- Nov 26, 2006
- 7,628
- Boat Info
- 2008 44 Sedan Bridge
- Engines
- Cummins QSC-500's
Straight Drives
I have sent this letter:
Asst VP, Marketing:
Dear Ma’am/Sir,
Please read my entire letter, if you don’t mind.
I would like to file a formal complaint to you regarding the Citizen watch I purchased. I has recently become more and more difficult to manage as a simple time piece. When I extend the knob on the lower right, the second hand frequently continues to sweep when it should stop so that I can accurately set the time. This is critical in my line of work. As an F-15 pilot in the US Air Force, we execute missions to within a second of accuracy, and after only 15 years, this watch has started to fail me. You may think that the stresses of flying an F-15 may be over the top for a sensitive time piece, but I assure you, when I paid $105 for this item in Hong Kong in 1994, I didn’t make the decision lightly. Besides, contrary to popular belief, we rarely exceed 8 ½ g’s more than 5 times in any given one-hour mission. After only 2000 flight hours, I would expect a $105 time piece to perform flawlessly for at least 20 years.
Additionally, after replacing the battery over a dozen times, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get the watch to re-boot and begin functioning after putting it back together. I don’t think water intrusion is a problem. Though I live next to the ocean, I try hard to keep it out of the salt water, and usually rinse it off within a day or two of submersing it. The watch is the style with the digital window in the back drop of a standard analog display with wind angle bezel intended for use while sailing. It seems obvious to me that it was intended to be used near water.
As you can tell by the scrapes/scratches on it, it has been dropped and banged a few times, but I would consider that normal wear and tear after any time over ten years, especially with my active life including biking, boating, and kite surfing. Though this watch has been on five continents, it usually travels safely on my wrist and is rarely exposed to snow, sleet, or freezing rain, though it was a few times in the late nineties on fishing expeditions to Alaska. It’s usually kept in a mild, though humid environment where I live in Florida, and has only rarely been exposed to temperatures over 120F.
If you were to consider pressure changes abusive, then you may have a point. It has been with me on over 4000 flight hours with Delta, but airliner cabin pressures usually only go between sea level and about 7,000 feet, and then, usually less than 5 or 6 times a day. On the other hand, the F-15 climbs at several thousand feet per minute, and the cabin doesn’t pressurize at all until above 8,000 feet, so the time spent climbing and descending rapidly below 10,000 feet can put several pressurization cycles on the watch in an hour, but I don’t think that should be an issue. We do climb up to 50,000 feet, and the cabin does get quite cold there, but it is still pressurized at or below about 25,000 feet except when system malfunctions occur, but I digress.
Here is my problem: I like the styling of the watch, but was hoping it would last a little longer for the money I have invested in it. I would appreciate any compensation you could provide me in return for the unexpectedly short lifespan of my watch, which with the current problems, is likely to be less than a few more years. I enjoy full-sized, though not pilot-sized watches as I am not a very large man. I like gold colored watches with a black face, both digital and analog displays for use with local and GMT (zulu) times. I prefer a thin watch. It shouldn’t look like a lady’s watch, but not like a grandfather clock either.
If there is a replacement watch in your inventory, I would appreciate any help you could provide me in selecting a follow-on time piece. Please ensure that it is capable of being set to dates well into the future. My current watch ran out of years in 2004, so every February, I have to find a year before 2004 when the dates/days correlate to the current year. I tell people my watch got Y2K’d in 2004. I would hate to think that I would have that happen again in this day and age.
Thank you for your consideration and any help you may be able to provide me in regard to this short-lived time piece on which I rely heavily on a daily basis.
Yours very sincerely,
Hampton, Job Title, Job Descriptions (edited for forum)
PS I prefer a more durable watch band. The original one faded in just over ten years and I have had 3 others fail outright since.
Asst VP, Marketing:
Dear Ma’am/Sir,
Please read my entire letter, if you don’t mind.
I would like to file a formal complaint to you regarding the Citizen watch I purchased. I has recently become more and more difficult to manage as a simple time piece. When I extend the knob on the lower right, the second hand frequently continues to sweep when it should stop so that I can accurately set the time. This is critical in my line of work. As an F-15 pilot in the US Air Force, we execute missions to within a second of accuracy, and after only 15 years, this watch has started to fail me. You may think that the stresses of flying an F-15 may be over the top for a sensitive time piece, but I assure you, when I paid $105 for this item in Hong Kong in 1994, I didn’t make the decision lightly. Besides, contrary to popular belief, we rarely exceed 8 ½ g’s more than 5 times in any given one-hour mission. After only 2000 flight hours, I would expect a $105 time piece to perform flawlessly for at least 20 years.
Additionally, after replacing the battery over a dozen times, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get the watch to re-boot and begin functioning after putting it back together. I don’t think water intrusion is a problem. Though I live next to the ocean, I try hard to keep it out of the salt water, and usually rinse it off within a day or two of submersing it. The watch is the style with the digital window in the back drop of a standard analog display with wind angle bezel intended for use while sailing. It seems obvious to me that it was intended to be used near water.
As you can tell by the scrapes/scratches on it, it has been dropped and banged a few times, but I would consider that normal wear and tear after any time over ten years, especially with my active life including biking, boating, and kite surfing. Though this watch has been on five continents, it usually travels safely on my wrist and is rarely exposed to snow, sleet, or freezing rain, though it was a few times in the late nineties on fishing expeditions to Alaska. It’s usually kept in a mild, though humid environment where I live in Florida, and has only rarely been exposed to temperatures over 120F.
If you were to consider pressure changes abusive, then you may have a point. It has been with me on over 4000 flight hours with Delta, but airliner cabin pressures usually only go between sea level and about 7,000 feet, and then, usually less than 5 or 6 times a day. On the other hand, the F-15 climbs at several thousand feet per minute, and the cabin doesn’t pressurize at all until above 8,000 feet, so the time spent climbing and descending rapidly below 10,000 feet can put several pressurization cycles on the watch in an hour, but I don’t think that should be an issue. We do climb up to 50,000 feet, and the cabin does get quite cold there, but it is still pressurized at or below about 25,000 feet except when system malfunctions occur, but I digress.
Here is my problem: I like the styling of the watch, but was hoping it would last a little longer for the money I have invested in it. I would appreciate any compensation you could provide me in return for the unexpectedly short lifespan of my watch, which with the current problems, is likely to be less than a few more years. I enjoy full-sized, though not pilot-sized watches as I am not a very large man. I like gold colored watches with a black face, both digital and analog displays for use with local and GMT (zulu) times. I prefer a thin watch. It shouldn’t look like a lady’s watch, but not like a grandfather clock either.
If there is a replacement watch in your inventory, I would appreciate any help you could provide me in selecting a follow-on time piece. Please ensure that it is capable of being set to dates well into the future. My current watch ran out of years in 2004, so every February, I have to find a year before 2004 when the dates/days correlate to the current year. I tell people my watch got Y2K’d in 2004. I would hate to think that I would have that happen again in this day and age.
Thank you for your consideration and any help you may be able to provide me in regard to this short-lived time piece on which I rely heavily on a daily basis.
Yours very sincerely,
Hampton, Job Title, Job Descriptions (edited for forum)
PS I prefer a more durable watch band. The original one faded in just over ten years and I have had 3 others fail outright since.
