My wife is having a big birthday soon, and I wanted to mark the occasion by offering her a custom engraved reverso from her birth year.
Finding the reverso from 89 was difficult enough that I thought my troubles would be over once I received it home :
![Name: IMG_20180502_074259.jpg
Views: 12
Size: 239.1 KB]()
Unfortunately, the engraving part turned out to be a real nightmare.. I show up at the Madison ave boutique early May, with the watch and the design I had in mind (a camera reel) and the manager quotes me between $400 and $800 dollars for the lacquered engraving. I disclosed my end goal of offering the watch on August 15 at that time and leave the watch behind so they can proceed with the markups and the actual engraving.
A full month later, early June, the mock-ups come back and they look great:
![Name: Screenshot_20180730-180124.jpg
Views: 14
Size: 53.3 KB]()
But shortly after is when it starts to get difficult, the manufacture sends me a proposal for the engraving at $4k !! That includes a whole array of mandatory repairs based on the assessment that the accuracy is not within specs, lacking lubrication, scratched crystal etc... About $1.3k for the engraving and the rest in servicing and new parts.
I had just purchased the watch and it had gone under full servicing, including ultrasonic cleaning and lubrication. It's hard not to think they tried to sell a full service without even looking at it at this point.
After a week of arguing, I manage to get them to waive the mandatory repairs and go ahead the engraving. A couple of weeks go by without news so I inquire on the status of the engraving, only to learn that it will take up to 14 weeks, blowing past my deadline. At this point, early July, I decided to cancel everything and send the watch back to be sure I have it in time for the birthday mid August.
But I just received an email today, more than a month later, telling me that they cannot have the watch back before the last two weeks of August! It defies belief, how can you not be able to ship a watch within a month and a half timeframe??
Bottom line is I'm back to square one. Does anyone have recommendations on a professional that could do the engraving in NYC?
Finding the reverso from 89 was difficult enough that I thought my troubles would be over once I received it home :
Unfortunately, the engraving part turned out to be a real nightmare.. I show up at the Madison ave boutique early May, with the watch and the design I had in mind (a camera reel) and the manager quotes me between $400 and $800 dollars for the lacquered engraving. I disclosed my end goal of offering the watch on August 15 at that time and leave the watch behind so they can proceed with the markups and the actual engraving.
A full month later, early June, the mock-ups come back and they look great:
But shortly after is when it starts to get difficult, the manufacture sends me a proposal for the engraving at $4k !! That includes a whole array of mandatory repairs based on the assessment that the accuracy is not within specs, lacking lubrication, scratched crystal etc... About $1.3k for the engraving and the rest in servicing and new parts.
I had just purchased the watch and it had gone under full servicing, including ultrasonic cleaning and lubrication. It's hard not to think they tried to sell a full service without even looking at it at this point.
After a week of arguing, I manage to get them to waive the mandatory repairs and go ahead the engraving. A couple of weeks go by without news so I inquire on the status of the engraving, only to learn that it will take up to 14 weeks, blowing past my deadline. At this point, early July, I decided to cancel everything and send the watch back to be sure I have it in time for the birthday mid August.
But I just received an email today, more than a month later, telling me that they cannot have the watch back before the last two weeks of August! It defies belief, how can you not be able to ship a watch within a month and a half timeframe??
Bottom line is I'm back to square one. Does anyone have recommendations on a professional that could do the engraving in NYC?