Simon Freese

[NeedForSpeed]

Agreed he is a great watchmaker and must be supported! I was just concerned by the lack of comms since it had been quite a while and I had messaged him a few times without response, and also since there was an initial mix up which made it unclear that he had ever received the watch in the first place. My patience is infinite as long as there is a minimum of comms so as to be confident that I will get it back at some point! In any case he has now replied so it seems he just has a lot going on at the moment. Thanks all for your replies, much appreciated

 

[Shabbaz]

I don't know Simon. But I don't think what I read is completely normal. Little or no communication, keeping watches with you (for two years) while the owner asks for their return. I also have my own company, but I hope I will stop it if I treat my customers this way. I do think that there are a number of minimum principles when you work as an independent entrepreneur and communication and transparency towards your customers is one of them.

 

[Zman4eva]

Shabbaz

I don't know Simon. But I don't think what I read is completely normal. Little or no communication, keeping watches with you (for two years) while the owner asks for their return. I also have my own company, but I hope I will stop it if I treat my customers this way. I do think that there are a number of minimum principles when you work as an independent entrepreneur and communication and transparency towards your customers is one of them.

I agree with this sentiment. I'm sure Simon Freese is a great watchmaker but the lack of communication is certainly frustrating for anyone that sent him a watch. I've never used him since I'm not in the UK but at what point does he stop being a recommended watchmaker? Or is there just a lack of watchmakers in the UK?

It sounds like he has a very big backlog. He should really limit what he takes in and service what he currently has. It's certainly a terrible customer experience to wait months with no update status.

 

[Archer]

140dave

FWIW: my understanding is there is also a delay with many watchmaker’s receiving parts orders from Omega. I have watches in with a couple different shops ATM and both said it took weeks to get parts in that normally take days. I believe I saw Archer make a similar comment recently as well.

Add this to an already busy shop and output really slows down.

Parts delivery is fine right now for me, as long as the parts are in stock in country - I can have them within a couple of days. If parts are on backorder from Switzerland, then you can pretty much count on a 3-4 week delay, which is double what it used to be.

In some very limited cases, it can be much longer.

I do know that Omega’s systems in the US have been down for most of April, so no customer interface or Extranet for watchmakers for that time. That hasn’t been the case here in Canada so I assume this is a US only problem. I also think it’s back up now...

 

[Soarer93]

I have to echo prior comments and then some. Simon had my watch for over 6 months in the end, it then had to be returned as it wasn't working correctly. When I got round to wearing it again, I realised it still wasn't keeping time. I contacted Simon and he took it back to fix it again - after some somewhat impolite comments he accepted this at his own cost (the watch had just left his standard warranty period).

Low and behold, the watch still doesn't function right. It's since been sent to Omega who found it needed a service (exactly what I paid Simon for) and some new parts (which Simon said he had fitted).

All of the above came with an awful lack of communication. So in essence, he doesn't get back to you nor fix your watch but will happily charge you for keeping hold of it in the meantime.

He sounds like a nice chap whose going through a hard time, but this isn't acceptable for a customer to deal with.

 

[Dimitar Adamski]

I sent my Speedy 1861 to him due to recommendations and without checking the feedback here.

Long story short - the communication was patchy, there were times I was bit concerned, he never answered my questions what exactly was done, what the extensive testing was all about, what the 12 months warranty covers and if were any further comments like expected timekeeping, power reserve, amplitude and so on.

It is early to comment on his watchmaker`s skills as I just had my watch back today. But customers service and communication are bellow the expectations and they need vital improvement.

 

[M'Bob]

Dimitar Adamski

I sent my Speedy 1861 to him due to recommendations and without checking the feedback here.

Long story short - the communication was patchy, there were times I was bit concerned, he never answered my questions what exactly was done, what the extensive testing was all about, what the 12 months warranty covers and if were any further comments like expected timekeeping, power reserve, amplitude and so on.

It is early to comment on his watchmaker`s skills as I just had my watch back today. But customers service and communication are bellow the expectations and they need vital improvement.

I don’t believe there’s much debate about his skills and reputation for quality work. At lease regarding Speedmasters with a cal. 321, that I’ve had serviced by him, compared to other watchmakers who worked on the same caliber for me, his were consistently superior in all parameters.

Regarding communication: I find it’s terrible all over, no matter what industry we could talk about. So, he might very well be in the bell curve.

 

[Dimitar Adamski]

M'Bob

I don’t believe there’s much debate about his skills and reputation for quality work. At lease regarding Speedmasters with a cal. 321, that I’ve had serviced by him, compared to other watchmakers who worked on the same caliber for me, his were consistently superior in all parameters.

Regarding communication: I find it’s terrible all over, no matter what industry we could talk about. So, he might very well be in the bell curve.

I believe it is not a courtesy to be communicative but essential. A proper explanation what I paid for and what to expect in terms of performance and warranty is a must.

 

[hansaboy]

Simon is amazing regarding working with vintage Speedmasters, and he also works with other brands.
His reputation is indisputable, and he always takes his time and effort when you meet/visit him.
He is running a one mans show at the moment, so that could be the issue with communication??

 

[Dimitar Adamski]

The Speedy winds buttery smooth indeed.

 

[M'Bob]

Dimitar Adamski

I believe it is not a courtesy to be communicative but essential. A proper explanation what I paid for and what to expect in terms of performance and warranty is a must.

