Horological Meandering

ArthurSG
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How many have considered this as an important factor when buying a watch?

Post-sales service and overall ownership experience.

This is not a plug for any particular brand and given the recent thread on transparency.  So from the onset, I do not work for any watch brand directly or indirectly, nor do I moderate any where for any watch brand or AD or work in the watch industry (although I contribute to it J.  I am but a new and small time collector of pieces that interest me.

I wanted to share my very recent experience with a watch that I have and the excellent ownership experience that I am still enjoying.

I picked up the Chopard LUC Regulateur as a little birthday present for myself in July/August this year.  Since then, I found that it was running a tad fast and while I do know that if accuracy in a time piece is what I want, then perhaps a quartz or indeed my handphone may serve a more consistent outcome but I am finicky that way I guess.  But I digress as this is not a post about complication, finish, price etc of a watch but of the post-sales support which often plagues so many industries and whether post sales level is a consideration in your purchase.

I have had very good and responsive feedback to my emails from Lange in the past be it about status of my service or something as simple as a calendar which Lange kindly sent to me from their Hong Kong office.

I have found a brilliant testimony for the watch industry in the guise of Chopard.  As I mentioned, my Regulateur was running a tad fast and as I have had great communication with the Chopard offices in Switzerland and in Singapore in the past, I thought I’d drop them a line to request for them about the “fast” issue I had with my Regulateur.

Although I emailed my request to Maxime Labey, the head honcho for Chopard in these parts, I expected him to have one of his service staff to call me.  Instead, Maxime himself took personal interest in my concerns and personally arranged for me to have my watch taken in and serviced.

I was swiftly put in touch with Bruce Wagner who runs the Chopard service center in Singapore and 2 days or so after I emailed Maxime, Bruce was kind enough to meet with me personally for me to show him the issue I had with my watch.  I could have met with Bruce earlier or just dropped off my watch and explained via email my issue but such was my schedule and state of my horological vocabulary that I felt it better to meet and Bruce promptly and kindly accommodated. Bruce also kept me updated throughout the service interval.

I just picked up my watch today…actually, the watch was sent to my office today by Bruce himself despite the very heavy torrential rain this afternoon to take me through what was done and to explain the workings of the watch.  I felt a tad guilty J

So where am I going with all this?  I will need to monitor the watch to see if it has been regulated and serviced to COSC standards over the next week or so but this is not about that.  This is about the very personal and high level of service not just from Maxime (and not just lip service as well) as the head, but all the way down the post sales support chain and such a service culture I can tell you does not exist in many companies.

It’s very comforting to know that Chopard backs up its products with such fantastic, personal and prompt post-sales service, something which is taken for granted should there not be a need but can prove to be a very frustrating experience if needed and not offered.  I have experienced this for products purchased outside of the watch industry and it is enough to make me take a vow never to buy from those brands again.

And here’s the best part…. I am not a big customer for Chopard.  I only own a singular LUC Regulateur and not any of their fantastic tourbillons AND YET, they accord such a  standard of service.  It’s nice to know that Chopard does not discriminate by price of their watches.

I hold the view the Chopard is very much underrated as a watch maker especially their LUC range and they make a very good watches (some of their designs are a tad eccentric one could argue) with finishing that even rivals Patek and now I am comforted to know that they are confident enough in their product to back it up with gold, (ok since we are talking about the watch industry) no, Platinum class of service.

I am a person like many who develops an affinity for a brand not just based on pricing and in this instance, the level of complication or finishing but on the OVERALL OWNERSHIP EXPERIENCE.  Based on my experience with Chopard so far, I would say if I was looking at a particular complication that Chopard and another brand offered and both were equally appealing to me, my present ownership experience would tip me in favor of Chopard.

Now, if I bought one of their tourbillons and if it needed servicing, maybe I’d be flown to Switzerland to pick it up upon completion…… just joking Chopard.  My thanks again to Maxime, Bruce and Charlotte for this great experience.  It’s not just being good  ambassadors for Chopard, it’s about being good example for the watch industry in general.  Service is very people dependent and maybe Maxime and Bruce happened to have some free time (J) and hence could look more into my request but I do hope that this culture of enhancing ownership experience through excellent after sales service lives long at Chopard.

Do many of you consider post sales and ownership experience when buying a watch?

Once again, I do not work for anyone in the watch industry nor do I get paid by any watch company in cash or in kind or in any way.

Edited to amend spelling of name.