Hi,

First post here! Just thought I share my experience of the Watch Doctor in Tring.

I had recently bought a 2016 Sub cheap from a jeweller, because the watch was worn with quite a few usage scratches and a few small repairable dings that I preferred to polish. I took it to the Watch Doctor in Tring - I've heard nothing but praise and I am well aware of them for many years as a reputable repairer so I decided to use them for the first time. Having told that the polisher is Rolex accredited and would come back looking like new and that all the large UK chains use them, I handed it over and returned a week later to pick it up.

To my horror, the case had a mix of polished and brushed finish on the rear of the case edges and near the lugs, they forgot to polish the spare links I handed over with the watch, and the bezel was stuck! The bezel was quickly rectified - a rubber ring/gasket got caught in the mechanism and this was replaced, but I had to argue with the assistant that the case finish should not look like this, and her response was: "It's not going to look all new when in for a polish", despite saying otherwise before I handed it in.

I asked for the Manager who promptly apologised having looked at my "before photo", and had it rectified within half an hour along with the spare links. I did have to come back again a week or so later, as I noticed an area of the end link suffering the same problem. After quickly claiming that it was "damage", he took the watch to the restorer and this was again quickly rectified without hesitation. The watch is now perfect and gleaming like new!

I have the impression that "the lady" who does this work wasn't her at all doing the work and perhaps a younger apprentice - she is supposed to have been Rolex trained, and certainly the workmanship didn't reflect the hundreds of testimonials echoed by other forum members over the years and also on their own website. To their credit, they deducted 20% off the fee for my troubles and the customer service was good, though I wished that they would have emphasised more with the customer in the first instance more before defending themselves.

Has anyone else used Watch Doctor or perhaps experienced other issues when getting their piece polished? They are only 15 mins from me and I like to use them in the future because of the convenience of having an in-house workshop, but my first experience with them wasn't comforting and won't want another watch having these issues.

Just as another point, they also said that they don't remove any links to polish the bracelet. Is this normal and is it more difficult to polish well with the links on? The end links and the first three links are not removable anyway.

Thanks all