AIBU in expecting a £600 watch to NOT be a throw away item?

[NannyRed]

My DH bought me a beautiful rose gold watch shortly before we married (4 months)

It’s a ‘quality’ brand ( Emporio Armani) he spent £600 on I, so it wasn’t cheap. I took it for repairs just before Christmas (so 5 years old) and it was sent away to EA for a new bracelet and glass. It’s just been returned with neither the glass or the bracelet replaced as “it’s too old”

Am I bu for expecting an Emporio Armani to be repaired?

The company dealing with this is Fossil and tbh I’m disgusted with the “here, take 30% off” sorry Fossil, I have a Fossil purse but I will never use you again

I don’t want money off of another watch, I expect Fossil to repair my current watch ( I had already paid £150) for the imaginary care.

I’ve found a replacement bracelet (EA) for £76 and will be taking my watch for independent repair, why do companies think we want to ‘throw away’ £600 watches as if they are a Timex? (The original ‘throw away’ watches)

You bought an expensive bit of jewellery 5 years ago, it broke. Original shop said they dont make that design anymore so cant repair it. You source the part needed elsewhere and get it repaired at a jewellers.

I dont get why you think it is a throw away item? That is the confusing bit, who is throwing it away?

Wow some of the replies are really mean just because she has an expensive watch. It's not like she says she buys £600 watches every day - she obviously wanted this one to last.

So why mention the £150 if that’s not an issue? They asked for £150 for the repair, then refunded it when they couldn’t repair it. It’s irrelevant. You made it sound in your OP like they’d taken £150 off you and kept it.

If you’re so sure that YANBU, why did you post to ask?

I understand your frustration, £600 is a lot of money to pay for a watch. The sad reality though it’s a £50 watch with a £550 name stamped on it.

I don’t blame you for being cross, but I’m not surprised they won’t repair it either.

You don’t deserve any expensive watch seeing as you can’t look after it. New bracelet and new face sounds suspiciously like Trigger’s sweeping brush.

Misses point.

Sorry to disappoint, but it is a fashion watch - EA outsource the manufacturing to Fossil and the movement is most likely to be Chinese made (although Fossil are now making some movements in Switzerland). As a quartz movement, it can be accurate and reliable, but it certainly doesn't fall into the category of a quality watch.

You might not call it a fashion watch, but it is a bog standard high street brand.

Glad to see you've found a replacement elsewhere.

To be brutally honest, most designer watches are cheap junk . They are just cheap movements with a brand name on them.

I too have an EA watch. Ive had it for years. I didnt buy it because i dont buy so called designer goods. It was bought as a present. I like the look of it though so i wear it.

I pinged the back off it to replace the battery. Do you know what was inside? a lot of fresh air and a cheap movement hid in the corner.

Do you know who one of the biggest watchmakers in the world are ? its swatch. They own the Omega brand. Swatch make watches for loads of different companies.

The idea that learned swiss craftsmen are working away in their workshops making fine watches of quality is laughable now. True that happens but they cost big money.

Now having said all that,,you love your EA watch. I like mine too. Google a local old school watch repairer and take it there. There are still some around.

Legally, the onus is on the retailer to prove that a faulty item isn’t faulty within the first 6 months of purchase. After the first 6 months, the onus falls on the customer to prove that the item was inherently faulty at purchase. This means getting an independent report from a specialist for example.

The watch is 5 years old, so your options of recourse with the retailer are very limited as I doubt you can prove that it was actually faulty at purchase - I’m surprised they’re trying to assist you after so long.

They can’t replace or repair it as it’s too old, so the only other option would be to give you a refund (obviously bare in mind that the value of the watch is now 5 years old/second hand so it’s not worth £600 anymore). I don’t think the retailer has done anything wrong here

my boyfriend bought me a michael kors watch a few years ago when they were the ‘in’ thing, so not quite £600 but still quite expensive. when it broke after around two and a half years i just accepted that they aren’t built to last and bought a new watch from a different brand. for designer watches/jewellery you really are paying more for the brand than anything else. on another note if i’ve ever needed jewellery or a watch fixed i’ve always taken it to an independent jeweller who do the job a lot quicker and faster.

