Patek Philippe

Today, after waiting a year and 3 weeks, I finally received my Patek 5110P back from service. I inspected the watch with a loupe and to my great disappointment I notice a blemish on the 22K micro rotor, which appears to be a mark or gouge (perhaps from ha...  

I can imagine how one feels when he sees this. I'm sure Patek Philippe team in the US will correct it perfectly but this is not the kind of thing we expect to experience from such a great brand. Hope it won't take too long to correct. Cheers, Mark

Service, across the board these days, is just terrible. For all the money we spend on these little marvels, you'd think they wouldn't cause damage.

... Steadily down hill in any number of ways. Of course, service has suffered the worst. Let's face it: There's no money to be made in service. - Scott

It deeply saddens me to see the decline of Patek Philippe. It seems to have began about a year or thereabouts before they moved to their new offices. Sold off all my Pateks but two and debating trading the aqua for a Rolex for something I can truly use as... 

Things happen. It's definitely not right for price point but it's not enough to leave the marque.

As I answered just before Scott, I don't think that things can change significantly in such a short period. However, Patek is certainly victim of its success, like many other brands in the blooming watchmaking industy. I understand you had a bad experienc... 

I've enjoyed Pateks for decades yet it really is not the company it once was. There was more of a personal touch, like being family. Now it feels like you're just another 'customer'... if you get my feelings about this. With such long wait times for repai... 

Thanks for explaining and sharing in a respectful way, this is indeed very personal and I just can hope you'll find your way with the watches you like Cheers, Mark

The servicing issues (length) is something many brands are facing since the burst of this luxury segment of watchmaking. Brands definitely have been late (surprised?) on the development of their servicing departments. This is even more true for a famous a... 

I have no doubt Patek will do the right thing, but this should never happen from a brand for which excellence is a claim... Best, Nicolas

That's completely unacceptable. And, why would it take more than 1 year to service???

that should never came trough quality inspection! i hope they correct it fast! grtz, raymond

I hope they will do the right thing and fix the issue in a short period of time.

Sell it. Buy a new watch. Vote with your feet and dollars.

Something sounds strange about this wait time... but that aside, if they damaged the watch in ANY way it's completely unacceptable. Please keep us informed. For us to understand the dynamics of this well, the more details pertaining to your experience reg... 

I delivered the watch to HWSA in NYC in January 2015. I had a hard time getting them to articulate what would be serviced to my satisfaction in writing (i.e. in the service order). In particular, there was a mark under one of the lugs that I wanted dealt ... 

Bummer hope this can be quickly fixed back in NY for you. Good luck.

Gold is soft yes, but still, unless a watchmaker steps on the rotor, how shall this happen under normal work conditions of a service job? Maybe it is "only" a big dust particle or some other kind of impurity on the surface. Still not acceptable for a Pate... 

Hope what you experience will not happen to me. Anyway just complain and have it in for service again. Thanks for sharing this experience. My 5296 r was serviced back in 2013 and it was excelent. Patek did a good job. Sympathize with your experience. Best... 

Upon closer look, it does not appear to be a gouge, dent, scratch or the like, although it is difficult to see from the photos. To make a serious structural mark like a gouge would require a lot of force - ie, a HUGE mistake. More likely, it is a smudge c... 

The edge of the rotor is beveled and actually finished really beautifully with fine lines. However, the finishing where the mark is is either covered up or gouged (it's difficult to tell which even with the loupe). With the named eye, it refracts light di... 

totally unexplainable since they claim the watches go through 2 weeks of quality control after servicing. PP clearly needs to devote more resources and attention on after sales service. Their focus instead is on building new large manufacturing facilities... 

It doesn't look like a dent to me, it seems more like a discolouration. Still, neither must happen. When you give your watch to them you are putting your trust in them. When I sent my 5167 for a refurb, I got back a watch with a damage to the bracelet whe... 

after a period of furiousness (which would last about a week or so) I would do detailed documentation of what happened as well as contact with Patek service. I would wear the watch as is for five years if of course there are no other problems. And I would... 

it doesn't appear to be a gouge or dent as the edge of the rotor can be seen and the 90 degree angle appears to be intact, so I would think it is something other, a smear of oil possibly, as others have mentioned. Nonetheless, it is very disturbing to see... 

