Steinhart Ocean Vintage GMT - Great watch, but... (pic heavy) - Drama Conclusion

[MoveAlong 23]

So, my first Steinhart was delivered around a week and a half ago, yay! Unfortunately, this watch had some serious QC issues. Think reps are the only watches with issues out of the box? Wrong! Very disappointing for buying a "Swiss Made" watch. All of the issues were things that I could confidently fix on my own, and I did. After receiving it, I only had a day or two before going on vacation and I really wanted to wear it. Yes, I could have sent it back to Germany (from CONUS) and wait god knows how long for a fix or replacement, but decided not to. Anyway, here's my first Steinhart experience saga.

 

The Steinhart Ocean Vintage GMT is a modern homage to the Rolex 1655, the infamous incorrectly named "Steve McQueen" Explorer II. He is actually thought to never have worn a 1655.

 

It features a 42mm case, 22mm lugs, domed AR sapphire crystal without cyclops, Swiss ETA 2893-2 21j movement beating at 28,800. Here is a stock pic (not mine)

 

...and the original

 

So, after opening the very nice packaging and looking down at my beautiful new watch, I am immediately struck with the realization that the bezel is out of alignment, and by quite a bit. I haven't even taken the plastic wrapping off yet.

 

OK, decision time. At this point, I'm thinking "What the hell?" What "Swiss Made" watch company would let this pass their QC? When there are 24 markers on a bezel, 12 of them being skinny lines, it is very obvious if it is even a little out of alignment. It has to be spot on. There is no acceptable margin of error. It's right or it's wrong, and mine was wrong. QC fail #1. Do I send it back to Steinhart under warranty? No, I decide to fix the bezel myself. It's an easy fix. I have the proper tools and I've done it before.

 

OK, well that was an easy fix. Great! All I have to do now is set the time and date, put the bracelet back on, and we should be good, right? Um, no... Here is what I noticed next - QC fail #2: Hour and minute hands out of alignment.

 

So now I'm really blown away at how awful the QC at Steinhart is, not a good first impression of the brand. Seriously, how does this get out the door?! I've already started down the rabbit hole with this thing and I really want to wear it on my vacation, so I decide to reset the hands correctly. Before pulling the hands I want to know where the date change occurs, to be able to line everything up perfectly. While doing this, you guessed it, QC fail #3: Date change occurs at 01:54! Really? Are you kidding me? At this point I just threw my hands up and laughed! It is unbelievable that this ever got out the door. ABSOLUTELY NO QUALITY CONTROL WHATSOEVER!!!

 

I move onward with fixing this thing. The GMT hand was the only hand correctly installed at Steinhart. It was placed exactly on an hour marker right at the date change, so I didn't have to pull it - just the hour, minute, and seconds hands. This pic is after I set the hour hand in the correct alignment. The minute hand just goes directly over it. It's not difficult and very easy to see if they're out of alignment.

 

Got the hands reset the way they should have been from the beginning. Here is 6pm.

 

11pm

 

And the date change at midnight

 

OK, so now it's all fixed and I was able to wear it on my vacation. And guess what? I REALLY love this watch!!! It is a joy to wear. The build quality is excellent. It's just that mine was assembled very poorly. The bracelet is solid. The ETA 2893-2 is just butter smooth and running +3 s/d wearing it all day and leaving it dial up at night. It is just a beautiful watch and it's been on my wrist for about a week now. It has good long lasting lume when charged a long time. On my vacation, went on an all day mountain hike in the sun. No light after sunset and the lume was still very active at 3am looking at it on my night stand.

 

Ok, my only thoughts now are whether I let Steinhart know about this. On one hand, they obviously have a problem in their QC and should be informed. On the other, if I let them know that I fixed it on my own, then I'm sure they would say the warranty is void. Who knows?

 

Final thoughts? Steinhart makes an excellent product at a price point that astonishes me. The polished portion of the clasp looks cool out of the box but is a BAD idea and is really out of place with the rest of the bracelet. It scratches when you breathe on it. This is a fantastic watch and I love it! However, there is something very wrong at Steinhart. Honestly, I don't know if I have the confidence to buy from them again. I was able to fix their mistakes. I expect to have to do that with a Chinese rep, not a bonafide "Swiss Made" watch. In fact, this is the most poorly assembled watch I have ever purchased... Just let that last sentence sink in! Most people would have had to send it back to Germany.

 

Anyway, here are some more pics of the watch. Thanks for reading my sob story, it's been cathartic!

Edited September 21, 2015 by MoveAlong

[Genius 281]

I really really want one of these and was going to order when they became available but a new car and the currently spiralling cost of fixing up my garden means I can't afford at the moment

[rusty peters 0]

That is nice! This addresses all of the little niggles with the Rolex Explorer II. No cyclops... Mmmmmmm.

[MoveAlong 23]

Agreed. I think this is a beautiful modern take on the 1655.

 

42mm - less cluttered dial along with 22mm lug width

Domed AR sapphire crystal - no cyclops, very clean

Swiss ETA 2893-2 21j

Warranty

Around $500 USD

 

I'm sold!

[02CBUCK 0]

Congrats! There's so much in Steinhart's range that I could blow my money on. Absolutely love my OVM, but their new Dual Time is just stunning.

[MoveAlong 23]

First post and title of thread updated.

[rawbaws 91]

My first Steinhart went straight back to Germany. Date wheel Totally out of alignment, black dots on the Lume dial markers (easily visable) really rough finish on the crown. Returned at their cost and had a new one fairly quickly which was perfect.

[Daytona_Dreamer 0]

Hmmm. The Explorer II was on my list. But now I have to consider this instead. VERY NICE.

[JSJ 0]

What a great thread. Thanks!

