Tudor Warranty Repair Story
I've mentioned this issue on a few posts but thought a wider audience might appreciate the feedback on poor Tudor Quality Control and the wait for a warranty repair.
The story: Bought a brand new Tudor Ranger in late October 2022. Had problems almost immediately with the watch stopping unexpectedly. I returned it for warranty service mid-November. Then: crickets. Finally, yesterday, around two months later, I'm told the watch might be back in March (4 months after I sent it in for repair). I'm told that a part is on backorder.
The experience has made me glad that I bought from an AD vs grey market because I need the warranty. However, it's definitely scared me away from future Tudor purchases and Kinessi movements. A COSC certified movement with 70 hours power reserve is useless if the watch is broken. Drop the price and give me a reliable ETA movement.
Anyone else ever need warranty service on a brand new watch before? Share your stories please.
Sold luxury watches in my early 20s (including AP) and developed an interest in horology and mechanical watches. Over 20 years later, I have started to move up market from budget mechanicals.
Yeah, a Seiko Ice Turtle, US exclussive version. Needed regulation bad. That is the latest brand new watch that had to go back.
As far as Kenisi and Tudor, I can see it. Kenisi is in great demand these days and you can only produce so many parts. It seems you got a “lemon”. All manufacturers make lemons every now and then and you seem to have had bad luck. I had a dot on a bezel on a Submariner go bad; turned clear. Rolex took care of it so no harm and I only offer this as an example of parts going bad.
All of my Tudors run fine, btw. Sorry you’ve had a bad experience.
That’s a bummer you’ve had such a rough time. It’s not a fun way to experience a new watch!
Any watch from any brand can have these issues, though. I understand you being turned off by this but the reality is it can happen with any of them.
For me I’ve had issues with Omega, Tag, Bell & Ross, Oris, Nomos and Seiko (movement issues of various kinds). All within warranty and all taken care of in a reasonable amount of time. The only issue I’ve had with any of my Tudors was my FXD which ran 5 seconds slow per day when new so I sent it back to be regulated. Not a defect but also not within spec. I haven’t had an issue with Rolex.
Hopefully you get sorted and can begin to enjoy your watch!
That’s a bummer you’ve had such a rough time. It’s not a fun way to experience a new watch!
Any watch from any brand can have these issues, though. I understand you being turned off by this but the reality is it can happen with any of them.
For me I’ve had issues with Omega, Tag, Bell & Ross, Oris, Nomos and Seiko (movement issues of various kinds). All within warranty and all taken care of in a reasonable amount of time. The only issue I’ve had with any of my Tudors was my FXD which ran 5 seconds slow per day when new so I sent it back to be regulated. Not a defect but also not within spec. I haven’t had an issue with Rolex.
Hopefully you get sorted and can begin to enjoy your watch!
This was my first time with this problem so it was a real bummer. I used to mainly buy affordable watches when I was younger and never had an issue with ETAs or Seiko movements. Tudor movement is supposed to be a step up and costs more so I was surprised when it didn't work from the jump. It wasn't even just that it was out of spec, the watch would just stop entirely. I guess it's part of collecting. We will all get a lemon eventually. I hope the watch some back working great.
The experience definitely makes me value the warranty. I would hate to buy grey and then shell out for a major repair right away.
https://www.watchcrunch.com/mjosamannen/posts/back-from-repairs-but-it-s-not-the-same-18591
This was pretty quick. They didn't do anything. But the ETA is simple to service too. I suspect that it maybe was stuck on the the threads of the crown-tube 🤔 I dunno.
This was my first time with this problem so it was a real bummer. I used to mainly buy affordable watches when I was younger and never had an issue with ETAs or Seiko movements. Tudor movement is supposed to be a step up and costs more so I was surprised when it didn't work from the jump. It wasn't even just that it was out of spec, the watch would just stop entirely. I guess it's part of collecting. We will all get a lemon eventually. I hope the watch some back working great.
The experience definitely makes me value the warranty. I would hate to buy grey and then shell out for a major repair right away.
Yes warranty is so important to me as well, especially as someone who has had so many things fixed under warranty (not just watches). And it seems to be the first few years that manufacturing defects are likely to show themselves. In my experience after the second year I tend not to have any issues with anything.
It’s funny how personal the experience is, though, and how it makes us feel and how it informs our future decisions. My Tag, Bell & Ross, Xetum and Oris all had ETA movements (the Oris had a movement based on the ETA) and every single one had some sort of failure or issue in the first year or so of ownership. The Tag had a screw fall out the back, the B&R just stopped one day, the Xetum had the crown and stem just come all the way out when I was winding it and the Oris had a weird issue where when you’d wind it the rotor would spin really fast. So every ETA I’ve owned has given me trouble. 😂
And while I know that in general ETA movements are quite reliable for the vast majority of people, it has been my experience that 100% of them fail. So I end up making decisions based on my anecdotal experience rather than the much larger data set. Us humans are weird.
So as far as I know, all ETAs fail in the first year and all Rolex movements are perfect and never fail. 😂
I finally got my Ranger back after about 5 months. Tudor gave me a small travel case as well. I think the AD or Tudor threw in a small strap pouch as well. The watch seems to be running fine so far.
One thing to note is that I had an uncle Seiko half-link on the bracelet, which caused Tudor to initially state they would not repair the watch. I was furious that Tudor might not do the repair, but they relented in the end. If you ever send in your Tudor for repair, send it back on the same exact strap or bracelet it came on with no changes at all.