfactory solution. What I really want - and I consider to be a perfectly reasonable request - is a new watch.

What would you do??

Thoughts and suggestions welcome please.

[FreeLitres]

Out of interest, which model and price was this? 2 minutes per week is out of spec but not devastating. I don't think I've ever "tested" my Seamaster for accuracy in the last 15 years.

[Hoofy]

I'd be tempted to go down the same route you're doing. You've given them enough chances to fix it.

Just to check - you haven't bought it on the grey market and defo bought it from an authorised dealer? (In case they bring that up.)

[number2]

2 minutes a week.... is it COSC certified?

If you like the watch, keep it and live with it. Two minutes a week is really not a big deal. Chill.

COSC is up to around 6 seconds a day, 42 seconds a week. Yours is 3x that but 3x small numbers is still small.

[A14RGS]

FreeLitres said:

Out of interest, which model and price was this? 2 minutes per week is out of spec but not devastating. I don't think I've ever "tested" my Seamaster for accuracy in the last 15 years.

Aikon - about £1200 IIRC.

[A14RGS]

Hoofy said:

I'd be tempted to go down the same route you're doing. You've given them enough chances to fix it.

Just to check - you haven't bought it on the grey market and defo bought it from an authorised dealer? (In case they bring that up.)

Thanks.

No, bought from an authorised dealer, with a global 2-year guarantee (which I used!).
Subsequently 'repaired' under the Service Centre's guarantee, aside from a £350+ service at my expense, that they insisted it needed...

Edited by A14RGS on Saturday 23 December 08:44

[A14RGS]

number2 said:

2 minutes a week.... is it COSC certified?

If you like the watch, keep it and live with it. Two minutes a week is really not a big deal. Chill.

COSC is up to around 6 seconds a day, 42 seconds a week. Yours is 3x that but 3x small numbers is still small.

I don't know.

The accuracy I've stated is as confirmed by the Service Centre.

It's as much principle as the actual inaccuracy. I bought a 'good' watch and it's therefore reasonable to expect it to keep accurate time. If I'd paid £50 for it, then I'd have no cause for complaint.
Added to which, it's the inability to effect a repair and the poor customer care that's pi$$ing me off.

[FreeLitres]

A14RGS said:

FreeLitres said:

Out of interest, which model and price was this? 2 minutes per week is out of spec but not devastating. I don't think I've ever "tested" my Seamaster for accuracy in the last 15 years.

Aikon - about £1200 IIRC.

I'll be honest, given that you feel pretty cheesed off at the lack of performance and the relatively low value, I'd be tempted to just sell it and move on to something new. If it was me and I'd already tried the official routes in the way that you have, I'd want to get it out of my life as every time I'd look at it, I'd be reminded of the struggle.

If it was around £5k or more, I'd be hanging in for the fight a little longer.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

Going 'public' on social media just makes you look like a whinger. Nobody will care.

The watch is almost four years old, they aren't going to give you a new one. You should have insisted on that when it was still in warranty.

Either live with it or eBay it.

[Chilly for June]

I bought an Aikon but the quartz chronograph version.

When it arrived the chronograph hands never reset to zero they were always slightly off. I returned it and got my money back instead of a replacement.

Not sure what they are doing wrong as the quartz and auto movements are off the shelf but somewhere along the line they are making mistakes.

Probably sell loads though and people have no issues.

[FreeLitres]

It's weird that I hardly ever hear about Maurice Lacroix watches despite me browsing lots of forums, etc. At that price point, Longines and Tissot seem to clean up.

[nikaiyo2]

A14RGS said:

Evening all,

I'll try to summarise....

