Remarque's detailed account of navigating Tudor's service ecosystem for his Black Bay GMT offers invaluable insights for any luxury watch owner. His experience highlights the often-unseen challenges of post-purchase support, particularly concerning known mechanical issues and the critical role of authorized dealers. This deep dive into Tudor's service process, or lack thereof, provides a crucial perspective on brand accountability and customer care in the luxury watch market.
I bought the Tudor Black Bay GMT three years ago (June 2018), fairly soon after its release. It is a great watch to be sure. However, soon after its release many people began reporting an issue with the date wheel slipping. I read about this issue with interest, but happily/luckily never had any problems with my watch.
Fast forward to a few months ago. During one of the periods where I was actively wearing the watch, I arose on morning to find the date had advanced not to the next day as it should, but was now 3 days (dates) ahead. This was curious, but I adjusted it and all was well.
Well now, over the past week, about every other day I awake to find the date wheel is advancing 1.5 to 2.5 days each night... all to say, on July 1st all was good, but I awoke on July 2 to find the date wheel half way between 3 and 4.
When I bought the watch, Tudor warranty was 2 years. It now is 5 years, and the Tudor website says if one bought a Tudor watch between July 1, 2018 and December 31, 2019, they will extend the warranty by 18 months. Of course (!) my purchase date just missed this cutoff (planned obsolescence at its best).
Well, fine. This is where it gets interesting. I panned the Tudor website for instructions as to how and where one should send one's Tudor watch for service in the USA. Despite very flowery prose on Servicing Your Tudor Watch link on the website, describing all the wonderful amazing work that is performed to such a high standard, no where on the website does Tudor list an address for the USA Tudor watch center site, let alone instructions on what to send with your watch (warranty card, letter about what is wrong the watch/what service you desire, how it should be shipped, do they want one's name/address/phone/email etc etc). I then did a google search for Tudor USA watch service center address, and apart from independent places that will service a Tudor watch popping up, no website popped up with any address for the entire world! Talk about poor website design/management/editing!.
Out of further curiosity, I did the same thing for Rolex watches, since ultimately, Tudor is Rolex. In this regard, Rolex in one teeny tiny bit better than Rolex, because in doing so one gets an address for a Rolex watch service center in NYC. But no phone number and no instructions as to how to send your watch etc etc.
What did I do? I called a local authorized dealer for Tudor, explained my dilemma (I did not purchase the watch at this dealer -- I am in Arizona and purchased the watch in New Jersey at an AD. To my pleasant surprise, the woman who answered the phone was lovely, told me to bring the watch in to her shop with my warranty card, and her store would oversee returning the watch to the Tudor USA service center (turns out also in NY state) all at no cost to me. When I explained the issue was the date wheel slippage, a known issue from the get go despite my watch having been fine for three years and now having the issue, thus no longer in the warranty period, she stated that to her knowledge, since this is a known issue, Tudor should fix this issue at no charge even at this time. She also stated that she believes for this issue, watches are not serviced at the New York service center but actually are sent back to Tudor factory in Switzerland.
All to say, I will find out in hopefully 8-12 weeks what Tudor actually does, and whether they charge me when all is said and done.
Lastly, the lovely sales clerk also scoured the Tudor website, and agreed with me that it is "not helpful" that Tudor provides absolutely no information on their website as to how to actually contact them to service their watches! Adding insult to injury, there is no customer service phone number to even call them to suggest to their webmaster that he/she correct this "oversight" (and I am being very kind here!)
If people show interest, I will post about outcome when I get my watch back from the mothership. Til next time, happy July 4th!