A similar think happened to me there with a rotor of a 315 movement. They wanted to polish out their scratches. I told them either they replace the watch which was still under warranty or put in a new rotor.

When I felt their hesitation, I then realized I didn't want this watch at all because it was like brand new and it had a date rotation issue which was the reason the watch was there to begin with. They told the AD to give me my money back. After many week... 

This sort of incidents make me think if it is worth getting another Patek at all. You have to wait a long time to buy the watch in the first place and then even longer to get it serviced with a poor result. What happened to PP company values?

What happened to PP in their respect for their customers who have invested their time, money, and perhaps emotion. As word of this treatment gets more widely known it can't bode well as Patek will be shunned for other manufacturers. As for how long this c... 

You can maybe have a look at my answers in this thread to Eliott55 or watch-er about some elements of answer (or thoughts) if you're interested. By the way, I wonder what are the statistical figures for these kind of problems? I don't say it is normal of ... 

I completely understand your point however, watches of this caliber are something beyond just a watch to a lot of folks. It's a very personal experience, from its purchase and its life to the owner. Reading the values of the company suggests their commitm... 

First the "unfair" part was concerning Poky's statement. Not the original post of course. As I said in some of the previous replies, I wouldn't be happy either about getting my watch back with a problem and the servicing time is too long in some areas. I ... 

Indeed, I also witnessed the recent and dramatic changes in PP, and for me these changes were not in the right direction also. Increasing production without a concomitant inrease in service capabilities was destined to create a service time problem. In fa... 

I may have been too harsh in my earlier statement but I know of no other watch company (someone may be able to enlighten me about this) that makes claims about the service commitment the way Patek does. In fact for me the main reason that I bought my firs... 

I went back and read all the comments made and honestly, none were harsh. Matter of fact and opinionated, yes .. but not harsh. Believe me, when clients bring me their watches for service and I tell them the time frame for their watch to be serviced, I ha... 

Another issue with service is once the watch is returned they never tell you what parts specifically were replaced. Just that it passed inspection. For the cost and length of time to perform service that's the bare minimum they could report.

We all chimed in but really at this point PP needs to address the problem. I love free speech but really shouldn't the manufacturer be given the opportunity to correct the problem before we all air it without much to go on. Personally, I would never post ... 

I returned my 5110P to HSWA last week. I\'ve been told that the "intake process" takes at least 2 weeks and, depending on their position, it could be another month before anything is resolved. I have also provided them with pre-service photographs of the ... 

I see a potential for conflict in this thread and like threads, not just in the PP forum but in all forums. Obviously, all of us want to have a wonderful watch and would like to see that it holds is value over the years, if not increase in value. However,... 

It is always easy to criticize this kind of "incident" but this doesn't mean it is a standard situation. Of course 55 is too much but do you think that most of the users get 55? Furthermore, I disagree when you see that forum is a good place to share frus... 

However, mine is not an isolated incident. The complaints about it are rampant and well documented on other boards and elsewhere. For a while I have been wanting a PP perpetual calendar for my collection, and putting resources aside for it, but instead of... 

I understand your position and totally agree with what you just said. Furthermore, there is no problem about discussing about it here Descartes. I wouldn't be pleased if it had happen to me either! I was more discussing about the "length" issue with other... 

You know that I\'m more of a reader than contributor here. On the other hand, I don\'t want to spit or get rid off steam at all. As a matter of fact, I don\'t own a PP and therefore I\'m pretty much relaxed about their service. I\'m well aware that many p... 

I think it is a good thing to share the good things, as the bad things. This is part of experience sharing. I just wished to put things in perspective in order to have all the elements to judge. Thanks for your view on the matter and have a nice week-end ... 

Two weeks had passed since I returned the 5110P to Patek and I hadn't heard anything, so I called to find out the status because I was told that the "intake" process would take two weeks. I spoke to the customer service representative who I've been dealin... 

I think the way it has been handled by Patek shows they take seriously care of these matters (whatever some may say) even if it should not have happened in the first place. However, considering the volumes involved in servicing, a small percentage of "err...