Had a long, complicated international relationship with Patrick Pieper—I bought several watches. The shipping outfit treated a couple of the pieces as if they were marbles or stationary or something indestructible, which of course these watches weren’t. Some survived, others needed help, still others were shot. Patrick took care of the entire operation, stem to stern—I didn’t have to lift a finger or spend so much as a nickel; I was totally refunded for the broken pieces & he had the repairable watches fully serviced, no cost to me (they arrived in fantastic condition).
Though I’m sorry the transaction wasn’t smoother (no fault of Patrick’s), I couldn’t be more impressed with his honesty & ethics (as well as product). I’d do business with him again in a heartbeat.

 

I've done business with Patrick through Chrono24. I wish I could say I had the same positive experience as you, but Patrick sold me an Omega Constellation that he said was all original parts and was in good working order. The Omega is a Frankenwatch that has a condensation problem. I shipped it all the way back to Patrick for repair before I learned it was a Frankenwatch. After a long time Patrick returned the watch to me, but it still has the same condensation problem as before. When I took it to a vintage watch dealer near me to troubleshoot, they showed me it was a Frankenwatch. Without opening it up, they pointed out that the dial size and case do not match. Patrick hasn't responded to my requests to return the watch for weeks. I'm heartbroken to have spent $1500 on this piece.

 

Wow—doesn’t get worse than that...I feel like I survived a car ride with Ted Bundy. I have no idea why I didn’t get screwed...anyway, I am very sorry about your experience.
~Scott

 

Thank you for saying that, Scott.

I was so excited to enter into the world of vintage watches and thought I had done enough research to make a safe purchase from a well-reviewed seller, but this has been a really disheartening experience.

For anyone buying through Chrono24, be aware that buyers have a limited window to review sellers. This means that when a buying process takes a long time, as mine did, the buyer is unable to review the seller as the review window is closed.

I believe this protects sellers and artificially elevates the number of stars for sellers' reviews on Chrono24.

I hope this helps some other buyers from suffering similar losses to mine.