Watch repair con or not

speedyj

speedyj

speedyj

Associate
Joined
19 Mar 2006
Posts
633
Location
Suffolk
Hi all.

I am after some advice please.

Both my brother in law and I both put Tag watches into our local Goldsmiths (Bury St Edmunds) for battery replacement in the last 3 months. We both waited ages and then received a letter saying the battery had leaked and the repair would be £180ish for mine and £200ish for his. We both rang and had a go and the bill strangely got reduced very easily. We only realised this coincidence after a recent chat about the credit crunch and businesses trying to maximise profit etc.

Anyway my wife put a her watch (Raymond Weil) in for a battery and guess what, the letter arrived much more quickly this time but it reads remarkably similar to the others.

I am extremely suspicious but not sure how to play this.

Any advice or do you think it is a coincidence that all 3 watches had a very similar (battery leak causing damage) issue.
 
Take the watches somewhere else and see what they say? Surely they'd be able to tell if the batteries had been forcefully opened or if it was accidental?
 
Sounds about as bent as a 3 pound note to be honest.... id definitely get it checked over by someone else, and possibly also contact your local trading standards offices - VERY suspect to receive 3 identical(ish) letters regarding the same "problem".

I buy £20 Argos finest digital watches, and have 1 nice watch for best. I've never had a leaking battery from the Argos watches, so I don't see why better manufacturers should be suffering this problem en masse!
 
even if the batterys did leak i doubt much came out those batterys are tiny! now i've had some of my kids toys batterys leak usually because the batterys were never taken out even though the toys would not be used for months, there wasnt much mess and it was easy to clean
 
arknor said:
even if the batterys did leak i doubt much came out those batterys are tiny! now i've had some of my kids toys batterys leak usually because the batterys were never taken out even though the toys would not be used for months, there wasnt much mess and it was easy to clean
Click to expand...

But even a very tiny amount is enough to damage the internal workings of a watch.
 
This, or a variant of it, seems to be a universal scam among jewellers.

Being an old guy, the watch I wear for everyday use is an analogue-face/battery-driven Seiko I bought in 1985. In the 24 years since then EVERY time I've presented this watch to a jeweller for a battery change they've claimed it needs cleaning. Needless to say, I've always refused this service and a battery change has been enough to bring the watch back to perfect working order. My reasoning was that if this watch was certified as waterproof to X atmospheres, how the hell could dirt get into the innards at ordinary atmospheric pressure? For the last 5 years or so I've changed the battery myself using button cells obtained from a certain high street electronics retailer with no ill effect.

I'm also dubious about battery leakage if we're talking button cells. In the past I've obtained ancient motherboards to salvage components and these usually have large large CMOS button cells. Plenty of the latter have been dead but I've never come across a leaking one. Similarly, I have battery-driven digital measuring devices -- micrometers and callipers -- that I may look out after maybe 5 years of disuse. Sure, the battery may be dead but there's no leakage. I don't discount the possibility of leakage altogether but I think the risk is negligible for watches that have been in ordinary use and have only recently stopped.

As others have suggested, get a second opinion. Preferably, go to a jeweller that will change the battery on site and insist that he shows you if leakage is claimed. Of course, if he claims the watch only needs cleaning, you'll know you're being scammed. ;)
 
Just to stick up for the "cleaning" brigade, I just paid £400 odd quid to get my breitling serviced/cleaned and to fix a condensation issue it had.. The results were amazing, it was like getting a brand new watch back!
 
Will Gill said:
Just to stick up for the "cleaning" brigade, I just paid £400 odd quid to get my breitling serviced/cleaned and to fix a condensation issue it had.. The results were amazing, it was like getting a brand new watch back!
Click to expand...

hardly the same thing, is it? Story in the op is well dodgy imo.
 
Amleto said:
hardly the same thing, is it? Story in the op is well dodgy imo.
Click to expand...

partially agree, but thats why I started my reply applauding the watchsmith I dealt with who claimed my watch needed cleaning. So whilst not the same as the OP its also worth me pointing out that you shouldn't discount out of hand an offer/quote for cleaning a watch.
 
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