I ended up getting my Santos Dumont a full service from my local Cartier boutique. I was fine with the polishing because it’s a dress watch for me and I’d rather it look nice than “vintage”. I also splurged for a new strap even though I could have gotten a custom one for less money. They shipped it to me for free so I didn’t bother to pick it up at the store. However when I got it back today I saw some noticeable scratches at the front lugs where somebody tried to squeeze in a new strap. It almost looks like the strap they installed is 1-2mm too big. I’m sure they’ll offer to repolish it but extra polishing on one lug isn’t what I was aiming for

 

Yeah, we all know what those marks are, but we usually see them on the back of the lugs
Not much choice but to repolish. Maybe they’ll give you a nice apology gift like a pair of platinum and sapphire cufflinks. Somewhere between that and a catalog…I’m thinking closer to catalog.

It sucks when this stuff happens- hopefully they’ll make good on it without any hassle

 

That's not a good look. As mentioned the strap is too big for the watch and they jammed it in there, why they used a spring bar from the front is a mystery, probably done by someone who had little training and had no idea what he/she was doing.