My personal experience has been pretty good so far, mind you I have tended to buy from Andrew mostly and josh once or twice. Most other purchases have been from forum members and the gentlemen I have bought from have been exemplary in their sales.
One thing of note, I bought a IWC from a dealer and if the same problem arose with a watch bought from Andrew/Josh it would have been fixed forthwith, not the "sorry you should have expected it" line.
Also of note is a Rolex I acquired for a dear friend who has since passed. the watch developed a fault 5 months after my friend received his watch and upon informing Andrew of said fault he advised the watch be returned, six weeks later the watch turned up working as good as new ( same watch as a few scrapes my late friend had acquired along the way were still there) So all in all I say choose your dealer wisely, learn all you can and be prepared for a few bumps. perhaps I've just been a bit lucky.