WatchProSite|Market|Digest

WatchProSite|Market|Digest

Officine Panerai

Comments:

Pam 335 : a tragic tale

By: kamdaswani : April 28th, 2012-18:40

this is a heart breaker :

bought my panerai with great enthusiasm .. i travel a lot so the GMT was a natural choice and the look and feel of the ceramic casing with the horizontal 10 Day power reserve made it a perfect package for me:

as soon as brought it home, i wanted to make sure the water proofing was good for my evening swims so i gave it a quick dunk in my sink ... 2 hours later :

i was horrified since i had to leave the next day on a 2 week trip. ( i dried out the watch before my travel by leaving it in my room with the dehumidifier on )

upon return, i dropped off the watch to panerai along with all the pictures i had taken to give them an idea of how much it had fogged up and the fact that once it had, it was obvious that the inside of the crystal face had huge smudge marks ( you can see a big once going from the power reserve hand to the date aperture )

they kept the watch for 2 months !!

upon return, they showed me the service book showing they had retested the watch in 6 positions and all timing keeping was within their quoted tolerances.

i had a dinner that night so i wore it and went.

i came back at midnight and the watch was showing 930. my heart sunk.

i flipped the watch over and this is what i saw :

they had left a loose screw inside !!!!!!

it was jammed into the spring when i noticed it ...

i kept it face down and carried it in hand that way all the way back to the service center the very next day ...

needless to say the meeting did not go well and they could not explain how it had had passed the timing tests since it was not possible for the rotor to move in certain positions with the loose screw moving around .

still haven't heard back from them.

since i bought in dec until now, i have not had a chance to wear it one full day.

now if that isn't tragic, what is

kam

Tragic indeed!

By: ancs88 : April 28th, 2012-21:41

That's really tragic and sorry to hear that. I hope Panerai can come out with a truthful answer! Keep us updated.

You didn't read the Libretto well.

By: amanico : April 28th, 2012-21:53

It is not written that you watch is water resistant in the sea, but from the beach.

Seriously, I feel sorry for you, I am sure Panerai will fix that, even if it won't be easy for them.

Best,

Nicolas

Very worrying and my condolences....

By: foowy : April 28th, 2012-22:45

it's worrying to hear quite a few "one-off" incidences with regards to their QC. Nobody likes it regardless of what brand of watches. More so when you move up the price tag ( except maybe for independents)

Personally, the watch is as good as dead and I wouldn't keep it. Call it destiny or fate. Maybe it jus doesn't want to choose it's owner just yet.

While some might. say give it patience and perseverance, you'll love it more later with a story for the piece. I'll rather keep nice memories.

Do keep us posted.

Admirable, You are the perfect customer

By: PoyFR : April 28th, 2012-23:52

How you deal with this situation is to me a dream customer, I would want plenty of you to maintain a non-merited high life style...
I fell sorry for anyone that endures such adventures, which truthfully are getting to many.

The price we pay is also for reliability, and most of all TRUST.

I have hard time in understanding or explaining how those companies get away by cashing in thousands for simply messing about.

In your case I would want the entire inside to be replace, water-in will eventually show off, trust for a start… in a short or long term it will show up… and if they tell you they super-cleaned everything, well you a that screw-photo to make them understand how much you trust them.

Inacceptable. Full refund or watch replacement is what you ought to seek. I would!

Pam 335

By: kiat55 : April 29th, 2012-01:19

This is indeed " YOU GOTTA TO BE KIDDING ME !!!!! "

Now, that's a horror story....

By: sergio : April 29th, 2012-04:51

the loose screw scenario is a bit worrysome, since it's due to sloppiness of the staff and not defects that, in a mechanical object are never to be discounted. Good luck for the next....round..

Ciao - Sergio

srew on the run

By: Arie - Mr Orange : August 17th, 2012-03:18

funny,

I bought a 359 about 2 years ago. 2 weeks after the purchase the clock didn't run anymore one morning. Flipped it over and had the same view you had. A loose screw sitting behind the glas. So I guess the Italians-Swiss are as sloppy as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, etc?

Of course the fixed it (took 2 -4 weeks) and the watch has been running like a clock ;-) ever since

I'm not sure I got the..jist..of your message...Any subtitles? [nt]

By: sergio : August 17th, 2012-05:39

No message body

Indeed sound like a

By: Jester : April 29th, 2012-05:54

bit of a screw up. Sorry to hear about your bad luck and let's hope Panerai will see satisfying rectification to it.

Keep us posted!

I'm sorry to hear about this...

By: i_am_Sam : April 29th, 2012-06:38

Hope they'll get this fixed for you..

I'm hoping Panerai will improve more on the quality control of their pieces.

Sam

Speechless....

By: MasonBella : April 29th, 2012-07:38

Unacceptable, no matter the circumstances.

wow...sorry to hear

By: ocwatching : April 29th, 2012-07:56

and that OP was unable to address these issues the first time around...

hope for a better ending...

Aberration?

