Quote:
Originally Posted by Gray_Panther
How was your experience with them?
I believe I spoke to the son, Phil, and left with a very positive impression. Felt like that team is very passionate and deep into the watch game.
Hard to find others who are into it, and I have really met only 1-2 over the years.
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Confusing to be honest. I had an Explorer II I'd just sold privately, and then added a bit of money to it in hopes of grabbing a 168000. I'd been following their inventory for years, and noticed that they had one that was in great shape with the proper patina I was looking for. They give a slightly lower price for a wire transfer, so I called in, got all of their information and agreed to purchase the watch. I sent the wire transfer near closing time on a Monday, and emailed them after with a copy of the wire transfer and asking them to provide shipping info. Shipping an expensive watch is absolute torture for me, whether I'm buying or selling.
That's the last time I heard from them. Multiple emails were left unreturned over the next 48 hours, and then I came home that Thursday to a USPS notification saying I'd missed a package. The next morning I went to USPS and signed for the watch that was being held at their facility.
Still no email or phone call which was quite disappointing.
The positives were the price, and the condition of the watch. It's in excellent shape with no flaws to mention and has been running excellent for the past 4 months. I swam in the ocean with it during my Honeymoon with no issue, and it runs great. I've yet to wind the watch as it arrived running and I put it right on. The only time I've tinkered with the settings is when I have to manually adjust the date for non 31 day months.
FWIW, I had my Explorer II, the one I sold to upgrade to the 168000 Sub, serviced at the Water Buyer's Group a few years ago after my mainspring broke and the watch would not wind. For service, they seemed to be the most cost effective and the watch ran/looked perfectly when it returned. I had them fully service everything while they were in there, as well as polish the case and replace the crystal that had a nick in it. That was a better experience than mine with Bob's based purely on customer service.