Watch Review - Merkur (Dead on Arrival)
Recently I ordered a watch directly from a Domestic Chinese Watchmaker, Merkur. I have been following replica watches but have never really been satisfied, so I decided to go and support a local watchmaker in China instead.
Unfortunately, the watch was dead on arrival. Within ten minutes of winding the watch for the first time, the second hand was frozen and despite the hands having full range of motion while adjusting the time, the watch was dead. I opened the watch to inspect the movement, and when I pulled the stem and removed the movement, nothing was catastrophically broken. Upon reassembly, the watch ticked forward again for about a minute and then became stuck again.
This is understandable, and I am amenable to circumstances that cause watches to die, however what I did not expect was the seller's response. Despite shipping the watch with a Warranty card that states "According to the instructions, MERKUR will be guaranteed free of charge for two years from the date of purchase and in case of watch failure in normal environment." Their only suggestion was to either ship the watch back to them or to take it to a local repair shop myself. Neither of which are free of charge nor worth my time for a $160 watch. I even suggested that they could mail a replacement watch to my hotel when I am in China later this week, but they were not interested in that resolution. Ultimately, I have found this experience completely disappointing. There is better quality and customer service when buying shitter-tier replica watches on telegram/DHGate.
Conclusion: Buyer beware for MERKUR watch, make sure to pay with a refundable payment method if you do decide to make a purchase, but the quality is low and the customer service is unacceptable.