Horological Meandering

I have a problem with a Franck Muller that I bought. It has a scratch on the crystal and needs a light polish and maintenance. Now I bought this watch in Spain without papers and box when I was still working in Europe. Now I am transferred to Hong Kong and want to bring the watch to Franck Muller. They have a sole agent called Sincere which also runs the Franck Muller shop. I was told that without guarantee the watch will not be accepted for any repair. On the question if there is a way to get the watch to a Franck Muller service centre, the answer is no, there is no way to get replacement parts, no new strap and no service or repair for Franck Muller watches which are not under guarantee. Now a scratched crystal will never be under any guarantee so tough luck for anyone with a Franck Muller in Hong Kong.

I own several watches and I like Hong Kong because all major brands have their service centres here. My Breguet Hora Mundi has been for maintenance, my AP Polaris just came back from a total overhaul due to water damage, my Vacheron was repaired because the crown broke off. So I was totally astonished by the notice of Franck Muller. I was wondering is other people have the same experience with Franck Muller. Any advise what I can do with this watch. I have contacted Franck Muller through their website but that was 4 days ago and have not heard anything back, not even reply of receipt of my query.

My only advise is to avoid any Franck Muller watches, when the guarantee expires you are on your own.

...with FM servicing.

Without papers you couldn't expect the watch to be serviced under warranty, but I can't see why they wouldn't take the watch for service and you would cover the costs, just as any of us would.

I hope this is just a misunderstanding and that FM get back to you with an explanation. Many older watches get separated from their boxes and original papers and I have not heard of companies refusing service, at least on more modern pieces.

Please keep us informed, but also try to be impartial and do not use the public forums to leverage a response from the company.

Good luck.

Andrew

I am not trying to get leverage, i am trying to find a way to get this watch for maintenance in Hong Kong. I am not so about guarantees since I always doubt it can be claimed.

Now I have been contacted by Sincere that I can bring the watch for repair. The catch is that it will cost me HKD 2,000 (EUR 200) administration cost before anything will be done.

I don't mind paying for repair and maintenance, I am used with this. Probably I am old school and expect that any watch requires at a certain moment of time maintenance. Especially when you own a number of watches and you wear them regularly, they bound to get scratched and used.

Anyway it is now at the Franck Muller shop which will make an estimate after I agreed to pay HKD 2,000 administration.

Anyway I made up my mind about buying any Franck Muller in the future. I just hereby share my experience, people should decide for themself but if I knew it would be like this I would have made a different decision.

My AP Polaris just returned from servicing, it is a 5 digit figure in HKD but the quotation was free and no administration cost. I still could decide if I would perform the servicing or not. Franck Muller is actually the only watch maker I know that is being so difficult about repair and maintenance.

So beware and take my experience into account I would say.

Companies have surprisingly different policies.

However, so dealers. In some cases, customers have discovered that if they can get a watch to the manufacturer directly instead of going through a dealer they save considerable amounts of money, as some dealers charge either stated handling fees or unstated markups on service costs for watches that pass through their hands.

... with warranty service is that there is no charge at all from the AD you purchased the watch from. They cover all the sundry costs like packaging, handling and transport back to the Manufacture.

... that is how manufacturers, distributors and the service network can or wants to assist in the logistics necessary to get a watch serviced or repaired.

Now what I did not understand in the original case: Sincere is running the Hongkong FM shop, so they are the sole distributors? And does Sincere also operate the FM service center? Or is this independent from Sincere? If the latter is the case, wouldn't it have been possible to bring in the watch directly to the service center?

Regarding the handling fee, I have made similar experiences as you, Andrew. It is understandable if a dealer charges a certain amount for doing the logistics, espceially if this includes overseas shipping to the manufacturer in Switzerland (the paperwork alone for the customs takes several hours, and will probably also cost quite a lot of money). If the administration fee of about 200 Euros is charged for an in-town transport only, well ... luxury does not end with the watch itself, unfortunately.

If Sincere is also operating the FM service center, then I would assume that their administrative effort would be calculated into the service price, or into the cost of the price quote, if you decide not to have the repair done. However, I am of course not familiar with the legal framework valid in HK, maybe this kind of calculation is not possible, so the administrative effort has to be charged separately?

Marcus

I had purchased a JLC in Singapore. It was still under the two year international warranty and I had all the appropriate papers. But the JLC AD in Australia still wanted me to pay AUD60 for them to package up and send the watch back to Switzerland. As I did not purchase the watch from that AD (and did not have a 'relationship' with them from prior purchases) I paid this amount.

yau128,

I am sorry for your trouble.

The relationship between Sincere "Fine Watches" and Frank Muller has been very complicated over decades.  Sincere had 4 changes of owners in the last few years and a couple of those were due to "financial distress". That does not help.

In the beginning, going to Sincere was like going to Frank Muller directly since they were exclusive partners/distributor for Asian markets and shareholders in the brand. It was an "in-house" brand with special discounts as the margin was their own to choose.

Today, I don't know the story but it looks like you are caught in a tangled web of intrigue.  I have NEVER been asked to pay an administration fee to decide if a watch can be repaired by Sincere when I was a customer from 1999 - 2013.

If your car dealer asked for a pre-assessment fee to decide if your car can be serviced....what would you do?   You are a patient man (or woman since we are anonymous).

Regards,

MTF

This message has been edited by MTF on 2014-04-12 04:45:52

And the final estimation came in at

Crystal EUR 500
Polish EUR 300
Oil and cleaning inside EUR 500
Administration fee EUR 200
New crocodile strap EUR 200

A hefty EUR 1700

This is the most I have ever paid for a watch maintenance. My AP Polaris had more done and was EUR 1300 which included a huge amount of new parts for a complication. We are looking at a simple FM 8002 L SC, no complications.

I would expect that they would at least wave the administration fee with such a price tag but that was not possible. 

... but when looking at the details, it is justified: the unique curvex case dictates a sapphire crystal to be spherically curved in a very complex shape. This is not a simple flat disk, nor is it a slightly less simple domed circular crystal. The production of sapphire crystals of any shape that is not a standard raises the price. And - an inconvenient fact every car owner knows only too well - the individual spare part is also much more expensive than the respective part in the package of the complete car.

500 Euros for such a sapphire crystal, including an uncommon gasket and installation work is not too expensive, it is rather common for crystals like these.

The FM case is multi-stepped and has a complex shape, too. 300 Euros for polishing is high, but not excessively so.

500 Euros for a normal service also is high, but still in a certain frame. My simple Union Glashütte, which is currently for service, was quoted with 420 Euros, only for the standard service, without polishing or replacement parts other than standard gaskets and crown.

200 Euros for a well padded alligator strap also is - unfortunately - standard. 

200 Euros administration fee - well, we discussed this above, so I won't elaborate on this further.

Marcus

I was about writing something along similar lines. It points again to the fact that case design & construction (and their implications) are all to often under appreciated elements of the whole.