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This message has been edited by India Whiskey Charlie on 2024-11-30 14:03:09
This message has been edited by patrick_y on 2024-12-09 02:51:00
On servicing - A. Lange & Söhne
This was an interesting video. Its title is a bit alarming, though given the high expectations of excellence, it does qualify as extremely silly. I can only take the contents at face value since I don't have any experience with the brand. But it caught my attention and it seems to report on a real problem and not limited to a single customer. Curious to know your thoughts and perhaps your good or bad experiences, such as they are.
This message has been edited by India Whiskey Charlie on 2024-11-30 14:03:09
This message has been edited by patrick_y on 2024-12-09 02:51:00
Their servicing cost
Is astronomical and the quality is poor.. I had a new RL where the power reserve was just 24hrs..
Out of 3 service I did with them, only 1 was stress free..
Service is one of the most important thing. A deal breaker for me. Brands should understand that.
I have only the best service experience with Lange
Lange1 in 2019, Saxonia automatic in 2023, Datograph and Langematik Perpetual in 2024. Duration and cost as promised. Everything executed in the best quality!
+1.
Over many years now, I’ve only ever had good Lange Manufactory service experiences too: my watches have all come back like brand new. I held off during the pandemic - I knew that, like many businesses, the Manufactory was significantly impacted during that period.
Transit times have occasionally been an issue for me…but I live on the other side of the world and these are largely beyond Lange’s control. I would however like to see Lange consider establishing regional factory-owned service centres - the US, UAE and Asia would be a good start (I’m not trying to exclude other geographies, just start somewhere).
Lange service is not cheap - but neither are their watches. I acknowledge that there is a diversity of views on the matter but, as Lange owners, I believe we simply need to factor in the cost of maintaining our magnificent watches - and thus their operational integrity and provenance.
Transit times have occasionally been an issue for me…but I live on the other side of the world and these are largely beyond Lange’s control. I would however like to see Lange consider establishing regional factory-owned service centres - the US, UAE and Asia would be a good start (I’m not trying to exclude other geographies, just start somewhere).
Lange service is not cheap - but neither are their watches. I acknowledge that there is a diversity of views on the matter but, as Lange owners, I believe we simply need to factor in the cost of maintaining our magnificent watches - and thus their operational integrity and provenance.
After the COVID watch bubble I expect we'll see more of these as folks get their first taste of servicing with some brands
This is the kind of thing that has turned me off complications, especially with big brands the person servicing your watch is almost certainly not of the same seniority as the person that built it.
So true! Well said!
I'd like to remind all buyers of watches... Watch company executives are focused on expanding factories and increasing sales revenue. Sales revenue only goes up with more units or higher average sale price per unit. While watches have increased in popularity significantly in the past 10 years, servicing them has not been a major objective with most brands. So imagine a country that has seen its population increase 50% in as little as 20 years. The roads, the hospitals probably haven't increased in capacity the same 50% in those years. So there will naturally be pain points!
Have had issues with a range of brands, and also good experiences
I would be interested to hear from more experience collectors to learn how the experience today has changed from the 1960s pre-quartz crisis and the 1990s dawn of this era.
I dislike long wait times and I dislike watches that come back from service with new or unfixed issues. Blaming the client for issues is a wash, as it would be human nature for clients to withhold important information when turning in damaged watches for repair. I only get turned off from the brand completely when these issues are coupled with high servicing costs.
When I visited another Glashutte watchmaker in 2010, one of the tour guides dropped the nugget that the watchmakers in the town of Glashutte earned a fraction of the average salary of a watchmaker in Geneva. I believe it was 1/4, but it's been a long time. The scarcity of watchmakers is a problem, but the wages are not astronomical.
When it comes to pricing the service of a luxury watch, a brand like Lange must be allocating a significant amount of the overhead (boutiques, marketing) to the cost.
My impression is that prestige brands like Lange charge prices that go above and beyond allocating overhead across a limited production volume, as the client is not going to balk at a high price.
If Lange can't provide a level of service and client care that matches the prestige price of the service, they are ripping off the client.
Most collectors rely on word-of-mouth and their own experiences to know whether a brand is good or bad with servicing. There is no Consumer Reports for luxury watch brands. The performance of the aftersales department has to be extremely poor before the greater market is going to clue in, as a successful service outcome produces silence. Even with this video, are we confident that the servicing department at Lange is significantly worse compared to Patek/AP/Vacheron?
I've heard in other owner circles that Lange is as bad as the video says.
Generally, I've heard good things about Patek and good-ish things about VC. But most of all, their turnaround time isn't absurd.
Honestly... This happens a lot of places... Not just Lange! Although Lange does seem to be worse than average.
When you buy a watch, you're not only buying the watch, but the whole servicing and ecosystem that comes with it! Beware! You're now a captured customer, and thus, the Brand can subject you to a lot of hoops and servicing costs if they deem to do so. Let's say today you buy a car from brand X. Tomorrow, Brand X may double their servicing costs and you're still stuck with that car! Insurance companies can all of a sudden deem Brand X's cars are unsafe and thus double their insurance rates on that car. And you're stuck with that car! Sure, you can sell the car, but as a new owner, you take on a huge amount of depreciation since the car is still new. Lots of risks!
Yes alot of risk..
But Langes behavior is somewhat dishonest..
I once sent my langematik for complete service.. but had to send it back for a minor issue.. and guess what? They quoted me for a full service again saying the watch needed it.. treating their customers like sheep to be fleeced
I once sent my langematik for complete service.. but had to send it back for a minor issue.. and guess what? They quoted me for a full service again saying the watch needed it.. treating their customers like sheep to be fleeced
Ugh...
How many days/weeks/months between the complete service and the send it back for the minor issue? It does seem excessive. And yes, these watch brands do want to fleece you since you're already a "captured customer." Too bad for us as consumers... What can we do?
A month at most..
The minor issue was some dust on the dial or something cosmetic like that.. imagine how shocked I was to get another quote for a complete service service..
The good thing is that they are exposed as dishonest.. since then I cut my Lange collection down to 2..
I think simple langes, 3rd party servicing should be good enough
The good thing is that they are exposed as dishonest.. since then I cut my Lange collection down to 2..
I think simple langes, 3rd party servicing should be good enough
Can you say more?
I'm not understanding something. Lange's post-servicing guarantee is 2 years. So when you sent it back for the minor issue (dust under the dial, etc.) a few months after having it serviced, what justification did Lange give you for saying it needed a second complete servicing, at your cost? Did they claim you dropped it or damaged it? And what happened in the end -- did you refuse the work and just have Lange return the watch to you?
It was at most 1 month after collection
Their email stated the watch wasn’t functioning according to their technical specs..
Of course I called the boutique manager immediately and he said ignore the quote as it wasn’t sent out wrongly 😒
But you see my point : every time you send in a watch for service, they seem to want to charge you a full overhaul even if the watch is perfectly fine.. They just exposed themselves accidentally in my case 😂
Of course I called the boutique manager immediately and he said ignore the quote as it wasn’t sent out wrongly 😒
But you see my point : every time you send in a watch for service, they seem to want to charge you a full overhaul even if the watch is perfectly fine.. They just exposed themselves accidentally in my case 😂
Thanks for clarifying. This is helpful, to know what happened. I am surprised...
... that Lange didn't see it had just been serviced in their records, from the caseback number.
I am more surprised
They wanted to charge me for a service when the watch was perfectly fine..
