This is Watch Your Style.
Today I'm gonna discuss with you things that can void the warranty on your watch.
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So most of these watches that you buy, when you buy them brand new, they come with an
original manufacturer warranty.
Some of these brands like for example Rolex will now try to give you an incentive, like
a 10-year manufacturer warranty, like if you're buying a Toyota or a Honda of sorts.
To me it's kind of like a form of a gimmick and it does help the new buying customer and
stuff like that.
But let's be honest.
Some of these brands are built like tanks.
You don't really need a 10-year warranty on a Rolex.
Now, like a car, they'll give you a 10-year warranty with a service plan that makes sense.
But the thing about a watch is that, the manufacturer's warranty what it really covers is just manufacturer's
defects.
An example of some of the defects would be, if they didn't lubricate the movement correctly
and it prematurely dries.
Maybe the watch starts not keeping time, stuff like that, in less than a year.
That's something that should be fixed and serviced and overhauled by them, covered.
I've had a problem with a couple of APs in the last year that actually have all had the
same problem, that they end up stopping and when we send them in for service, they come
back and the service reports says, "Premature Expiration of Lubrication."
I don't know what that means, but that sounds like something that should be covered by the
warranty.
What people don't understand is that there's a lot of things that what you're really worried
about is what's not covered.
Any type of physical damage or if you hit the buttons on a chrono when the wrong sequence
and stuff like that is not covered.
So yeah, if you have a new AP and you would have pushed the button and all of the sudden,
it should just spit out the button, that's covered, but a lot of times that doesn't happen.
So if you're buying a brand new watch, it's good to have the warranty and since you're
already going for the full experience and you're also paying the higher premium, might
as well have the full service.
So here are some of the things that can void such a possible warranty.
So I have clients of mine all the time that perhaps maybe need some assistance on this.
They might have bought the watch directly at the boutique and they tell me, "Hey look,
the watch has this problem.
What should I do?"
Remember a lot of times when you send the watch in to get repair to the manufacturer,
it could take months.
There is not hurry.
There are certain watches that I would recommend 1000% straight to the factory.
You have, for example, a Patek Celestial, I wouldn't even look at it the wrong way if
it had a problem, straight to the factory.
But sometimes, I do have them take a look at it, for example a watch that has a clear
caseback, a watchmaker can take a preliminary look from the outside, to get an idea, maybe
give you an idea.
Sometimes it's something simple.
But, opening the watch will always void the warranty!
And these brands use very creative tactics to figure out how.
AP uses a special torque-down screwdriver that they know what the screws are torqued
at.
They can tell.
Some guys will tell me, "No, because they can tell the screws are marked!"
Listen, any good watchmaker can screw the screw back down, a good watchmaker, don't
think there's many of them out there because there's not...can screw down a case without
marking the screws.
Some people believe that these watches are like laid by this magic goose and they already
come polished and assembled.
It's not true.
A lot of these watches are at the end assembled by hand, so a human touch with always be present,
whether it's little or big, but most of the times you can't even tell.
So opening the watch will always ruin your warranty, so obviously, if you have an AP...again,
AP or an Omega or any one of these brands and it's a chrono and it's giving you problem,
don't have anybody open it, if you have a warranty.
Might as well send it back.
That's one of those situations.
Obviously, any repairs done, again will void the warranty.
So you gotta be very careful with what you do with your watch.
If you think it's gonna be covered...If you think it's gonna be covered, have them do
it.
If I'm gonna get a ridiculous bill from Rolex and I know I can get it fixed locally, cheaper
and faster, me I don't really care about the warranty man.
It would have to be a really complex watch with the really high complication for me to
preserve that warranty so much.
Watches are overall pretty durable.
It's only when you get more to like the lower end brands and the chronos that they kind
of need more frequent service.
AP is delicate, but AP still lasts longer than some of you people think.
I don't seem to keep an AP long enough to have a service problem, but I get it.
Everybody is different.
Another important thing that can void a warranty on a watch is alterations to the watch.
Obviously, if you start swapping dials and you start doing anything custom, that would
void the warranty.
An example, one of the best examples that I could give you is a bezel.
On a Datejust II, a bezel, a diamond bezel can be installed superficially with no damage
to the watch and without even risking the watch being water resistant or waterproof
in any way shape of form.
However, if you do send it back to Rolex with that bezel on, they're gonna freak out on
you.
But that's something that I can say would be the most I would wanna alter a watch if
I plan on keeping the warranty because a bezel can be put on, being that you were smart enough
to keep your original bezel.
You can always put the original bezel back on before sending it back for service.
So that's something that they really can never tell and is not really anything internal.
Another thing that's not a problem in my opinion is changing a strap.
If you change a strap correctly, specially if your local AD did it for you or any good
watchmaker, that shouldn't affect the warranty any way because it's superficial.
What they really don't want is somebody to be putting their hands inside of it.
Think of it like a car again.
You're allowed to wash your car.
You're allowed to do some mild little things to your car.
What the dealer doesn't want you to do on a lease is start messing around with the engine.
You understand where I'm going with this?
So when it's terms to what it's covered, pretty much is manufacturer's defects and pretty
much that all depends what they wanna say.
Warranty is almost like a form of insurance and everybody knows how insurance works, OK?
Insurance companies pretty much wanna always come up with some little fine reason that
they don't have to pay and that's kind of the way it goes with these brands.
Patek, on the other hand, has a warranty that's white-glove service, unbelievable!
You send them a watch, they cover everything.
They actually treat you very good, but then again, you're also kind of buying the Rolls
Royce of watches there, so will have a little more pampering involved.
One good question that people ask me all the time is when they buy a pre-owned watch, is
the warranty still covered?
Guys, I've heard so many different answers to this.
I asked, every AD gives me a different answer.
In the example of AP, most of the APs won't have a name on the warranty, so I have had
myself and other people have had, APs were still under warranty, you send them in, they
fix them, it's covered.
Rolex is a little bit different, you know?
Some guys will tell you that if it's still covered under warranty, although it has somebody
else's name in the back, they'll still honor it.
I kid of feel that that's been lately like on a case to case basis.
It really just depends what they wanna do and I myself have been trying to find a concrete
answer, because they sure as heck don't have it on their terms, of what is covered and
not covered on a secondhand watch under warranty.
Feel free to comment below if there's anything you would like to add about watches and their
warranty or any experiences that you might have had.
And if you liked this video, please like and share.
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My name is Eric.
Watch Your Style!
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