Warranty Repair of a SEIKO SKX009 from Creationwatches.com

I would like to share an experience with a warranty repair of my SEIKO SKX009 that I purchased in October 2021 from Creationwatches.com.

Creationwatches.com is a so called grey marked dealer based in Singapore. I have bought a number of Japanese watches there and my experience has been mostly positive. The prices are very competitive and the delivery has always been reliable. My SKX009 cost me EUR 280.

The watch unfortunately came with an incorrectly aligned bezel (can this be true?) and the bezel did not latch well either. I managed to file the bezel spring into place and so I was able to fix both problems. Unfortunately, the action left a few marks on the case and so I decided to use the watch as a beater.

I took it on a long trip to Thailand in January, and there in particular on a liveaboard scuba diving trip. A few days after returning from the dive trip with 15 dives and diving depths up to 30 meters (so nothing extraordinary), the watch stopped abruptly. By shaking it, it could be started again for a short time, but soon stopped again. I could not see any signs of water ingress, but the assumption is obvious. 

Back home, I wrote to Seiko Germany to ask how I should proceed with the warranty repair. The friendly information was I should send it in together with the warranty card and the invoice. I had not received an invoice with the purchase of the watch, but I still had the order number. So I wrote to Creation Watches and two days later I had the invoice as a PDF in my mailbox.

I sent the package to Seiko Germany at my own expense. A few days later, I received a letter that the watch had been received, but that the repair was delayed because a spare part 7S26 (i.e. the movement) was not in stock. It would take about a month for the repair to be completed. After about that time, I received a package with my watch running again and a repair description: movement, gaskets, second hand were replaced for 0 EUR. Warranty on the repair 1 year.

So what is the conclusion? Was the lack of quality of the watch at the responsibility of the dealer or the manufacturer? In any case, on the positive side, the international warranty worked, as promised by the dealer on his homepage. I think I would continue to buy from Creation Watches. Who has similar or other experiences?