King's advertised 14kt Bracelets with Sub...false advertising

[Whatch-A-Doin?]

I just bought a TT bracelet from one of our respected members and he had bought the bracelet with a TT Sub watch from King. King's site says it is 14kt. The seller from this site showed me and said as far as he knows...the bracelet is real gold (as Precious Time has reported).

I just had the watch sized and in the process had one of the links tested for gold. It had absolutely no 14kt gold on the watch. Not even 10kt.

I have to say...I'm not happy about it and those who bought watches from King under the same impression should have something to worry about.

What to do about this situation?

I've contacted my seller to work it out. I'm sure it will be worked out among us two. The bigger question is regarding King and her advertising...

[Steve G]

That's a shame. My father purchased a TT GMT rolex from precious time. It actually has real 14K gold in the bracelet and crown. PT did a whole tread in TRC and maybe here. Worth a read.

Hopefully you'll resolve your situation.

[Whatch-A-Doin?]

That's a shame. My father purchased a TT GMT rolex from precious time. It actually has real 14K gold in the bracelet and crown. PT did a whole tread in TRC and maybe here. Worth a read.

Hopefully you'll resolve your situation.

Thanks. I read Precious Time's thread here and that is great. I trust precious time based on that thread and I am defintely not saying this applies to PT. This is an issue with King and her advertising.

I will most likely buy a TT Bracelet from PT. I was hoping I didn't have to based on the sale from our RWG member. However, based on the gold test...my new bracelet is not real gold at all.

[Steve G]

The only thing I can think of is that King was under the impression from her supplier, something not within her control? Not defending as I've never delt with her.

Hopefully a mutually acceptable fix will happen. The dealers here seem to stand behind their stuff.

Good luck

[amptor]

king should be able to straighten it out with you man.. about half the dealers on this board have flukes in their watches but the veterans will help you out with your orders. king's been around for a long, long time

[Whatch-A-Doin?]

Thanks. Just to clear things up...I didn't buy the watch from King. The person on this board who sold me the TT Bracelet bought a watch with said bracelet from King very recently. Then he sold me the TT bracelet.

I have no recourse with King...only the seller from this board. He will have to go to King about this issue for him to get some recourse.

Thanks again.

king should be able to straighten it out with you man.. about half the dealers on this board have flukes in their watches but the veterans will help you out with your orders. king's been around for a long, long time

[Cheese]

I bought a TT YM from King several months ago. I e-mailed her beforehand and specifically asked for the best one she could get with solid gold. She said it has solid gold midlinks, but the rest (including gold on SEL’s, clasp, bezel) is plated. The watch I received is virtually identical to the one I had bought a year or so ago from Paul and even has the same tarnish issues on the midlinks. I do not believe it truly is solid gold (and probably can’t be for the price). It’s still a nice watch and I wear it often, but it have to keep after the tarnish.

[Whatch-A-Doin?]

This is the exact reason why I wanted to get a 14kt gold bracelet because my TT Bracelet from Jos Nana tarnished.

If there was a way to remove the tarnish...I wouldnt even be worried about it. However, it looks like [censored].

If this is true that King is misrepresenting her items as gold...why hasn't it been brought up before?

I'm really [censored]!

I bought a TT YM from King several months ago. I e-mailed her beforehand and specifically asked for the best one she could get with solid gold. She said it has solid gold midlinks, but the rest (including gold on SEL’s, clasp, bezel) is plated. The watch I received is virtually identical to the one I had bought a year or so ago from Paul and even has the same tarnish issues on the midlinks. I do not believe it truly is solid gold (and probably can’t be for the price). It’s still a nice watch and I wear it often, but it have to keep after the tarnish.

[Kerbus]

You could try a light solvent based cleaner, perhaps Brasso, to get off the tarnish. Maybe even a car cleaner-wax. It may just do the trick. If you get it off, you can retard tarnish/wear but applying a long lasting car wax or sealant. I just added my trusty Collinite to a gold plated bracelet.

[Cheese]

You could try a light solvent based cleaner, perhaps Brasso, to get off the tarnish. Maybe even a car cleaner-wax. It may just do the trick. If you get it off, you can retard tarnish/wear but applying a long lasting car wax or sealant. I just added my trusty Collinite to a gold plated bracelet.

My wife has a soft jewelry cleaning cloth that has some very light solvent in it and it takes care of it. I just have to remember to clean it about once every few weeks so I don’t have a big orange blob of tarnish appear. I had some really bad tarnish problems on my previous TT YM from Paul. I ended up using a Dremel bit that was pre-coated with light rouge and it got rid of it, but I was always concerned this would take away lawyers of plating.

[frankt]

Anything except S/S is just a crapshoot>>>>

Don't forget you are dealing in a semi-underworld, wher only a chosen few have credibility, and even they rely upon others in that underworld often to deliver their promises...Your chances of gettin solid gold ANYTHING under these conditions are at best Slim to none whatsoever....