Early in 2020 I bought myself a Maurice Lacroix watch whilst on holiday in the Caribbean.
Since them, it has never kept accurate time, losing ~2 mins/week (the manufacturer's time keeping tolerance is -1 second - + 8 seconds per day). I have returned it to ML's UK Service Centre on at least five occasions during the intervening period and on each occasion it has been 'repaired', tested and returned to me as 'fixed', but the fault remains.
In September this year, after the latest ineffective repair, I contacted the UK Service Centre again, stating that the watch was not fit for purpose, requesting a new replacement. This was escalated to ML UK and then to ML in Switzerland, who requested that the watch be returned to them for inspection. Three months later, despite direct prompts from me to ML in Switzerland, they still have my watch and have only communicated (just once, last week) via their UK Service Centre.
ML have stated that they will repair the watch (billing their UK Service Centre), but I have declined this on the basis that there have been enough attempts at an effective repair, reiterating my request for a replacement.
I have threatened to 'make it public' via social media - but, in reality, am undecided what to do to achieve a satisfactory solution. What I really want - and I consider to be a perfectly reasonable request - is a new watch.

What would you do??

Thoughts and suggestions welcome please.

Where are you getting the time keeping expectation from?

It’s better than COSC, it’s almost Omega METAS… I can’t imagine any Watch company producing watches of such expected accuracy and not shout about it.

https://www.omegawatches.com/planet-omega/watchmak...

2 minutes a week? My Rolex doesn’t keep time that well, but it’s not a chronometer so not really expected to.

I have to say I judge time keeping by do I miss the train or am I late for meetings, life is far far to short for anything more.

Maybe try Omega or Ulysse Nardin they produce great watches.

[A14RGS]

Appreciate the varying thoughts and opinions.

As requested, the timekeeping tolerances are stated by Maurice Lacroix and shared with me by the UK Service Centre.

I bought it as a 'daily' (I have others), thinking that the price point was a reasonable balance of quality -v- value - it seems that I got that wrong!

I'll sit tight for a couple of weeks and see if the New Year brings a positive update...

Thanks all.

[Maxym]

Two minutes a week in this day and age is a big deal.

[HTP99]

Maxym said:

Two minutes a week in this day and age is a big deal.

My COSC Christopher Ward keeps pretty much perfect time, just looked at it vs my phone, it is 30s behind, I last re-set it when the clocks went back.

[Wills2]

FreeLitres said:

It's weird that I hardly ever hear about Maurice Lacroix watches despite me browsing lots of forums, etc. At that price point, Longines and Tissot seem to clean up.

Most Longines men's watches are way more than £1200, more like £2500-£4000.

[liner33]

I have the Aikon myself , it has the Sellita SW200-1 movement , rebadged by ML to ML115 which is basically them adding a bespoke rotor

The Aikon it is not COSC certified it uses the "special/elabore" grade of the movement

4 GRADES OF SW200-1:
Just like the ETA calibre 2824-2, there are four grades of the SW200-1 movement:

Standard – adjusted in two positions; accuracy of +/-12 sec/day up to +/- 30 sec/day
Special (Elabore) – adjusted in three positions; accuracy of +/-7 sec/day up to +/- 20 sec/day
Premium (Top) – adjusted in five positions; accuracy of +/-4 sec/day up to +/- 15 sec/day
Chronometer – COSC criteria

So being the special grade your watch is within spec, ML is incorrect on their stated accuracy of this movement

https://calibercorner.com/sellita-caliber-sw200-1/
https://calibercorner.com/maurice-lacroix-caliber-...

Shame you arent happy the Aikon is a very nice watch imo but is probably worthy of a better movement

[Gastons_Revenge]

I've had an ML Aikon Auto since 2021- mine was on sale at circa £1070 so nowhere near retail. Never had an issue with mine, sorry to hear about yours- but after so much back and forth I would have sold it or spent a bit of money on an SW200-1 movement off the shelf plus the labour costs for a watchmaker to replace the defective movement in the watch.

[mikey_b]

I think I'd just stick it on eBay. Then replace with a Christopher Ward Twelve, which is similarly styled - and probably better built.

[A14RGS]

Unsurprisingly, due to the Christmas break, no response from ML, but I'll extend my patience and give them a couple more weeks....

As an aside, I actually like the watch (hence why I bought it), it's the poor timekeeping and the resultant crap customer service that prompted this thread. Thanks for all comments and advice though.

In the meantime, my 1968 Seamaster is doing an excellent job in daily use