Ask yourself this,,when buying a designer brand do you think they even have anything to do with it? If not,why buy it?

Do Emporio Armani have a watch manufacturing plant in some tuscan village? I doubt it.

Spectacles,,another fools paradise. People pay a small fortune for so called designer specs because of the name. In fact they are all cheaply made for a pittance and badged up and sold for a fortune. The biggest specs manufacture in the world is a company called Luxottica. You may not have heard of them. They make sunglasses and prescription specs frames. The also make those designer frames and just stick a badge on them.

Hmm. I have a Gucci watch which is 3-4 times older, a brand which is presumably a 'fashion watch' and they have been much better. I've paid the odd £30 for a battery change, but they didn't charge for the last fix, movement issue (albeit due to delay on their part).

Also, some sniffiness on Rotary! Is it that bad a brand? I inherited one (which I think would have cost £1-2k - perhaps that isn't much for some people..) and they adjusted the band for £30 ish. That watch was about 20 years old too.

Peers Hardy and Fossil make most of our fashion branded watches, well they did when I was in the industry.

As a pp said above - their watches are made up with a very cheap movement and battery housing ( and fitted with inferior 10p batteries at that ). Cannot for the life of me see how they can give you a £600 price tag - it is daylight robbery as they are piss poor 'workmanship'.

AE IS a fashion range watch.

Rotary is a good solid watch brand as is Seiko and Citizen. Rotary watches that are £1k plus would be 9ct gold casings irc.

Sekonda watch movements are on par with the movement of these fashion brands that cost hundreds of pounds.

I used to work in a jewellers, I can tell you Armani watches don’t retail for as much as £600. Probably £400 for a top of the range one. It’s also fairly common for watches to become obsolete and parts not to be available for repairs as there are constantly new models being introduced and parts not being produced for the older models anymore. We used to have this fairly frequently for all brands from the cheaper ones to the luxury ones. and it is standard for the manufacturer to offer a discount off a current model as a goodwill gesture in this instance

Yes, my Rotary watch is gold. But presumably no difference in 'core watchness' (sorry, I just made up that term. Well I think)? A previous comment said "I worked in a jewellers for years and the Armani watches are made by rotary.. they just have the Armani badge" - which made Rotary watches sound inferior?

I don’t think Dreyfus (Rotary parent company) and Fossil are linked?

No, Rotary definitely don’t distribute Armani. It’s fossil

Fossil aren't anything to do with Rotary. < fellow jeweller>

My watch is a Citizen Ecodrive. Who makes that? I'm just curious. :)

I know what you mean OP, as with a great many fashion diffusion lines the name has inflated the price over quality. I had an Armani that barely lasted 2 years but that was only £100 so less galling.

It's rubbish but chalk it up to experience sadly.

I was gifted what I term an expensive Rotary watch from the company I worked for. It came with a lifetime guarantee. Ha. Firstly the local jeweller looked at it and they couldn’t fix it. So off to Rotary. They couldn’t fix it either. I was told that they no longer made the parts anymore. It was only a few years old and looked after. I was stunned. They offered a discount on a replacement watch.

Like most things, nothing is made to last anymore. It’s all disposable. TV breaks down? Buy another. Computer fails? Buy another.

In the end I went with a private time piece company who do have a proven track record of maintaining and repairing their time pieces, new or old. Cost a lot but least I won’t be chucking out and replacing every few years. What a waste. YANBU.

@steff - Citizen! They are a good brand of watchmaker.

£600 for an Armani watch!!
Fossil also make the Michael Kors watches - i had to return one within a year due to colour discolouration a while back when they were fashionable. They replaced but was a hassle.
I would think 5 yrs for an EA watch is about right - they aren't made to last forever. I think £600 is a crazy amount for one of their watches.

I had a Rotary that my mother when I was eleven. In the end after many many years of keeping really good time, it died and I had to get a replacement. I hemmed and hawed and asked questions (well, I would, wouldn't I?) everywhere I could think of, and now have a Citizen eco-watch.

You have no idea how comforted I feel because of the recommendation those have been given here!