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Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Talk about your experience, good and bad, here.
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peskydonut
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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by peskydonut »

PetWatch wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:19 pm peskydonut, I sympathize with your frustration but feel it is being misdirected. Unlike many sellers, Sakura watches does clearly state in their return policy various reasons for not accepting returns, that misalignment issue being one. I have no affiliation. (Interesting one about G-Shock)

Returns are not accepted in the following cases:

Complaint about accuracy.
Time radio synchronisation function doesn't work in your area.
Non-uniformity for shaping of rubber, G-Shocks.
Complaint about the watch sizes.
Surface irregularity of luminous paint.
Colors of the watch is slightly different from the images.
Changing your mind.
Water resistance issues.
Misaligned hands, indexes or bezel.


I believe Seiko is the one to blame since they do not state, anywhere I have seen, the degree of misalignment they consider acceptable, meaning "buyer beware", we are at their mercy or lack of. As others have stated it's good practice to review the seller's return policy before purchasing, something I sometimes fail to do. Perhaps every time someone gets a misaligned Seiko they can send off an email to their local Seiko service center and to corporate in Japan. A constant dribble should at least get some attention.

When the misalignment isn't too far off, matter of personal opinion, one may be able to overcome it and enjoy the watch without obsessing over a detail. Hope it works out for you.
I agree, ultimately Seiko is to blame. Instead of addressing their production issues like every other reputable watch maker, they chose to push the cost onto retailers and consumers. As a consumer, if I get a misaligned Seiko, I immediately lose about 20% of the resale value. Retailers have to deal with return costs or otherwise deal with angry customers such as myself.

Seiko does not stand by the product they make, but the retailer does not stand by the product they sell. The fact that both have chosen to deal with it by essentially Gaslighting the customers is just insult on top of injury.
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DogOnTime
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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by DogOnTime »

Another issue is that I think don't think it's a simple misalignment but a printing error on the chapter ring.

I've encountered identical issues with other Seiko models where the 12 is dead centre but the 6 is off my half a mm. When is the last time they calibrated their chapter ring printer? Probably never.
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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by chubbledouble »

Oof, that sucks.

You can probably re-seat the bezel insert and it won't look as off.
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peskydonut
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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by peskydonut »

chubbledouble wrote:Oof, that sucks.

You can probably re-seat the bezel insert and it won't look as off.
I may try that. The chapter ring is just misprinted, so not much I can do with that, though that's less egregious than the bezel.
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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by chubbledouble »

peskydonut wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:32 am
chubbledouble wrote:Oof, that sucks.

You can probably re-seat the bezel insert and it won't look as off.
I may try that. The chapter ring is just misprinted, so not much I can do with that, though that's less egregious than the bezel.
Yea, I've never messed with a chapter ring before, seems like a whole process. Yours isn't terribly misprinted but that 6oclock would drive me a bit nuts.
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DogOnTime
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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by DogOnTime »

peskydonut wrote: Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:32 am
chubbledouble wrote:Oof, that sucks.

You can probably re-seat the bezel insert and it won't look as off.
I may try that. The chapter ring is just misprinted, so not much I can do with that, though that's less egregious than the bezel.
You can just re-set the bezel by adjusting the bezel action spring notches. This will also make it slightly tighter/looser depending on what you want to do. If you're OCD like me, you'd likely want the lume pip to align with the grip dimples on the bezel. (;

That being said, newer Prospex seem to have upped their bezel tolerances so it might be difficult to remove the bezel without damaging the PVD finish.
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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by baldrick »

Yeah this is what stops me buying more seikos. I generally have to buy online and have my watches shipped in from overseas (why? Stock issues for popular models, delays for new releases and absurd pricing for both).

International returns are a hassle and, often, not worth the cost, so I end up eating the loss. I've been lucky so far, usually helped by lots of due diligence pre-purchase, but Seikos are difficult.

They're popular and sufficiently mass-produced that one usually isn't going down the second-hand or small retailer route, which often means no pictures of the actual watch you are going to get, or a nice person willing to go the extra mile and check.* The fact that they don't see the misalignment as a defect and can't be bothered to fix it means it's generally not worth the gamble.

Probably good for my wallet.

*By luck or design, I did have a good experience with Starbuy in Aus, and my Samurai seems OK. I like to think they checked it before sending, but perhaps I as just lucky.

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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by cheddar »

peskydonut wrote:Haha. So Sakura sent me one of those automated emails, asking to review my transaction. I left a critical review (nothing inflammatory). It was up for less than 24hrs; checked this morning and it's been removed.

Again, just the facts- draw your own conclusions.
This would instantly put Sakura on my “do not buy from” list. Removing negative reviews is dishonest marketing, and if you’re going to be dishonest about that, how am I to trust you in anything else? I just went and browsed through about 5 pages of their reviews and saw nothing less than a 4 star, so if they removed yours, who knows how many others they’ve removed?
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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by peskydonut »

cheddar wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2020 11:34 am
peskydonut wrote:Haha. So Sakura sent me one of those automated emails, asking to review my transaction. I left a critical review (nothing inflammatory). It was up for less than 24hrs; checked this morning and it's been removed.

Again, just the facts- draw your own conclusions.
This would instantly put Sakura on my “do not buy from” list. Removing negative reviews is dishonest marketing, and if you’re going to be dishonest about that, how am I to trust you in anything else? I just went and browsed through about 5 pages of their reviews and saw nothing less than a 4 star, so if they removed yours, who knows how many others they’ve removed?
I keep emailing them, asking when my review will be up...you know, just to be pesky. They keep telling me they're on holiday 8-)
We'll see who will get bored of this game first.

I did learn of Mountain Day, so I guess thanks for that Sakura...
...the holiday is to provide “opportunities to get familiar with mountains and appreciate blessings from mountains.”
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peskydonut
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Re: Sakura Watches - Not impressed

Post by peskydonut »

Just to close out this chapter- with Mountain Day long gone, Sakura still hasn't posted my review and has stopped responding to my emails about the matter.

On the watch itself, I'm going to leave it as is for the moment. Too much other stuff going on to mess with it right now.
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