My fiancee, Janice, recently had the battery replaced on her expensive gold plated Gucci Timepiece 6100L at Michael Helmi's Time Zone on Dec. 6. Michael Helmi, a certified watchmaker, who worked on her watch use a watch screwdriver to open the case. He tried several times to open the cover and consequently left 6 small visible dents on the back of the watch opposite the lip opening. When queried by my fiancee, who had observed the whole process, about the dents, he claimed that dents will happen with his method due to the curved nature of the watch.
Michael said the other option would have been to take it to Gucci or Saks 5th Avenue where they have to correct tool for the job. They have a very expensive pressurized machine instrument that will open this particular brand model, the Gucci 6100L, without leaving dents. He says that Saks would have charged over $100 as opposed to his $20 fee. This, I presume was his way of justifying the dents. He also tried to console us by remarking that no one will see the dents when it's on my fiancee's wrist. To add insult to injury, when I ask to have the $20 refunded for the unsatisfactory service, Michael wanted to remove the battery before returning the money. Knowing full well that he didn't posses the correct instrument to open the cover without further damaging the watch, I adamantly refuse his attempt to open the watch. I left the store with the watch.
Michael's full knowledge that using the screwdriver (not the proper tool) will in fact leave dents and that Gucci and Saks 5th Avenue have the correct instrument, and his failure to warn us of this fact before attempting to open the watch is what I believe to be unethical and unprofessional. I consulted Dan Gendron, a certified watchmaker, and he had this to say - "a watch professional should never leave dents in a watch case back. That said if you don't possess the proper tool then you should not do the repair".
Michael Helmi is hiding behind a disclaimer which was posted on a wall behind the counter that protects him from accidental damage to any watches the store repairs. My fiancee and I were not made aware of this disclaimer at any time during the battery replacement process. It wasn't until a week later when I demanded a refund that he pointed it out. I wonder if that disclaimer protects him from using a butcher knife when opening Gucci watches. Both a watch screwdriver and a butcher knife will no doubt open up the watch case, but they're not the correct tools for this particular job. Michael Helmi admitted that the watch screwdriver was not the right tool and had me check Saks 5th Avenue for confirmation. I did and he was right.
My fiancee and I would appreciate the refund of the $20 service fee. We further ask that Michael Helmi take the responsibility of restoring the watch to it's original condition before the battery replacement. And an apology to the way he treated us may not be bad either.
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