Just received an '07 CD - I've got issues! What shall I do?

[Tom]

Having already got an '06 I thought i'd pull the trigger on an '07 as I'm thinking about getting a gen CD and want to check both reps out on the wrist first.

I received the package this afternoon and immediately noticed some issues. Now before we continue I know these are not major, but you all know what it's like you wait for the post (16 days in my case) and then you're disappointed. I also think that for more than $300 you should expect more.

So, here we go.

As you can see the chrono second hand is slightly misaligned to the right. You can also see that the inner bezel is misaligned to the left. If you go one click back....

It's misaligned to the right. To get a correct alighnment it has be be resting between clicks, but eventually with wrist movement it flicks back to either left or right.

Next...

Can you see this black dust - it looks like someone's flicked it with ink. I am sure this wasn't here when I took it out of the packaging, but appeared from nowhere after a few hours of wear. Does anyone know what this is? My guess is paint dust from moving the inner bezel.

Moving on..

Ok i'll admit that I could have lived with these had the other issues not annoyed me so much but they're still there.

The left red circle is a hair on the inside of the crystal. Doesn't really show up in this image but I can assure you it screams at you. The right red circle, is I hope just a bit of grit or dust, but it might be chipped paint and not removeable.

This next image is a mark on the subdial - again very small but noticable at a glance.

finally - this is not really a complaint as such but a question. My strap looks a bit, well, s**t. Maybe they're all like this but I thought it wouldn't look this faded and have so many white markings on it. I have a feeling they are all like this but let me know.

What do you think I should do? I know that the dealer (who shall remain anonymous) is highly respected and will replace it, but I have only ever sent a watch back to China once and it never arrived (china has watches on its list of prohibited/restricted items to import so if it's stopped by Chinese customs it'll be confiscated)

Can these issues be fixed easily. I know simply removing the mechanism and dial from the case would solve the dust/mark issues, but what about the misalignments? I really really don't want to send it back as it'll mean another month or so to wear the watch. It's a shame because the date and day wheels work perfectly almost in unison.

Please can you give me some advice.

Tom.

Edited May 23, 2008 by Tom

[mjmurphy926]

Hey Tom,

I can't see pictures. All I see is:

[Tom]

Hey Tom,

I can't see pictures. All I see is:

Here they are - my mistake

[mjmurphy926]

Wow Tom, I wouldn't be happy either. I'd start by contacting the dealer and explaining the issues. See what he/she offers...

[Toadtorrent]

Hi Tom,

That stinks. I was thinking the misaligned rotating bezel is something that CAN'T be fixed unless they redo the die that made the bezel. If you search around and read reviews of the CD's...it's a common complaint. The dust or dirtiness on the dial is another common complaint...but your is bad. Really bad.

The misaligned second hand I'm not so sure about.

I have sent a few watches back from Canada...once by courier...and once by standard post...marked the package as instructed by the collector, and did not have any problems.

If you are handy with de-casing, and have some Rodico...that will clear up the dirtiness problem. the second hand misalignment I'm not sure on. Doing the Rodico job yourself will save you much hassle...but it may screw things up worse if don't know what you're doing on the stem removal and reinsertion.

My recent CD '06 version only had the bezel misalignment and not the other issues. I'm sorry to hear that.

[Tom]

Guys, I bit the bullet last night and decided to try and fix these things myself.

The latex gloves were donned and the watch was taken apart. The chono second hand is now straight, althougthih it was scary trying to remove it as it didn't want to come off. The inner bezel seems to be alright now, though I didn't remove it, just set it to 12 before I put the watch back together.

Rodico and cotton buds removed the dust and marks to my satisfaction, and then despite a few horror seconds when I couldn't get the stem back in (surely not the keyless works buggered up?!!) it clicked in and the watch is now how I would have like to receive it.

Only thing that went wrong was when I tried to lume the second hand. The lume was too thick so I scraped it off and all the orange paint came off. Then had to remove the hand (never done a chrono hand before - it's very very tricky to remove safely and without damage imho), repaint it, lume it and put it back on.

Apart from a slightly paler orange second hand - im happy.

Thanks for your help guys.