I had a perfectly running Rolex that had some scratches on it that I wanted to have cleaned, overhauled and polished so I took it to the local dealer in Lansing, Azzi Jewelers, for service.
Originally he quoted me $1,700 for the cleaning, oiling and refinishing the case, then (after he’d had it for two weeks) he called me to tell me he was going to have to send it to Rolex in Switzerland for the work, and that the price had now gone up to $2,000. Three weeks after that, he called me to tell me that the watch had been returned from Switzerland and that Rolex would not work on it as it was “a fake, a forgery, a replica”.
When I went to pick up my watch from him he held my watch hostage and would not release it unless I paid him $100 for “shipping” to Switzerland. After I paid and he returned the watch to me I immediately noticed that the watch was no longer running at all and the back looked like he had attempted to remove it with a chisel.
I then took it back to my regular watchmaker (who told me the that the back had been screwed down wrong and the threads had been jammed) who was able to open it, fix the back, fix the threads Azzi’s had damaged and fix the movement (as many screws had loosened and fallen inside the movement due to hammering on the case). He also verified that it was a genuine Rolex and that the case and case back numbers all matched.
My points are:
1. If he could not open it he should have left it alone, or sent it directly to the Rolex service center.
2. He lied to me by saying that the watch was not a genuine Rolex
3. He made me pay $100 ransom to return the watch back to me.
Personally, if I had an expensive watch of ANY type Azzi Jewelers is the last place would take it.
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