Patek aligator strap

[polarinda]

I got a new strap from my local Patek hq today.
Very stiff still and priced to sell!

Problem i discovered later was the print 'geneve' underside is very faint, almost missing, on a brand new strap no doubt.
I sent them a pic via email indicating this immediately upon discovering this flaw.
Yes i should have checked before i paid but i let that slipped.

The hq sales personnel replied and said 'i know the print is faint but the strap is brand new'

The strap is not cheap. Who else can i escalate this to?

[Jabberjaw]

Hswa ?

[bombardior]

honestly the stitching doesn't look like the best craftsmenship either... very uneven spaced and sometimes even missing. if it really bothers you, you should just go and ask for a refund and return it

[unknown]

If you bought it at a Patek AD I have no reason to believe it is a fake strap

But like bombardier said, the stitching is indeed terrible, never seen worse
I would not care about the Geneva stamp but the ugly stitching it …. odd

seeing this strap I would doubt it's genuine …

[cwilson13]

I just bought two new alligator straps from Herni Stern's in NY.

Offered up for comparison.

[Cru Jones]

Originally Posted by bombardior

honestly the stitching doesn't look like the best craftsmenship either... very uneven spaced and sometimes even missing. if it really bothers you, you should just go and ask for a refund and return it

seriously bad stitching. wow.

[DK3]

Wow, that is poor quality. They should be ashamed selling that strap. They should return it to you without any hesitation.

Last year I put a rubber strap for my nautilus at the London saloon and after 1 day the rubber on the metal part of the insertion to the lug wore off completely off. I took it into the saloon and asked them for a different strap as this strap is defective. They told me that their watch maker inspected the strap and told me that I must have damaged the strap with some activity. That was surprising to me since I had basically wore my watch to dinner and a museum. My other rubber strap I had done every single sport activity for 6 months without any signs of defect and had multiple impacts onto it without any signs of wear.

I ended up purchasing a second strap that lasted over 1 year and asked them to please send the watch strap back to Patek for defective evaluation and gave them my address. I never heard back from them.

They were very pretentious about it, and I just assumed it was employees that felt the needed to act snobby since they were working at patek. I had planned to purchase a 5130 during my trip in London, but then passed after the event and purchased a discontinued 5960r from one of the vintage watch stored off Bond street instead.

Patek should have a policy to return poor quality straps without any arguments. Especially for the price they charge for their basic straps that they outsource.

If I were a new customer to Patek and saw how much of an issue they made over such an insignificant item as a strap I would be concerned purchasing a watch from them.

One day I hope Patek will actually make an effort to transfer some of their watch makers into their service centers so the lag time is not so ridiculous and actually not make a big deal about strap returns that are not well made. Until that day comes, profit first and customer care second.

[Mbbgysam]

The stitching on that strap bothers me. I would return it if possible.