And..."Slim" left town last tuesday!!...;-)

[Perpetual Oyster]

So you got a fake watch with fake gold.

So time to move on.

If you want real gold, buy a real watch from an AD and pay the REAL price. 'nuff said!

[Richard Tracy]

The band was mine from King, however I don't hold her responsible, the dealers

are at the mercy of the distributers or the manufacturer's reps.

King is still in my book one of the best, having stood up for me and taken losses,

when her network failed her.

This one is on me.

[Whatch-A-Doin?]

You're a lot of help. If it were your money, I dont think you'd be so quick to say...move on.

[censored] off!

So you got a fake watch with fake gold.

So time to move on.

If you want real gold, buy a real watch from an AD and pay the REAL price. 'nuff said!

[Whatch-A-Doin?]

Thanks Richard Tracy. You're a real stand up guy and I appreciate your honesty and professionalism in this matter. It's a risk we all take.

I enjoyed doing biz with you and i'm wearing the IWC GST Chrono in Titanium as we speak. Sweet watch. Different for sure than the PAMs and Rollies.

Thanks.

As for King...I don't want to tarnish anyone's reputation. It just seems odd to advertise 14kt and have it turn out to be something else.

Anyway, thanks again.

The band was mine from King, however I don't hold her responsible, the dealers

are at the mercy of the distributers or the manufacturer's reps.

King is still in my book one of the best, having stood up for me and taken losses,

when her network failed her.

This one is on me.

[archibald]

So you got a fake watch with fake gold.

So time to move on.

If you want real gold, buy a real watch from an AD and pay the REAL price. 'nuff said!

That makes absolutely no sense. "So you got chrome plated brass on that fake Panerai--you want stainless, go to an AD and pay 5k for a $500 watch." Boloney. Reps can be made out of 14k gold just as easily as they can be made out of anything else--and sometimes they are. Maybe the buyer should have been guessed that you can't get 14k for the price he paid, but to say that you can only get gold if you buy a grossly overpriced watch is just plain misinformation.

The issue here is king. King likes to hide in the gray area of translation, IMO--advertising things like "original" "swiss" and "14k gold" when I suspect she knows full well, in chinese, english, or Urdu that the watches contain zero parts meeting those descriptions. The OP's watch didn't even test out as containing any kind of gold at all.

Don't get me wrong--king's fine for low to mid level reps at decent prices, but I take her website descriptions with a grain of salt.

[Richard Tracy]

Hi Arch,

I can't agree with you 100% here..,

Regarding gold at least from the PT post regarding 14k TT reps, which was posted

before I did my purchase,..what I paid I believe is normal, and to be honest,

personally, I would not care if it were 14 or 10k, it's still better than a plated piece,

and I suspect will serve it's purpose as a replica, which by the way

is one of the best Rolaxes I have had to date... and I have had a few.

As for King, you may be right that she's quicker than what she allows some of us to think..

that's all speculation however, what is not, is how she comes through when there is a dire

problem,... the kind that some don't understand the definition of..

Out of the three times in about 20, when I had drop-ship problems, she sent another

watch without charge never requesting a return.

On top of which, she actually sourced me two watches she did not carry, just to make sure

I was happy.

The Iwc that Watch-a-doin has on his wrist is one,..

I requested Stainless, but she knew that those models had a potential brake flaw, so she

went out of her way to make sure it did not happen again..

Just too bad for me I don't have an eye for Titanium,..

Out of the many dealers I have enjoyed trading with, she is Tops in my book and that's

not dealer worship,.. just plain fact, built upon experience.

[cwai02]

So far I ve bought 3 watches from King.

1st watch has a wrong dial design.

2nd watch has a wrong movement.

Not really a big deal and I believe the problem was from her suppliers.

I just bought a $300 J12 from her and if this one doesn't work out well, I guess I ll probably won't buy again.

Btw, I talk to king in chinese, so there is no communication problem.

Regarding the 10K/14k issue, I honestly don't think King lie about it.

[dec]

I'd only trust PT at this point... or aftermarket WatchPrince or something.

Edited April 7, 2006 by dec

[Isoroku]

I have to chime in here...

King has a long standing and well deserved reputation. It is apparent that, in this industry, our beloved dealers are sometimes at the mercy of thier suppliers to to delivery on thier promises...sometimes they do...sometimes they do not. Let me give you an example. Wes ordered an EXP II from Joshua. The dial has a....minor.....issue. It had a GMT Master II dial!!!! How a GMT dial got on an Explorer II is anyone's guess...hubby was a little perplexed to say the least. When shown a photo and asked what my options were, Joshua told me that another Explorer II would be sent on it's way ASAP.

Our dealers get screwed once in a while by thier suppliers. It is the nature of the beast. Thier willingness to step up and eat it when something like this happens is why we don't mind dropping $200-$400 on a replica.

