Zodiac Watch Limited Edition - Overproduced

[VonSlingshot]

Get a coffee, this one is a long one. I don't post a lot on TRF but thought the diverse crowd here would benefit from knowing about this kind of error, and how the company and AD react to the error.

I like micro brands. I try and keep a decent selection of stuff under 5k in my collection.

Enter Zodiac.

I've owned a bunch of them, from the quartz era to the current models out now.

They often do limited runs of 182 or 282 units of XYZ, so when the first meteorite dial offering was sent to me on a pre-order (this stuff ALWAYS sells out pretty quickly) I decided to jump on it.


Their press release photos were on point for sure.


https://www.fratellowatches.com/intr...eteorite/#gref


https://www.ablogtowatch.com/hands-o...edition-watch/


https://wornandwound.com/zodiac-supe...eteorite-dial/

So I got my watch just after the release date with no delay. Very nice piece of kit. The markers have a chrome surround that depending on the light, look black or bright and chrome.

One day at coffee with a few watch collector friends, he asks to see my watch. He takes a good look at it and compliments the texture of the dial and how nicely put together it was. Nice fit. Comfortable stretch butterfly clasp. Very good value for the money, but why is my serial number #186?


No clue.

So I email watches dotcom (the AD) and ask what's up.

Their reply was indeed that was strange. They had also marked the listing sold out numerous times but found out they held back 10 or so units of low serial number and cranked the price by $900 USD.

https://www.watches.com/products/zod...edition-zo9290


So then the long drawn out dialogue began as to why they not only sold me misrepresented goods, but what are they going to do about it.


Exchanged back and forth every few days with little info, other than making me jump through hoops.

Eventually watches dotcom came back and said Zodiac rep was going to call me, which he did.

His name is Michael. He is the North American rep for Zodiac HQ proper. Our exchange was 15 or 20 minutes. His original suggestion was to send me a shipping weighbill, and take the watch back to have the caseback swapped out. How on earth was that a viable option. All 182 pieces had already been issued, so there would be a repeat/double caseback. I didn't flinch. I told him I was frustrated and unhappy to now be put in this position. I just wanted all the money I paid for the watch (including the taxes) back and to not be out of pocket a single dime. He said he would make that happen.

A week goes by - radio silence. Nothing.

So I call him back and it goes to voice mail. (shocker) I left him a message asking what the status was, and the following day I got an email from watches dotcom saying they were working with the rep trying to come to a full resolution.

Then it kind of goes sideways. No longer does the Michael rep from Zodiac HQ answer his phone calls or voicemails.

So watches dotcom now takes the stance that they will refund what I paid, but when it comes to the taxes paid that's on me to chase down. Putting the owness back on me to do the legwork for an error/failure not of my doing. Did I mention the part about watches dotcom cranking the MSRP by $900 USD on the last clawed back 10 units (or so?), I'm supposed to take the haircut and not them? No? Well that happened.

I found this off-putting that because of Zodiac's error that I'm the only one doing any leg work. I didn't ask for a dime of compensation. Was told by many people in the watch industry that Zodiac should really have just taken the watch back and refunded and even offered something else to me to let the whole situation be more than resolved, but here we are.

I've got an exchange of 16 or so emails to watches dotcom showing the wild goose chase they made me go through only to deny any reasonable ownership of this crappy situation.

I tried to get in writing the expectation of refund and a proper shipping weighbill, to which I got told they will not be refunding any money over the $1795 USD paid and if there is exchange rate loss that's too bad they don't pay over and above what the invoice was.

(this is also after asking me to provide proof of monies paid for taxes, as well asked if I had a paypal account so they could lead me a long thinking they might make me whole)


I've left 3 voicemails with Michael at Zodiac - all unanswered. Why on earth reach out to the customer if you never intend to follow through. Makes zero sense.

I've also sent an email to Zodiac generic sales/service email address on the website with no reply.


So,

let this be a lesson for Zodiac owners - check your serial numbers!
and do NOT purchase from watches dotcom

Thanks for reading if you are still here.

[calebb90]

Wouldn’t this make the piece more unique? It’s a fun story to tell that you got piece 186/182.

If you like the watch, why go through all this hassle because they *possibly* made a few more than they said or they misprinted the caseback?

Life’s too short.

[donas]

Definitely some lessons learned about companies not to deal with. Does the case back actually say 186/182? If your friend had just kept his trap shut, everyone would be happy

[epicurus]

"Oh the humanity!" - Newman

[bonovox]

Mike Pearson, Zodiac brand director based in the US, is pretty active on Instagram. Perhaps try sending him a message? @mikepearson6

[VonSlingshot]

He's the guy who ghosted me.

Can't imagine he would miraculously step up now.

[bonovox]

Originally Posted by VonSlingshot

He's the guy who ghosted me.

Can't imagine he would miraculously step up now.

Sorry. Didn't make the connection.

[MikePearson55]

Hi vonslingshot This is Michael Pearson.

I’m the Global Brand Director for Zodiac Watches. I was drawn to your post and wanted to assure you that you were not ghosted by me or anyone at Zodiac in anyway. I’d never do that but I apologize if that is how you felt. After our chat, you told me that you would like to return the watch and I completely understood your reasoning as to why but like I mentioned, the watch was bought at watches for com and only they can take the watch back as this is where the money was exchanged. If this has not happened and you’re still fighting to get this sorted, send me an email and I will take up the fight with you. That’s not right.

I looked through my correspondence and I sent an email to watches dot com as soon as we got off of the phone and asked them to send you a label. I did not hear back from anyone so I assumed it was all sorted. I am so sorry if it was not.

I also wanted to clarify the case-back mistake, there WERE only 182 of these watches made. In every production run at every brand there are things that need correcting and in this case they were caught but unfortunately the machine that was used to scribe the casebacks wasn’t set to remake the same caseback number, it carried on sequentially and it wasn’t caught by our Swiss factory which is how we had your unfortunate predicament arose. I am once again sorry for that.

Zodiac is on a really exciting journey and I want this to be led with great customer service, strong communication and perfect Quality Control. This is my primary goal alongside
Producing some really great watches.

I am a watch guy at heart and love reading the forums but I never post on them as I feel that this is a safe space for the community without heads of brands muddying the water but I also wanted you to know as soon as possible that I am here and very ready to help you.

Thanks so much for listening and I hope I’ve clarified a few things. I’m always available if anyone has any questions.

Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you and enjoy the weekend.

Mike Pearson

[ILoveFerrari]

honey, where is my popcorn?

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[Cru Jones]

Zodiac is not a “micro brand”. It’s owned by Fossil.

As for Zodiac producing watches beyond the initial LE run of watches, maybe another way to look at is, if they hadn’t, maybe it would have been sold out and you couldn’t have bought one?