Customer Reviews

Stuhrling Original Men's 165.3335E31 Lifestyle 'Winchester' Automatic Skeleton Watch

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When i first purchased this watch, i was in love with its esthetics. However, soon ( withing 9 months), the band became severely discolored. The watch itself failed to run. Being under warranty i sent it back for repair. The company only takes funds via money order. They would not accept visa/mastercard or personal cheques written in US dollars. I can understand the cheque part, but credit cards??? The US $ 20 dollars is to cover their shipping and handling charges. I have to pay for a processing fee to get the money order ( extra money out of my pocket), because of their lame policy. Then i when i follow up with the company they said they cannot cash the money order because there is no Royal Bank in the US???? This is the first time I heard that when you buy a money order in foreign funds, they have to have that bank in the country you are purchasing funds from. Good thing I am not buying any products online from some small third world country to help out their local trade....there is no way a Royal Bank would be in a place like Ethiopia.

When the cheque mess goes thru, I am slammed by import and brokerage fees by their choice of courier. The reason for the import fee is because Sturhling Originals repair center did not write down on their invoice REPAIR UNDER WARRANTY. Rather , they simply stated REPAIR. Had they been not negligent , the end consumer would not be out of money, but they did not, and the end user is charged an additional $23.16.

A quick call to their director of customer relations E.U ( the same person who told me about having to be money order and that they could not cash my cheque) leaves the customer feeling a sense of abandonment. She tells you that is is your fault, because when you sent in your repair, on the shipping label that states return for repar, you did not notify customs that you will be getting your watch back??!!??? Uh, i am pretty sure that if it is undergoing repair, that the watch will be coming back.

EU , the director of customer relations stated that they have many international customers and that sometimes they are charged and sometimes they are not charged. I suggested that maybe sometimes they put on their label Warranty repair vs just Repair. Then she tells me that as a company , they are not required to know about all the different shipping rules and regulations and fees. When suggested that they should know, EU states that most international customers are not Canadian customers ( a back track of what she stated earlier). When sugggested that as the director for Customer Relations should know, she stated she has only been in her position for 1 year...an excuse that seems irrelevant. When asked what she will do to make the customer happy...She stated that the only thing she can do is rewrite the invoice so i get a partial refund from the brokerage fees...But I would still be out of pocket 13 dollars ( not alot,, but its the principle), and that I would have to find out the procedure and protocol of what to write and where to send it too...

When i stated that she she be doing all that as a customer service, so that even though i am out of pocket, i am not inconvienced...she just remained silence.

When asked as a company, what she will do to satisfy the customer...she told me basically nothing. When i told her of my dissappointment and that i will be telling my collegues, friends, of the level of service I received..she told me to do whatever I have to do.

So while I am happy to get my watch back, when it breaks down again ...I will just throw it in the garbage where it belongs because of the hassle/grieve and stress you get from getting it repairs is not worth the value of the watch.

ON A SIDE NOTE: Amazon has always been very expedient, courteous and professional. Any returns and exchanges are trouble free and I will remain a loyal customer to amazon,.

I got mine over at Overstock.com at what I thought was a "Super" price but even with a $5 off it was only a couple bucks cheaper than Amazon.

I like the watch, as it is pretty snazzy. I'm a watch geek and have a bunch of watches. So it's a Chinese automatic movement -they are making pretty decent stuff in China these days. I remember when I was a kid my dad used to say "Cheap Japanese Junk" but nobody ever says that these days.

The only thing I don't like about the watch is something other people have also noted: The gold hands are very difficult to pick up visually in amongst all the gold bits behind it. You really have to look. In low light it's very hard to tell what time it is without staring at the watch for 30 seconds until you can find the hands.

I'll be pulling the movement before too long and then using my watch hand remover to take the hands off so I can change their color. I've not decided what color to make them but it sure as heck won't be gold. I might paint it with some luminescent paint so I can see it in the dark too.

