A prosze cię bardzo
Mogę podkreślić gdzie pietroli totalne kocopoły jak chcecie, ale myslę że nie będziecie z tym mieć sami problemu
You are receiving this message because you purchased a Riccardo from Lew & Huey. If you no longer own it, you can delete this message now, or you can forward it to whoever has your Riccardo, if you have their email.
Recently I was contacted by a few customers with out-of-warranty Riccardos needing an expensive overhaul (a ~$300 job), prompting me to update all Riccardo owners with the current state of our ability to repair these watches.
You may be aware that we had a high defect rate in the Sea-Gull ST1940 movements used in the Riccardo. As best as I can calculate, out of only 250 pieces produced, we managed about 120, possibly as many as 130 returns (some of those were watches returned more than once). In the vast majority of cases, we paid for our customers’ return shipping costs, which, when added to the cost of returning those watches to China for repair, created a large expense, and took up a lot of my time.
The factory which produced the Riccardo only warrantied them for one year, but that was from the date of delivery to me, which was in November 2013. That warranty obviously lapsed more than a year ago. Since then we’ve been making in-warranty repairs at our own expense.
When the warranty I had with the factory ran out, I made arrangements with a local watchmaker to service and repair customers’ Riccardos. Unfortunately, that watchmaker is now closing his shop, and has told me he is not interested in continuing with Riccardo repairs. While I do work with another watchmaker, I already know repairing Riccardos will be a non-starter for him.
From my past conversations with the factory that made the Riccardo, I’ve been made to understand that Sea-Gull was largely uncooperative regarding defective movements. I was further made to understand that my factory had exhausted their ability to get more ST19’s from Sea-Gull. Furthermore, I am not certain, but from looking at the Sea-Gull website now, it appears that they are no longer producing the automatic variant, the ST1940, or at least, it isn’t on the site, and so I assume it is no longer available for sale.
As such, I’m not sure if anyone can source replacement movements now. Those who sell them no doubt have a dwindling supply, and that supply could be as prone to defects as our own supply turned out to be during and after production.
The short version of this is that I can’t get more movements, and I don’t have anyone who can fix the Riccardos I’ve sold. As someone who cares about his reputation, this doesn’t sit well with me. While I’m sure many watch enthusiasts might understand the inherent risks in spending ~$500 on an automatic chronograph with a Chinese movement based on a 60-year old design, I don’t think it’s fair for me to simply say, ‘warranty’s expired, sorry, better luck next time.’
So here’s what I’m proposing for anyone in a similar situation, wherein your Riccardo needs a repair, which we can no longer provide.
If your Riccardo doesn’t work:
Take it to a local watchmaker. If the watchmaker tells you it can be fixed, if he had the right parts, ask him to give you a list of parts, and if we have them available (if we can salvage them from some non-working Riccardos I have), we’ll send you the parts at no charge (we'll cover shipping costs up to $25). Email the parts list and your shipping address to
customersupport@janistrading.com.
If he says it needs a complete overhaul, or if we don’t have the parts it needs, here are your options:
Find a replacement movement for it. I’d recommend buying a used chronograph with the hand-wind-only ST1901, and dropping the movement in. From what I’ve seen, this is a ~$200 solution, give or take. I’m recommending the ST1901 because I think it may be more reliable (and definitely more plentiful) than the ST1940. I’m recommending you buy used, rather than a new movement, because I think the risk of getting a defective unit is lower when you’re buying used (assuming a reputable seller). You will need to replace the small chronograph hands, but I have extras, which I can also send you, no charge for the hands (and we'll cover up to $25 for shipping).
Send it back to me, and I will give you a $200 store credit for our website. This offer applies ONLY to non-working Riccardos, and expires on March 6th, 2016, which is two years to the day after I delivered the last new/unworn Riccardo to a customer. You can contact me to make arrangements for the return by emailing
customersupport@janistrading.com.
I regret that I don’t have the watchmaking capability or resources in-house to do more for customers. After the Riccardo, all of our watches have been sold with a two-year warranty, which seems to be the ‘industry standard’, and seems fair. At some point, a business has to be able to move on, and not be liable for a product’s functioning forever. This is what I can do to bring the Riccardo up to parity with the rest of the watches we’ve made, and I hope it shows my commitment to stand behind everything I sell.
Thank you all for your understanding.
Cheers,
Chris Vail
Janis Trading Company