By: elliot55 : April 30th, 2012-17:47

Kam -

Truth be told, every Panerai I have ever owned has gone back to the Panerai service center in Dallas. Twice. It is heartbreaking and I feel bad for you. I have to agree with foowy - the watch is a lemon and should be replaced. With an apology. And the truth. And a whole lot of Panerai shwag, if you ask me. My 312 runs fast, but it's already been back to service twice. My 184 runs fast and it's been back to service twice. And I have a pre-Vendome Marina Miltare that sits in a safe deposit box. Sorry OP's QC is so crappy. I'm sticking to JLC and Rolex for now.

Let us know how it pans out.

- scott

No Feedback

By: kamdaswani : April 30th, 2012-18:08

i had a titanium submersible ages go but sold it for the same reason .. it just didn't keep time so one could not really call it a timepiece

was hoping that after years of R&D they may have advanced their skills but sadly, not so.

no feedback as yet from the service center so as usual, i have no idea what they are doing ..

not even a call from the regional head or response from the head office .. i guess they just don't care about their pieces once they have sold them.

pity - it really is a very attractive piece and would have fit in very well with my needs for a travel watch...

back to my trusty rolex !

Sorry to hear that

By: Jester : May 3rd, 2012-03:34

you're still lacking a reasonable response/feedback from OP but may I ask your rationale behind your expectation of call from the regional head?

And I guess that your 202/ A is the watch which works the best! ;) [nt]

By: amanico : April 30th, 2012-22:55

No message body

Probably

By: elliot55 : May 1st, 2012-21:58

Nicolas -

You are probably correct, but since I never wear it I suppose it knows the time twice a day for sure

- scott

Ok, let's be fair...

By: Jester : May 3rd, 2012-03:28

Perhaps you can share w/ us your sample space? When you said every one of your Panerai, exactly how many are we talking about here?

Three

By: elliot55 : May 3rd, 2012-07:47

Hey Jester -

To be fair, I have three. My 312's been back to service twice, my 184's been back twice. Both were purchased new and the 184 even has a JLC movement! The third, designated 5218/202a (from 1993), was an heirloom left to me by my grandfather. I do not wear this keepsake and it sits in a safe deposit box. After two trips to service, both of my "wearers" run quite fast and will gain about 30 to 45 seconds every couple of days. There is simply no comparison to the time keeping (and quality control) reflected in my Rolex or JLC pieces. Even my Chinese-made tourbillon keeps better time than my Panerai pieces.

Lately I have been hearing about Panerai's quality control issues more and more, and I am curious to know if you have had a similar experience with your Panerai(s).

- Scott

Scott

By: Jester : May 3rd, 2012-09:40

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I guess luck wasn't not on your side! :-( BTW, did you purchase all your pieces new from dealer/boutique?

As for me, I've bought significantly more pieces from OP and I would say so far my back-to-factory ratio has been very low.

Of course, one should not forget that on public medium such as Internet, it's ALWAYS easier to spot 'complaints' than 'compliments' so I'm not sure if I would draw any conclusion based on public feedback.

Sold both my PAMs and have never looked back. Hope they come thru in the end! [nt]

By: mpiz : May 2nd, 2012-20:48

No message body

That would be a replacement in my book !!!

By: P@trick@Belgium : May 3rd, 2012-08:07

sorry to hear this horror story, but I would definately demand a replacement for that watch !!

they don't need to repair it but simply give you a new one , and pray you stay one of their customers !!

Very tragic..

By: hans_jorgen_1968 : May 5th, 2012-10:27

... My full condolences.. As I believe the watch is dead, and should be replaced..

I have sold my Panerais due to other circumstances, and was actually looking at a few possibilities - but now I will move towards something else I think

Good luck to you

Maybe you should Panerai know you are writing here.. Just to let them know that bad product/service gives equal reputation...

Best

Hans

Sorry to hear the news

By: AnthonyTsai : May 6th, 2012-10:25

Hopefully Panerai will replace the entire movement since the loose screw probably has scratched up the finishing and maybe made some dents.

Please keep us updated with your service request. Thanks!

- AT

Panerai solution

By: kamdaswani : May 6th, 2012-20:14

they called me.

as per their center here, Panerai will replace the entire movement as soon as they can ( they will send the movement to hong kong )

they will extend the international warranty for a period of 2 years from date of collection and issue new paperwork citing the new movement number.

will re post once i actually get the watch back ...

hopefully this will resolve the issue...

kam

That's good to hear. [nt]

By: fernando : May 9th, 2012-21:37

No message body

Yeah perfect, your money is gone and you wait... not a bad deal, I guess!

By: PoyFR : May 11th, 2012-22:53

What I am saying here, you handed your respectfully earned money against a faulty merchandise, they will do whatever to make you happy IN THEIR OWN TIME, and a few weeks, months down the line you also say THANK YOU. Yeah what world we live in....

You will probably eventually end with finally something right. Good luck.

+++ 1. [nt]

By: amanico : May 11th, 2012-22:57

No message body

I don't think this is true JUST for OP though

By: Jester : May 22nd, 2012-19:50

I see this w/ other brands as well. Faulty product delivered and if the buyer don't spot the problem quickly and have the product replaced then they'll have to bear w/ wait for watch servicing.

Load More Comments >>