Purchased a 3511.50 and received it in the mail today. (I had previously written a post about how I wanted to put a different bezel on it to give it a speedy Tuesday look.) Visually, the watch is a stunner. I love the look—especially the panda dial. I wasn’t expecting the bracelet and ends links to feel as rattly as they do, but I still like it. I wound her up and she started going. The watch came from japan with a description of excellent condition for its timekeeping and aesthetic.

Upon testing it out, I soon realized that the condition of the movement is not excellent. I’m still testing the time, but when the chrono is engaged, it freezes at 34 seconds exactly and consistently. The watch is fully wound, but still manages to do it at 34 seconds each time. When it stops at 34, the entire watch is arrested. I have to hit stop and reset the chrono for the time to start ticking again. Classic example of a seller lying about the time keeping.

I reached out to the seller. They said I could return it (likely wanting me to pay for return shipping—I believe I can dispute this, though), or they offer me a $200 partial refund. I’m not sure what it would cost to service, but I’m guessing it’ll be around $3-500 if I go outside of an AD. Full disclosure, I got the watch at a reasonable price of $1200, which was well under most examples and cosmetically in better condition than the ones at a higher price point.

It is polished, but most 3511 seem to be anyways. Nothing seems overly polished with one exception. When I took off the bracelet, I noticed the lug hole was outlining the edge of the lug. My other watch (Rolex Exp II) has the hole closer to the middle, so I wasn’t sure if this was due to over polishing or what, but the hole outlines the end of the lug. Is this normal?

I’m tempted to take the refund since I really, really like that watch, but I would like to see if they would go up on the amount—at least $300. I think at that price, the watch would have only cost me $900 before service. Considering the more reputable, serviced watches are 2k, that seems reasonable. I am, however, concerned about the lug holes. Does anyone know if these just sit on the edge of the lugs? The condition doesn’t need to be perfect. This will be my beater watch, but I don’t want to throw money away on this one.

 

Or, you could return it and find a better example. I have seen several recently, it's not particularly rare.

 

$200 is no where near what it will cost to service this, if done properly. It's up to you if you believe that the $200 offered is enough to offset what a full service will cost, and if you still end up being happy with the final price.

 

You're probably still ahead with a $200 credit and paying for service at $700 if you bought it at $1200. If you don't think so, return.

BTW, many of the Japanese sellers to do not test the chrono, so not strictly "lying" about timekeeping.

 

You are right. I will see if he can offer more. The cost at a reduced price would be doable for me considering many of these watches are regularly 14-1700 without service history being known.


Btw, I’ve read many of your post before joining this forum. Thank you for all that you do for this community. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from your postings.

 

I think so

 

I'm currently looking for a 3511 on eBay. Can you name the seller? I'd like to know who to avoid.

 

It was a Japanese seller. Honestly, he made it right. Gave me a $300 discount. I felt good about it. I came in at $900 for the watch. I would buy from him again.