 

Bring your chimpanzee to work day! Fucking classic! :rofl:

 

It's now a very fine-looking watch. Good one mate .

[GenTLe 1,509]

I would let them know... Maybe pointing them to this thread instead of giving your complete name.

[Replicaaustralia 0]

You seem to know what you're doing hahha!!

Sad to see a high end economy watch QCed like this. Even Seiko is better!

[Ishmael 92]

The fact that you had the tools AND the skills to sort this out, to me, is more impressive than how bad Steinhart's QC process is… I'd hazard a guess that most people here wouldn't be able to do such work, and would be stuck with a crappy watch and no other choice but to send it back. Kudos to you, but bad news for the rest of us if we were to run into the same situation. Definitely let Steinhart know… for my sake, if not yours

[cogwatch 1]

You should definitely let Steinhart know. As Ish said, for all of our benefit if nothing else.

 

Send them the pics of what was wrong, the the pics of your fix efforts, and your review of what you thought of the watch after it was put together right, the timegrapher pic, taking it on your vacation, the whole story.

 

If they give you shit about your warranty, let us know. I and a hundred other Steinhart owners here can send them nasty emails. But I don't think they will give you shit about it. I think you will get a positive response, thanks, and who knows, maybe something special from them.

 

Let us know how it goes!!!

 

 

[edwinowl 180]

Wow you're a braver man than me buddy.

I think there's a few here that could do the repair myself included but would I ? No way.

That's poor from Steiny and you have to flag this bro. Let us know what they say.

[Daywatch 4]

Outstanding and up to the point review. Thanks for all the "fixing along the way" pics. Great skills there, very well done. And now it´s a great watch:) Congrats

[Hornet 1]

Great post OP, sad to hear about the QC issues on the steinhart, especially as this would seem to be an odd occurance for them.....

 

....I would email them to let them know; how can they cure a QC issue if customers don't let them know.

 

Agree on the polished clasp, as well as being a scratch magnet it just looks wrong against the rest of the polished bracelet.

[Odyseus 1]

You should definitely let Steinhart know. As Ish said, for all of our benefit if nothing else.

 

Send them the pics of what was wrong, the the pics of your fix efforts, and your review of what you thought of the watch after it was put together right, the timegrapher pic, taking it on your vacation, the whole story.

 

If they give you shit about your warranty, let us know. I and a hundred other Steinhart owners here can send them nasty emails. But I don't think they will give you shit about it. I think you will get a positive response, thanks, and who knows, maybe something special from them.

 

Let us know how it goes!!!

 

Well said Sir!! Send them your whole post (understandable expletives removed )

[MoveAlong 23]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I've decided to let Steinhart know. I'm positive that their management would like to know about this massive fail. My only concern was with the warranty. But, now that I've fixed all their mistakes, I really doubt I would ever need it. I think I might massage my original review just to remove some of the expletives. Hey, I was understandably venting! I'll keep you updated.

[NFleischer 4,355]

The fact that you had the tools AND the skills to sort this out, to me, is more impressive than how bad Steinhart's QC process is… I'd hazard a guess that most people here wouldn't be able to do such work, and would be stuck with a crappy watch and no other choice but to send it back. Kudos to you, but bad news for the rest of us if we were to run into the same situation. Definitely let Steinhart know… for my sake, if not yours

 

+1 I have one also- no problems yet. I guess at this price point they must cut some corners.

Are they really fully made in Switzerland??

[JSJ 0]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I've decided to let Steinhart know. I'm positive that their management would like to know about this massive fail. My only concern was with the warranty. But, now that I've fixed all their mistakes, I really doubt I would ever need it. I think I might massage my original review just to remove some of the expletives. Hey, I was understandably venting! I'll keep you updated.

Yeah, be kind to chimpanzees and take that comment out

[tabuktime 54]

Great watch, even better now you've straightened it out. Shame they couldn't have done that before they sent it to you!

[MoveAlong 23]

Just sent Steinhart an email, fully disclosing my name and order number, giving them the link to this thread asking them to really look through it and the responses.

 

The email ----------------------------------------------

 

 

Ocean Vintage GMT - My first order from Steinhart

 

Hello, I received the above watch on July 28th and wanted to let you know that it had several major problems that I corrected on my own. I would have immediately sent it back for a warranty replacement, but chose to fix the problems myself due to time constraints. I had a pending vacation and really wanted to wear the watch. I am not asking for anything. This email is purely to inform you that one of your watches left your factory without any QC (Quality Control) review. This is a problem that I am sure should concern you. With my order #XXXXXX, you might be able to discover how it was approved for delivery and hopefully correct the situation.

 

The problems that needed to be fixed:

 

1) Bezel out of alignment. I removed the bezel and replaced it in the proper position.

 

2) Hour and minute hands out of alignment. Removed and reset hands in the proper position.

 

3) Date change occurred at 01:54. Corrected when hands were reset in the proper position.

 

I am an active member at RWG.bz and have started a discussion thread with pictures of all of the above issues and their corrections. I ask that you please look at this thread to see the problems. After I corrected all of the problems, the watch functions perfectly and I love it! I would hope that if I ever need warranty service on this watch, that the warranty would still be active. From all the other members' feedback about Steinhart, the problems with my Ocean Vintage GMT would seem to hopefully be an isolated incident.

 

http://www.rwg.bz/bo...=0#entry1646936

 

Sincerely,

XXXX XXXXXXX

[simey83 2,046]

That is stunning mate!

[JSJ 0]

Why you sending so many kisses mate? The guy is gonna think you're a bit strange.

[Khronos 1,339]

That's a way to show them he loves them anyway Great thread and a very brave thing to do! I also had many problems with Steinhart in the past ( wrong strap, bracelet too short, watch not working at all ), but they were solved without any problems.