Richemont Fort Worth? PAM00184
 

There's another thread just below with a Fort Worth Richemont Service Center thread, but I thought I'd add my experience in a separate thread. I recently purchased a PAM 184 from Japan. It was working perfectly (matching my 2024 Rolex over a month) but in the translation, I couldn't comprehend that they said the watch "was serviced but they didn't change the gaskets" so they couldn't verify the 100M water resistance. I live in Southern California and the nearest Panerai Boutique is 25 minutes away so since this PAM 184 has a JLC GMT movement and they are also a JLC dealer and have a watchmaker on site, I thought I'd get it tested. Well, I dropped it off and the dealer said since it has a GMT movement it was beyond their watchmaker, (what?), so they'd send it to Fort Worth. I didn't hear anything for 3 weeks so I texted my "person" and they told me it was in Switzerland and I needed to OK a "basic service" of $910 + $130 for a light polish. It also needs a new strap, but Panerai USA E-boutique said they no longer make straps for this model and I should go custom.

So after talking to several people I learned that the watch is still in Fort Worth, and that since it has a "high-end" JLC movement, the service fee goes from $680 to $910 and that they want to replace the mainspring and the hands. It's $130 for the light polish, and there's no word if they can make a strap, but the boutique lady said I should go custom, but she had no recommendations. I feel like I'm on a different planet than reality. Is a JLC movement with a simple GMT complication worth $910 and 10 weeks or is this the normal price to play?

I started another thread a few weeks ago looking for a new replacement strap, but had only one person respond. Any other recommendations?

Contact Rikki and ask him his prices. He is the master and I am sure you will be pleased.

https://www.timecareinc.com/

100%. Rik is local to me and have known him for years.
Not only a great and gifted watchmaker but a genuine stabd up guy.

Thank you very much for the replies. I'll make a bookmark for his site. I have already OK'd the repair, but I won't use my local dealer again. I also got a good recommendation here in Southern California too from someone local.

I am in Singapore and after many years of not having a Panerai in my collection, had a chance to aquire a Unitas hand wound PAM 183 while on a trip to Japan. It cost me $3K after a big of huggling and getting my tax refund, which is perry good for a full set in decent condition. There was one thing that bothered me - a big scrach on the underside of the lugs with the serial number; nothing too major but I got annoyed enough to take it to the boutique here and asked if they can polish off the scratch, add metal with laser welding and then re-engave the number.

Took them ~ 4 weeks to come back to say this is only possible to do for ~ SGD $250 (~ $200) on top of the full service of SGD $800 (~ $750) and the requested work on the lug is beyond their capabiltiies in Singapore hence needs to the Neuchatel Workshop and will take 6-8 weeks. This was ~ May 2024, and then 6-8 weeks turned into almost 4 months due to the fact that "case needed to go to a 3rd party workshop for lug repairs and number engravings) and summaer vacations in Switzeland.

Eventually, I got my watch back in Sep, happy with what the quality of what they did, the watch looks brand new and the serial number is re-engraced to the original specs.

Well at least the quality was there. My issue was the local shop statting that the fancy GMT movement was beyond them and then having Richemont group saying that the JLC movement represented a bigger workload. But the 184 is really just a 24 hour hand that moves 1/2 the distance of the hour wheel. The GMT is "computed" using the rotating inner bezel, so it's a very nice and robust movement, but it's really less of a complication than a date. Next time, I'll use a reference watchmaker listed here, but the watch was already in Fort Worth and I was mystified by the need for a mainspring and new hands when the watch was keeping great time and amplitude, but hadn't been serviced for waterproofness. I'll re-post when I get it back.