But the watch itself is pretty snazzy. It is too bad it's almost unreadable in certain lighting as it comes. If you are comfortable taking a watch apart and removing hands to paint them it's not a problem. If you aren't then maybe this watch isn't for you unless you really don't care what time it is ;)

I have owened the Winchester now for over a month, and it is still my favorite watch. My criticism about the watch is the "automatic" mechanism, which does not actually work most of the time ...even if you wear it daily. I am hand-winding it each day, which is a bit of an annoyance, but tolerable. The second, which I could not live with, is the gold hands of the watch. It is virtually impossible to see the hands most of the time. I ended up sending the watch back to Stuhrling to have the hands changed to their "only color" which is blue (an additional 30 dollar cost, not including shipping). Otherwise, I can't wait to get the watch back, as I truely love wearing it, very classy.

The watch was beautiful. Unfortunately, as soon as my son opened the pig the crystal fell out. Amazon was awesome about the return.

Although this is the lovliest man's skeleton watch I have found on the market, mine lasted nine months before failing to run. The automatic wind feature never worked. I had to wind the watch daily. It ran several minutes fast per day from the day I got it. A week ago, it just stopped. Nothing appears broken or loose, but the watch will not run anymore. It has drawn many compliments, but having to rely on my cell phone for true time has been more of an inconvenience than I thought it would be. I did not buy the watch on Amazon, but from another dealer. Sturhling Original customer service has been less than responsive. Rather than spend another $150 or so (including shipping) for a replacement that has not changed and may have the same fate, I've purchased a new two-tone (gold/stainless) automatic skeleton watch by Armitron from the Kohl's online store. No transparent back crystal and not as much edge detail, but luminous hands and a better reputation than Sturhling.

I am very please with the appearance of my new Stuhrling Winchester Skeleton Watch. The level craftsmanship is similar to other watches that cost much more. The mechanism of this watch is very well displayed through the front and back crystals....it truly does seem like they have only left the skeleton of the watch intact. This allows clear view of the various gears and the automatic winding mechanism....something that a mechanical engineer such as myself will find fascinating. One other thing that I was not expecting to be impressed by was the band....this is a quality leather band that is not only substantial, but also eye-catching!!!

If you are fascinated by skeleton watches like I am and collect them like I do, you will enjoy watching this mechanical beauty at work. I have had this watch for 2 years now and it has worked perfectly. If you want a good conversation starter, wear this watch. The manufacturer has an insert with instructions about setting the time properly. If the instructions aren't followed properly you can damage the internal works of this watch. That is the down side. A little extra special care must be taken but is worth it, in my opinion, because this watch is so unique and fun to wear.

I am puzzled by some of the negative reviews because I haven't had any problems with this watch functioning properly. Automatic watches are for active people. I have never had to wind this watch. The leather band color did get "discolored" or worn a bit, but that can be easily replaced or changed. All in all this watch was a worthwhile purchase.

Just opening the box it's an emotion. My watch's mechanism was already winded and running and so did all day long. I'm proud to have chosen this watch for my purchase and I think that charging it to rebuild the power reserve it's not a nuisance but a classy touch to show yourself you're caring for this precious, really good looking watch.. anyway, why purchasing an automated watch if you find heavy-duty his maintenance? Try a quartz movement instead of publishing bad rewievs! Nothing to say about the overall quality, it's worth the price in my opinion. Just as a note, Amazon shipped all my items worldwide in really no time and in perfect status.

Great product---beautiful and very nicely priced. A bargain and the operation of this self-winding watch is fantastic!

I received my watch yesterday, and was so impressed with the packaging, the box from Stuhrling, the weight and feel of the watch, and the face and skeleton works is incredible. I thought this was the coolest watch I've ever had. I wound it gently to get it started . . .it ran for a couple hours then STOPPED, I wound it again, and 10 minutes later, stopped again. Then I thought, I'll wind it and wear it allowing the self winding mechanism to do its job. So disappointed, it stopped two more times, so I sadly placed everything back in the orignal packing, and am going to drop it off at UPS Monday to ship back to Amazon. Too bad, as the look is impressive, but I really need it to run too!!!!! Now, I'm afraid to order another Stuhrling watch for fear of the same experience. I will say Amazon is always great about returns, but I want a Skeleton watch that runs!