@Joshua

Thank you so much for replacing Wes' ExplorerII ! You are truly a great dealer, and I think everyone needs to be reminded of it once in a while! thanks!

[Richard Tracy]

I have to chime in here...

King has a long standing and well deserved reputation. It is apparent that, in this industry, our beloved dealers are sometimes at the mercy of thier suppliers to to delivery on thier promises...sometimes they do...sometimes they do not. Let me give you an example. Wes ordered an EXP II from Joshua. The dial has a....minor.....issue. It had a GMT Master II dial!!!! How a GMT dial got on an Explorer II is anyone's guess...hubby was a little perplexed to say the least. When shown a photo and asked what my options were, Joshua told me that another Explorer II would be sent on it's way ASAP.

Our dealers get screwed once in a while by thier suppliers. It is the nature of the beast. Thier willingness to step up and eat it when something like this happens is why we don't mind dropping $200-$400 on a replica.

@Joshua

Thank you so much for replacing Wes' ExplorerII ! You are truly a great dealer, and I think everyone needs to be reminded of it once in a while! thanks!

I agree, King deserves the benefit and our respect, she's earned it.

Not to mention that would be very easy for some manufacturer to run low on gold,..and simply make due..

and not much a drop shipping dealer could do, or even PT, unless he or anyone is willing to

test each & every delivery.. losing a link in the process.

I would bet that many of us who think their 14k or even higher is stat, would be surprised..

and most will never know, because like I said before, 10k is much better than plated.

This is a rep,.. I don't care about the composition, as long at it's not mis-represented plate.

The point is, who here is buying 14k reps in hopes of one day melting it down for cash return?

I don't know about you, but the the reason I go for gold in watch is for the durability.

[Whatch-A-Doin?]

I bought the supposed 14kt band for durability...NOT TO MELT IT DOWN FOR CASH RETURN. THAT'S A JOKE TO EVEN IMPLY (IF IT WAS DIRECTED TO ME).

I have a TT bracelet that is plated and it is tarnished and that's why I wanted a real gold one so I don't have to worrry about that.

I agree, King deserves the benefit and our respect, she's earned it.

Not to mention that would be very easy for some manufacturer to run low on gold,..and simply make due..

and not much a drop shipping dealer could do, or even PT, unless he or anyone is willing to

test each & every delivery.. losing a link in the process.

I would bet that many of us who think their 14k or even higher is stat, would be surprised..

and most will never know, because like I said before, 10k is much better than plated.

This is a rep,.. I don't care about the composition, as long at it's not mis-represented plate.

The point is, who here is buying 14k reps in hopes of one day melting it down for cash return?

I don't know about you, but the the reason I go for gold in watch is for the durability.

[Richard Tracy]

It was not in reference to you..

[archibald]

[censored], i hope you don't think i was coming after you in any way whatsoever, and perhaps i was a little hard on King. The back story to my post was that reletively early in my collecting days right when the asia 7750 came out she posted a daytona in the old offers section saying the movement was swiss--before the issue was cleared up by other members in her thread, I bought one. I complained. she refunded part of the cost explaining that she meant that it was "like swiss" or a copy of a swiss. That was all fine for me--although it should be noted that she did not change the "7750" on her website to "asian 7750" for some time thereafter.

I know you have done a great service to RWG by helping briing in more dealers which has had the result of both more choice and lower prices for us all. No way I would ever purposely undermine that.

Hi Arch,

I can't agree with you 100% here..,

Regarding gold at least from the PT post regarding 14k TT reps, which was posted

before I did my purchase,..what I paid I believe is normal, and to be honest,

personally, I would not care if it were 14 or 10k, it's still better than a plated piece,

and I suspect will serve it's purpose as a replica, which by the way

is one of the best Rolaxes I have had to date... and I have had a few.

As for King, you may be right that she's quicker than what she allows some of us to think..

that's all speculation however, what is not, is how she comes through when there is a dire

problem,... the kind that some don't understand the definition of..

Out of the three times in about 20, when I had drop-ship problems, she sent another

watch without charge never requesting a return.

On top of which, she actually sourced me two watches she did not carry, just to make sure

I was happy.

The Iwc that Watch-a-doin has on his wrist is one,..

I requested Stainless, but she knew that those models had a potential brake flaw, so she

went out of her way to make sure it did not happen again..

Just too bad for me I don't have an eye for Titanium,..

Out of the many dealers I have enjoyed trading with, she is Tops in my book and that's

not dealer worship,.. just plain fact, built upon experience.

[Chronus]

I got a two tone MBW sub that has solid gold midlinks, but plated end links and on the clasp. Finepics had a look at it, and as he works with gold all the time, confirmed that it is solid gold. He was also the first to say (in the old RWG) that Precious Time's gold was genuine solid gold in the midlinks.