The founder of watch servicing and repair business and website The Watch Guy has launched a customer satisfaction survey to investigate how watch owners feel about using both official and independent watch service centres.
Christian Dannemann, who featured in the WatchPro Hot 100 list in 2014, launched his own watch servicing business after a career in the car industry and posts online reports of the timepieces he services. He launched the survey on the Surveymonkey platform to get a feel for how watch owners feel about using both inhouse and independent service centres.
The survey was prompted by Swatch Group’s impending decision to switch off the supply of its branded spare parts for all of its watch brands to all but authorised service centres. The cut-off will be introduced on January 1.
Dannemann posted on www.watchguy.co.uk informing his customers that the decision would mean the business would no longer be able to service or repair Swatch Group brand watches, including Omega. He invited customers to have their say through the survey and by contacting Swatch Group directly. Within an hour over 110 people had responded, the figure now stands at 680 just days later.
His call to contact Swatch Group directly also prompted an invitation from Swatch Group UK to discuss the matter in person in Switzerland.
Nearly 40% of respondents to Dannemann’s survey hail from the UK with US watch consumers accounting for another 18%.
96% of respondents stated they used independent centres with just 27% saying they had used brand-accredited centres. Around 75% ‘strongly agreed’ that their experiences with the independents had been positive, compared to a far more mixed response regarding the official centres. The average spend per year on servicing was recorded as 784 Euros (£570).
Over 98% on respondents stated that they would rather the brands supply spare parts to independent service centres with 57% stating that when purchasing a new watch they would take into account whether spare parts are available to independents.