Not disagreeing, merely pointing out that in my experience sending watches to watchmakers for over 35 years, that patchy communication behavior is the rule, not the exception.

 

[Larry S]

M'Bob

Not disagreeing, merely pointing out that in my experience sending watches to watchmakers for over 35 years, that patchy communication behavior is the rule, not the exception.

Indeed. That has also been my experience.

 

[jaegodylan]

He has indeed been struggling with some personal issues. This has resulted in his already small team being reduced to the point he is overwhelmed. He is turning things around though.

For the meantime I would suggest sourcing an alternative for servicing unless you have plenty of patience.

 

[watchyouwant]

In Australia, there still are good older Watchmakers with vintage Speedmaster service times around 4 - 6 weeks max. And prices are still reasonable . The more praise you heap on one Watchmaker , the longer get the queue.

 

[Archer]

watchyouwant

The more praise you heap on one Watchmaker , the longer get the queue.

Only if they cannot say no. It's hard to do, because we don't want to disappoint people who want us to service their watches, but I learned the hard way that you have to say no. For me not saying no resulted in serious health consequences...

 

[repoman]

If it makes anyone feel better, guitar luthiers are way worse than watchmakers I've had a guitar at a local luthier for 6 months, and it took 4 months before that to get to the top of their queue to get my service appointment to drop it off. No word yet on when it will be done. My patience is usually stellar, but I'm starting to lose my mind. As @dsio suggested, I've never understood why people don't have part time business managers just to handle the basic customer communication. This guitar tech has between 50 and 100 guitars backlogged, so worst case, sending 1 email every 4 weeks with a status update would take about 1 minute per email, so lets say 100 minutes every month, is that really too much to ask to keep all your customers informed? I'm convinced its fear of telling a customer "sorry, your watch/guitar/whatever is still sitting in a box and has not been touched yet, it will still be a couple of weeks before I start" that prevents such communication, but I think 99.9% of customers would prefer to hear the truth and be perfectly ok with it, rather than be ghosted.

Rant over.

 

[Archer]

repoman

This guitar tech has between 50 and 100 guitars backlogged, so worst case, sending 1 email every 4 weeks with a status update would take about 1 minute per email, so lets say 100 minutes every month, is that really too much to ask to keep all your customers informed?

Hard to talk about this without making it seem like I'm complaining, but I'm not...

Customers vary wildly in what they believe is "enough" communication. For some that 1 minute a month might be fine, but for others it most certainly won't be. So the assumption that it is minimal time for the craftsman doing the work is sort of untrue in my experience.

Most of my customers are very good about this thankfully, but some have been downright absurd. I recall one where I was emailing back and forth for a good portion of the morning, maybe 10 emails back and forth giving them pricing and answering what seemed like an endless stream of questions. Nothing wrong with that, but I went to lunch, and when I got back I had like 50 emails asking why I wasn't responding, spaced about a minute apart. I hadn't agreed to do any work for them at that point, and as you can imagine, I told them to find another watchmaker and then blocked their email after they begged me to take their watch in about 15 subsequent emails.

repoman

I'm convinced its fear of telling a customer "sorry, your watch/guitar/whatever is still sitting in a box and has not been touched yet, it will still be a couple of weeks before I start" that prevents such communication, but I think 99.9% of customers would prefer to hear the truth and be perfectly ok with it, rather than be ghosted.

For me, if there's nothing to update, I don't see the point in me spending time to email someone just to tell them there's no update. If they want to know they can email me, and I'll certainly answer, but if I haven't started on it, or am still working on it, that's the answer they get - no fear involved.

I usually tell people that once their watch has arrived, I'll get it taken apart, get everything cleaned so I can inspect all the parts for wear. If I find a serious issue I will let them know, but otherwise I'll be in touch when the watch is close to being done. Most people are fine with that thankfully.

As far as hiring someone to do all the communicating, well that's great in theory, but unless you have a shop with several watchmakers in it, covering that overhead isn't very realistic.

 

[Dimitar Adamski]

repoman

If it makes anyone feel better, guitar luthiers are way worse than watchmakers I've had a guitar at a local luthier for 6 months, and it took 4 months before that to get to the top of their queue to get my service appointment to drop it off. No word yet on when it will be done. My patience is usually stellar, but I'm starting to lose my mind. As @dsio suggested, I've never understood why people don't have part time business managers just to handle the basic customer communication. This guitar tech has between 50 and 100 guitars backlogged, so worst case, sending 1 email every 4 weeks with a status update would take about 1 minute per email, so lets say 100 minutes every month, is that really too much to ask to keep all your customers informed? I'm convinced its fear of telling a customer "sorry, your watch/guitar/whatever is still sitting in a box and has not been touched yet, it will still be a couple of weeks before I start" that prevents such communication, but I think 99.9% of customers would prefer to hear the truth and be perfectly ok with it, rather than be ghosted.

Rant over.

I guess watchmakers are more common than guitar tinkerers?

 

[jjen]

Problem with watchmakers. Too busy fixing watches to answer your calls and emails

 

[apsm100]

I have no problem with little comms and lengthy wait times if I know the watchmaker is excellent. I just make sure the watch I am sending is worthy of it.
I've used watchmakers with very quick turnarounds and not-so-great results, so I have learned my lesson in patience.